Devil’s Hunt Interview: Story, Difficulty, Progression System, And More

Devil’s Hunt is a game that will take you right into the depths of hell as the protagonist gets wrapped up in a battle between good and evil. To learn more about the game and its development, GamingBolt reached out to the developers with some questions and Game Director Michał Sadowski  provided the following answers.

"The game is a fully linear experience.  The main focus of the story, however, is the choices made (or not made) by Desmond. The man suffers from really hard times and he learns that every decision has consequences."

The game’s story describes the protagonist as being able to influence the battle between good and evil. Does this mean that players’ choices are crucial in the game?

The game is a fully linear experience.  The main focus of the story, however, is the choices made (or not made) by Desmond. The man suffers from really hard times and he learns that every decision has consequences. His character arc is  from being a bit foolhardy in the beginning into full-fledged badass. He comes a long way from the man who doesn’t really know what he wants to the person that  starts to care  about his life (which he screwed up big), friends, girl and, mostly important, about making his own decisions…

What can you tell us about the combat system in the game?

In short, melee with spell-like skills. Desmond becomes hell’s executioner – that gives him the powers to draw from the  ever burning flames inside of  him,  fueled by the souls that he collects. He even gets the ability to turn himself into demonic form, which allows him to challenge the toughest  of  enemies. Desmond relies on melee attacks that he can chain into combos and use his  other  supportive skills – be it AOE, or fire and forget type. So,  we want give plenty of choices for the player regarding the methods of dealing with enemies.

Being the first game this studio is working on, what has the experience been like so far?

Challenges and more challenges! ☺ But,  also,  it gives us a lot of positive experience. Starting a company from scratch is always a difficult task. We needed to manage all the basic things from finding people who share the  same passion for games as we do while also having the incredible skills in each of the fields required In game dev. That’s why we wanted to announce our first title when we’ll be sure that we can succeed with it.

Are there different play styles available for players to choose from?

We are aiming for a system in which the player can create their  own style. Once unlocked, the skills and combos can be activated and deactivated at any time – that allows the players to create custom “builds” that suits their own playstyle. If you’re more into beat’em up style – just shift your point into a more sophisticated combos and you’re good to go. If you prefer dispatching your enemies with magic-like devastating attacks – shift your points into skills and start burning foes with hellfires. Of course,  if you want, you can use both for spectacular synergic actions.

"The game is story heavy and we want to offer different difficulty settings – starting with “The Story” setting intended for the players that are interested in experiencing the narrative"

What is the progression system going to be like in the game?

Desmond can reap the souls of enemies. By collecting them,  he can unlock new combos as well as learn new devastating skills. The progression is nonlinear – it’s up to the player where he wants to allocate his hard earned points. Unlike other games, the progression will be more about “changing” than “growing” – the player will need to make a  decision which skill to drop to be able to try the different ones. We’re going for skills quality, not the quantity to make those choices meaningful for the player.

From what we’ve seen of the game, it looks like there will be lots of deadly enemies that players will have to fight. Is the game going to be quite challenging to master?

Yes and no☺. The game is story heavy and we want to offer different difficulty settings – starting with “The Story” setting intended for the players that are interested in experiencing the narrative. Generally,  we’re going for giving the players more fun than super hard challenge – but, of course, playing skills are going to be properly gratified and there will be lots of enemies to test the player’s skills.

What can you tell us about the game’s setting?

The player will visit three completely different areas – one is the southern s city, second of course it’s Hell – the place where the Demons dwell and the final one – We’d like to keep that one in secret – I can only tell that is some ancient city where you can’t tell if it’s  reality or  a dream.

How long is the game going to be approximately?

Finishing the game should take no less than 6 to 8 hours.

The game will feature Xbox One X specific enhancements. What can players expect if they are playing the game on Xbox One X? Is 4K/60fps on the cards?

We’ve just started console development so I can’t go into details, but with so much graphics power,  I think we will  surprise the players in a good way.

And how will the PS4 Pro version turn out in terms of resolution and frame rate?

As I said earlier – It’s too early to go into details, but we didn’t encounter any performance breaking issues.

"The only concern is, if the future generation power will not be eaten up completely by the 4k – which I think is going to be standard next gen resolution…"

From a development perspective, how do you find the Xbox One X to be? With so much GPU power, we are sure you must be doing some amazing things.

Yes. As I mentioned – our programmers are very eager to test the system to the maximum, but it’s too early to give details.

How is the game running on the original Xbox One and PS4, frame rate and resolution wise?

We just started console development – it’s too early to give details.

Do you have any plans to bring the game to Nintendo Switch? If not, why?

First we want to focus on PC/XBOX/PS4 versions of the game. After those versions are ready,  we can look into Switch – the platform proved its capabilities by some big third party releases, so we don’t rule out this.

Next gen is coming sooner or later. From a development perspective, what is your biggest expectation from the next PlayStation and next Xbox?

More RAM, more CPU/GPU power, SSD, and not meddling with gamepads – standard controls are what the majority of players expect. The only concern is, if the future generation power will not be eaten up completely by the 4k – which I think is going to be standard next gen resolution…