one of the buzzier video game drama moments of this month was the aftermath of the splintering of ZA/UM, the developers of Disco Elysium. if you’re not in the know, ZA/UM as the studio has been plagued with issues, particularly the corporate machinations and sketchy takeovers, that led to the departure of the heads responsible for Disco Elysium, and the subsequent layoffs that partly targeted the devs who shined the light on the messy situation happening in the studio, as well as the apparent cancellation of the Disco Elysium sequel. [People Make Games covered the machinations and the drama that preceded the layoffs at great length, which i suggest checking out.] during that time, the corporate ZA/UM started working on three projects, two of which got cancelled by now, and the original heads of development founded a new studio, Red Info, with the backing of NetEase Games, with no project yet announced. this month, though, we got three brand-new studios that comprise the developers that left ZA/UM, with one already announcing a new game on the way. so, in this weird circumstance, we now have five Disco Elysium spiritual successors to watch out for, with no game being close to release.
if that prospect makes you worry about the potential quality of the games that, i hope, most of which will see the light of day, i want to point out that we have a different, although perhaps less severe, example of such dramatic splintering unraveling right before our eyes: Motion Twin and Evil Empire. Evil Empire was abruptly cut off from supporting Dead Cells despite the studio having a content plan for years ahead, which prompted some strong words from one of the former Dead Cells developers and a studio veteran who now works solo under the moniker of Deepnight Games, calling Evil Empire “the only true Dead Cells team” due to their long commitment to the game, a statement that inadvertently threw some doubts at the quality of Motion Twin’s new endeavor, Windblown. what furthers the similarity of the situation is the fact that each party now has its own game coming up, all of which are roguevanias that share a lot of Dead Cells DNA: the aforementioned Windblown by Motion Twin, The Rogue Prince of Persia by Evil Empire, and Tenjutsu by Deepnight Games.
we already know how the “true” developers are doing, with the game, still being in early access, receiving considerable praise and seeming to have a good content path to lead it to a thunderous release and, following The Lost Crown, yet another artistically successful take at reviving the long-dormant franchise in 2D form. but how is the original shell of a studio doing with Windblown, the game that’s about to hit early access on October 24th?
judging by the Next Fest demo, quite swimmingly.
much like Dead Cells, this game hits all the bullet points in the game design workbook. the game feel is smooth like butter, and the controls are forgiving but very responsive and tight. the combat is sophisticated, with the presence of a combo system that incentivizes experimentation, yet simple in execution and quick to figure out. the movement is strongly accentuated by the game’s primary fun button, the dash, which is the primary means of traversing the in-game world, uncovering secrets, and dodging the smooth moves of the enemies eager to transport the player directly to the hub area. Dead Cells, as expected, serves as a core blueprint for gameplay design, with primary enemy types sharing many of the same attack patterns and even the color schemes of the original Dead Cells counterparts, establishing the design language that will be familiar to all the seasoned Dead Cells players jumping into the new experience.
unlike The Rogue Prince, the game exchanges the 2D side scrolling perspective for Hades-esque isometric view. Supergiant’s now-classic action roguelike is an unquestionably huge inspiration that is felt all across Windblown, from the structure of combat engagements to even the little things like death animations and the overarching hub world. it’s hard to judge how well the transition is going to be handled, but it’s clear that a lot of design decisions have been driven by the wish to experiment with the core tenets of what made Hades so great, which, outside of combat, also includes the shift in focus towards the story interactions and forming relationships with the characters in and out of the hub world, with the overall aesthetic vibrancy accommodating said creative decision.
the main distinguishing factor that separates the game from the two other “Dead Cells successors” discussed is the presence of a co-op mode. this inherently somewhat de-emphasizes the presence of the player character in the game world, but i’m nonetheless very eager to try the game out with someone else, as I think it may lend itself really well to co-op action.
overall i came out of this demo with high hopes for the final game. Motion Twin, whatever it is now, still got it in regards to making strong roguelites, and I think Dead Cells fans will find a great deal to enjoy in this game. neither of the “Dead Cells successor” games cancels each other out, with all of them looking to offer something that will differentiate them from lots of games that will or have tried their best to imitate the original that brought us all here. the conundrum that led us to getting all these games also serves as a good reminder that game development is an inherently collaborative endeavor where all the people involved stand to learn from the shared experience working on a given game, and the DNA of one game can travel far and wide between different titles that still have a lot of originality on offer. i’m not as worried about five Disco successors on the way, because with these three games, we will all be eating real good, with everyone getting a bit of what they want from this massive buffet of games we have around.