Like most art forms, video games are a conversation. Developers do their best to add their own distinct voice to the discussion with disruptive conceptsand innovative mechanics. For Troglobytes Games, the studio behind the upcomingBlind Fate: Edo no Yami, the quest to add something to the games industry’s conversation led to a particularly unique contribution.
A side-scrolling samurai game set in a sci-fi cityscape,Blind Fatecould have easily become just another addition to the fast-growing samurai subgenre, but the Barcelona-based Troglobytes added its own innovative flair.Blind Fate’s main character, a cyber-samurai called Yami,is completely blind- players must rely on environmental clues and an arsenal of specialized sensors to navigate the environment. Game Rant sat down with studio lead Saverio Caporusso to talk about how that unique mechanic works and the dev team’s use of Japanese folklore in building out the game world. The transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: First, tell me a bit about yourself and about Troglobytes Games.
A: My name is Saverio Caporusso. I’m Italian, but my studio is based in Spain, where I’ve lived for around 13 years now. Growing up, I was always intrigued by old coin-operated arcade machines, and I was also interested in pen-and-paper RPGs likeDungeons & Dragons.Around five years ago I, along with some friends from Italy who had gaming industry experience, founded Troglobytes Games in Spain.
The first game we released wasHyper Parasite. After that game launched in 2020, we were thinking about what to do next, and we came up with the idea forBlind Fate: Edo no Yami, which is being published by 101XP and will release very soon.
Q: I’m curious - if you and your colleagues are from Italy, why move to Spain to set up a studio?
A: When we founded Troglobytes Games, I was already living in Spain, working another job. When my friends and I got into contact about the studio, we decided that thegames industry in Spainis slightly better than in Italy. We have been able to grow a lot more in Spain over the last six or seven years, compared to Italy.
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Q: Let’s get into the gameplay forBlind Fate. What sort of game can players expect?
A:Blind Fateis an action side-scroller featuring a blind main character. The game has innovative mechanics — having a blind player character poses a lot of challenges. The main character is a cyber samurai, so his brain can receive all sorts of environmental data. You may be able to see a static image ofthe game environment around you, but that image is not updated. For example, a bridge that you may see in the static image in front of you may have collapsed, and you could fall in because you don’t know that bridge doesn’t exist anymore.
So, one of the key points of the game is to collect data from enemies, which are robots. Enemies have updated information about the environment, so by defeating enemies you collect data that will help you progress.
Fighting enemies is another challenge for a blind player character —most enemies are invisibleto the player. The game uses different types of sensors to help detect enemies. Each sensor allows players to detect different stimuli. If an enemy is walking, the player can hear footsteps using the hearing sensor. Some enemies can be detected by a smelling sensor. There’s also a heat sensor, which will allow players to see the heat core of enemies coming towards them. If you don’t use the correct sensor for an enemy type, you’ll end up getting hit.
Blind Fatebrings innovative mechanics, but we also wanted the game to have an interesting setting, which is Japan. We were inspired by games likeSekiro: Shadows Die TwiceandGhost of Tsushima.The game has a Japanesescience-fiction aesthetic— it’s specifically science-fiction, not cyberpunk.Blind Fate’senemies are all based around Japanese folktales. We used enemies called yokai and kami, ghosts and demons in Japanese folklore.
Q: I’m interested in learning a bit more about the role of senses inBlind Fate. I know you mentionedSekiroandGhost of Tsushimaas inspirations, but where did the idea for that unique mechanic come from?
A: Well, with a blind main character, we had to think about how players could detect enemies. Of course, you would be able tohear enemies coming towards you, so a sound sensor of some kind was an easy choice. But, just switching one sensor on and off doesn’t make for an interesting game, so we came up with the idea to make some enemies silent. Those types of enemies produce some other type of clue for the player character to see using a different sensor. That was the early concept, and we’ve been refining it using different techniques.
Q: You mentioned before that the game takes inspiration from Japanese folklore. What was the process for developing new characters?
A: For character development, it was pretty easy. We hired a writer to take interesting yokaifrom Japanese folkloreand build robotic versions of them forBlind Fate. The writer also had to find a function for those enemies and how they would fit into the actual gameplay.
