Let It Die Interview – Uncle Death

uWhen the legendary game developer Goichi Suda (or Suda51 for those more in the know) of Grasshopper Manufacture introduced his next title Let It Die, it was a very intriguing concept of a hack and slash game. What made it a little offsetting was the fact that it will launch as a free to play title. This had some people worried, but ultimately it sounds like it will be a fun time either way. With the main character known as Uncle Death, a fun and hilarious Grim Reaper-style character, there’s no saying just how far this game will go.

GamingBolt recently had a sit down with Suda51 at this years E3. It gave us an opportunity to figure out just how far Suda51’s mind was willing to go with his next game:

"So about the challenges, from the beginning it was going to be hack and slash, action, and free to play. And a lot of these things like progressive free to play was something new to Grasshopper; we did all action games prior to this one."

Let It Die hasn’t had a ton of information revealed  since its initial announcement at E3 2014. How has development progressed over these two years?

So for those two years we have been working really really hard. The premise of the game was pretty much going to be hack and slash, and of course free to play. The system had been in place but how to make free to play work in the game was something that was quite challenging. And a lot of things were made with trial and error over the last two years.

What is the story for Let It Die and how long does the traditional story experience last?

So if you just play the game compared to previous titles it is not completely story driven as usual. Players are thrown into the game with absolutely nothing, with just a pair of underwear. We wanted to make the playable character represent the player themselves. So you’re thrown into this weird crazy world, but then they meet the Grim Reaper, Uncle Death. He’s cool, he skateboards, he wears, like, crazy glasses, he’s kind of like your guide. As the player continues to go through the tower and progresses to the world he’ll always be there to tell you what’s up and slowly you’ll start to realize why you’re there, and what your existence means, and it will slowly begin to unravel throughout the rest of the game.

What challenges were faced in trying to flesh out the overall concept?

So about the challenges, from the beginning it was going to be hack and slash, action, and free to play. And a lot of these things like progressive free to play was something new to Grasshopper; we did all action games prior to this one. Also having online capabilities was another challenge – that’s something Grasshopper has always wanted to do which was a challenge in itself. These two challenges, having free to play and online capabilities were definitely something new.

Can you explain the concept of the game and how dead players appear in others’ games as NPCs?

So in regards to Player showing up in other people’s games that’s called death data. Which is because these player characters are made up of when a character dies it is then sent out to other players throughout the games. The thing that differentiates these players is that they look like other enemies – they are a lot stronger. I guess you could call them NPCs but they are quite different from the other enemies. So it’s part of the cycle when going to the tower and you may die, whatever you are equipped with it’s going to use that set that you’ve made and other people can see it and enjoy it, and vice versa for everyone. It’s part of the cycle, it’s very important. Especially even within the main game cycle when you die as well. They’re not only times when your data is shared but you can send your data to go to someone. So I can send my data to Tyler (translator’s name), and I can also send it to you. So if you’re able to defeat our data that’s that quite difficult and you might get something nice in return.

"So there are PVP elements even though it is a synchronous multiplayer. On a larger scale and the competitive side it’s not really like a guild or a clan but something along those lines for our competitive play."

How does combat function in the game? Will it be flashier like Devil May Cry or more brutal like Dark Souls?

So it probably won’t be as stylish or flashy but if we had one point that we could say would be stylish and flashy it would be the bloodshed. The amount of blood shed has been increased from the PAX [demo] version by about 150%. In regards to difficulty in games such as Dark Souls, it will be difficult, it might be punishing but it will be different than Dark Souls. Probably more action based.

Can players specialize in different classes and abilities throughout their experience?

In regards to customization in the demo we only show male characters, but we also have female characters, we also have different skin tones and hair styles as well. There will be various types that you can choose from. In regards to that more details about selection will be revealed later.

Is there traditional PvP where players can battle each other?

So there are PVP elements even though it is a synchronous multiplayer. On a larger scale and the competitive side it’s not really like a guild or a clan but something along those lines for our competitive play.

What prompted the decision to go free to play? Will there be micro-transactions and what form will these micro-transactions take?

So at the time there were not a lot of free to play games out there on consoles. So that’s one challenging difficulty we wanted to be a part of and see what we could do there. But also we have to be able to see – with free to play there weren’t a lot of good things to be said at the time, which is the case even now. But we wanted to make an action game that was fun and enjoyable on a console but also free to play.