“Once again, Iron Lung‘s price went up because the game is worth $8 so I want to charge $8, because I want to earn more money,” said Szymanski. “If you don’t agree with this price, I don’t want your money. Go pirate it or something idc.”

When a player accused him of “only doing this for the money”, Szymanksi responded affirmatively, stating that if he didn’t want to make money by making games, he would give them away for free.

“Yes, no f**king s**t, I make games for a living,” he said. “If I didn’t want to earn money from them I wouldn’t charge money for them. I like the business model of ‘I want money so I make something that I think is worth money, and you pay me that money and you get the thing, and we’re all happy’ That’s it. There’s nothing complicated or hidden here.”

“If you don’t think the things I make are worth the money I charge, that’s completely ok,” he continues. “Don’t buy them, or wait for a deep sale, or go the sneaky route and get them for free or whatever, and please tell me that so I can adjust the prices for whatever I release next.”

Szymanski originally announced the price increase all the way back in October, stating that the intent was to ensure that Iron Lung was priced competitively for the long haul. The announcement also stated that all future updates and content for Iron Lung would remain free for all owners of the game.

The most recent game Szymanski has worked on is indie immersive sim Gloomwood, which was released on Steam as an Early Access title back in September 2022.

Since people keep trying to gotcha me over this… once again, Iron Lung's price went up because the game is worth $8 so I want to charge $8, because I want to earn more money. If you don't agree with this price, I don't want your money. Go pirate it or something idc.

— David Szymanski (@DUSKdev) December 18, 2023

I like the business model of "I want money so I make something that I think is worth money, and you pay me that money and you get the thing, and we're all happy"

That's it. There's nothing complicated or hidden here.

— David Szymanski (@DUSKdev) December 18, 2023

Tiny Rogues

Launched in early access this year, Tiny Rogues is a dungeon crawler/rogue-lite/action RPG/bullet hell title with retro-style visuals. As minimalistic as the presentation feels, the combat is solid with several starting characters, tons of different weapons and spells, challenging and varied bosses, and great build variety. Want to become a tower shield-wielding magic wielder that rains down meteors? Perhaps a barbarian that inflicts poison arrows? You can do that and so much more.

Brotato

Of course, you can’t mention excellent early-access titles without mentioning Brotato. Essentially a rogue-lite horde shooter with timed waves, it offers some unique mechanics like the ability to hold and use multiple weapons at once. Combine this with some crazy upgrades, weapon rarities, and tons of different builds, from the super lucky guy to the streamer, and you’ve got hours and hours of fun on your hands.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero has been a long, long time coming, having been available in Japan till now. Sporting the same old-school RPG look as Trails in the Sky, the Western release remakes these visuals in extraordinary fashion while still delivering an excellent plot, stellar combat, and some excellent world-building. While those who played the Sky trilogy will get more out of it, Trails from Zero capably stands on its own.

The Case of the Golden Idol

If a more thorough detective title is to your liking, The Case of the Golden Idol is worth checking out. It takes place over four decades, with the player detective attempting to solve 12 grisly murders by filling in the blanks with a select set of keywords. There’s plenty of conspiracy and intrigue, and the bizarre art style is appealing in its own right. More importantly, the story and characters are simply excellent and well worth the trip.

Beacon Pines

I will forever sing the praises of Beacon Pines, Hiding Spot’s gorgeous mystery that’s equal parts choose your adventure and visual novel. It sports characters that are likeable and incredibly fleshed out; a cosy setting brimming with secrets; and a story full of twists, turns, and interesting developments. There’s so much to like, and it’s a shame that more people haven’t played it.

Citizen Sleeper

Citizen Sleeper is great, and you can’t say enough about its brilliance. Erlin’s Eye is a melting pot of characters, culture, and intrigue, whether you’re conversing with NeoVend, the sentient vending machine or trying to piece together the motives behind Sabine, the slum doctor. Actions play out through dice rolls, with light resource management, but it’s the extensive (and excellent) dialogue, coupled with the overall plot, makes this a must-play title.

Nobody Saves the World

Guacamelee developer Drinkbox is doing a lot with its overhead action RPG Nobody Saves the World. It sports fun combat with multiple classes, each offering unique abilities and upgrades – like the Rat, Ranger, Horse, and much more – and the ability to mix and match these into killer builds. It offers a large world to explore with procedurally generated dungeons and fun bosses. If that weren’t enough, it supports two-player co-op and has a solid comedic bent. If any of that sounds like something you’d enjoy, it’s worth a look.