For instance, there is an entity in Japanese folklore called the jubokko. It’s a tree that grows on a battlefield, and supposedly lives off the blood of fallen soldiers. In our game, the jubokko is used as the skill tree from which players can learn new actions. Our skill tree is an actual tree.
So, we findyokai and other folk talesthat have an interesting backstory, figure out how it works in the game, and create a model that fits. For enemies, you also have to design a set of attacks. We used a lot of classic enemy types — rangers, tanks, things like that. We wanted the enemy types to be recognizable to players, because it is risky for an indie studio to change them.
Q: The premise ofBlind Fatereminds me of the classic Japanese film character, Zatoichi, the blind swordsman. Were there specific movies or other media that influenced development?
A: Yes, Zatoichi was one inspiration, as well asBlind Fury, another moviewith a blind swordsman. Other characters, too, like Quicksilver from X-Men, who moves so fast that everything around him seems static.
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Q:Your first title,Hyper Parasite, released a couple of years ago. What’s it been like transitioning from developing that game toBlind Fate?
A: I don’t want to brag, but for us the transition was easy.Hyper Parasitegave us some good development experience. The game was a top-down two-stick shooter, and now we know how those types of games work. We fundedHyper Parasitecompletely out-of-pocket.We tried a Kickstarter, but that failed miserably. Nevertheless, we received good feedback from that game which gave us the experience and funds we needed to work onBlind Fate.
WithBlind Fatewe tried to produce the feeling of games that players already know. The new layer, though, isinnovation and creativity. There’s no added value of a game that’s basically a copy of another IP.
Q: I know that Troglobytes Games first announcedBlind Fateback in 2019, which means that the game has largely been in development during the COVID-19 pandemic. What was that like?
A: Fantastic. I suggest we do it again. Kidding, of course.
For us, some things changed, but others didn’t. We were already working remotely — I was in Spain, and the rest of my team was in Italy. So for us, having to stay home was okay. So,the pandemic happenedwhile we were still working onHyper Parasite, and the team had to split to work from home for two or three months.
ForBlind Fate, this has slowed the release date down a bit. We also missed two chances to participate in the Game Developers Conference as part of the Indie Megabooth. The first time, GDC was suspended, and the second time we had been selected by Xbox to participate, but they pulled out. We did have a showcase in Aprilat PAX East in Boston, though.
Q: There was a demo forBlind Fatethat went out last year, around the same time as PAX East. What sort of feedback did you get from the demo, and how has that affected development?
A: Yeah, we released that demoon Xbox and Steam. Many people played the demo on Xbox, but not too many people left reviews. I think that was because of the console itself, because to leave feedback you have to move somewhere else like a computer to type it up. We got a few comments, but nothing long. ‘I like the game,’ that sort of thing.
For Steam, data showed that around one third of the people who downloaded the demo actually played it. That makes sense, because people sometimes download 20 things and just play one or two of them. On PC, though, we got better, more constructive feedback. I invite everyone reading the article to play the demo.
Q: So, as the release date forBlind Fateapproaches, are you looking ahead to the next project?
A: We actually have a third project in the works, although technically it’s a fourth project, because we were the publisher of another game from some Italian friends of mine that came out in April. The other project we are working on is aclassic action platformerthat uses pixel art. There is a lot of nostalgia for those types of games right now, and there is possibly a niche to fill. It hasn’t quite reached AAA size yet, but it’s a niche we are interested in working in. We are also working on another game which we are building live on Twitch for an Italian audience, where we are walking through step-by-step the process of building and funding a game.
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Q: As we wrap up, I want to know - which is your favorite yokai?
A: I think my favorite was a rather funny one. It’s called the wa nyūdō, which translates to ‘wheel priest.’ It’s basically just the head of a priest in the middle of a large wheel, and the whole thing is on fire.In folklore, it’s the spiritof a priest that chases criminals or assassins in the middle of the night. InBlind Fate, the wa nyūdō has the head of a policeman, not a priest, and the wheel has cannons and police lights on it.
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Blind Fateis coming soon for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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