Iron Lung

A short but sweet psychological horror set in a submarine navigating a strange Blood Ocean, Iron Lung has you traveling to locations and taking pictures. Seems simple enough, but you’re working with an iffy camera and relying purely on sensors and an incomplete map. Sometimes, you need to seal the submarine’s porthole because of depth pressure, but something is out there, waiting. Developed by David Szymanski of Dusk fame, Iron Lung is a claustrophobic and creepy experience.

Prodeus

A retro-Doom-style shooter with tons of gore and particle effects with stellar level design and action? That describes Prodeus in a nutshell, but the overall experience is so much more. Everything feels right, from the weapon feel and the overall pacing to the enemy design and difficulty. Plus, with a map creator and browser, hundreds of levels offer even more potential for slaying monsters.

Strange Horticulture

Being a horticulturist in a video game sounds like a drag, but Bad Viking’s Strange Horticulture is anything but. It’s equal parts plant management and mystery as you identify and recommend plants to customers in the small town of Undermere. As the story progresses, dark events and secrets come to light, and you’ll venture to mysterious places, converse with cults, and frequently pet the cat. It’s a stellar gameplay loop and one that keeps you coming back.

Sephonie

From the minds of Anodyne 1 and 2, Sephonie is more of a 3D platformer set on Sephonie Island with Amy, Riyou and Ing-wen as the protagonists. Upon navigating its various caves using wall runs and vaults, memories and dreams of the trio manifest while a strange force seems to manipulate them. In addition to a beautiful and unique aesthetic, Sephonie also offers puzzles using a grid system, as you Link different creatures in your research. It’s an unorthodox mix of genres that works well and delivers a great story.

Signalis

Touted as a classic survival horror, rose-engine’s Signalis tells the story of a Replika, Elster, who awakens in a wrecked ship and ventures onto a mysterious planet. What happened? That’s up to you to discover as you solve puzzles, manage your inventory and fight terrifying enemies. With gorgeous visuals and an aesthetic inspired by Stanley Kubrick and Hideaki Anno, Signalis is a surreal, terrifying experience worth playing.

Shredders

Have you ever craved the days of grounded but not super hardcore snowboarding titles? FoamPunch’s Shredders may fill that avoid. It offers numerous pro riders and a massive open world to explore, with locations ranging from parks to the countryside. The sheer depth of the controls, combined with the smooth animations and plethora of content, including a story mode and online play, make this a worthy successor to the Amped series.

Far: Changing Tides

Much like Far: Lone Sails, Far: Changing Tides is a side-scrolling adventure game where you manage a ship constantly on the move in a post-apocalyptic world. The twist is that you’re sailing through a flooded world and can occasionally leave the vessel to either gather resources or clear the way forward. Maintaining and upgrading the ship opens up underwater excursions to progress further. It’s a melancholic experience without any chance of failure and a sense of wonder.

APICO

Similar to Minecraft’s Forestry mod, APICO is about beekeeping. You venture to Port APICO, manage bees, cross-breed them for over 30 different species, make products and sell them, and much more. It’s a relaxing game with a hefty amount of content, from different biomes to minigames, and co-op support for up to four players. The latest update added butterflies, new flowers, and much more for even more stuff to do.

"We design Alterborn in a holistic manner meaning that its visuals also dictate the narrative; Arkane games such as Dishonored are a big inspiration to us as far as aesthetics are concerned."

Alterborn’s setting seems one of the game’s many interesting elements. Can you tell us a bit more about it, and how much the game highlights it lore and backstory?

Here is what I can tell you not to spoil the game too much; we design Alterborn in a holistic manner meaning that its visuals also dictate the narrative; Arkane games such as Dishonored are a big inspiration to us as far as aesthetics are concerned. Everything you encounter in the game, be it an enemy or a gun should be unique and from the get-go pique your interest, making you ask yourself how it came to be within the game’s world, what role it fulfills.

On the other hand, when it comes to the setting, we were inspired partly by the Borderlands series which does not play by any rules and is simply… fun. Violent, crazy but also fun. We think that the Soulslike genre became a bit stagnant and every single game that falls into that category has the same vibe to it if you will. We want to try something new while at the same time replicating all the essential components that make these games so darn good.

You’ve previously described Alterborn as a dynamic and replayable game- can you expand on that a little bit, and some of the key ways that the game attempts to achieve that?

We make use of procedural content BUT at the same time we are well aware that such content can end up feeling bland and simply not interesting. We combine interesting, handcrafted levels with procedural content and partial procedural geometry to achieve the most optimal experience.

Our main goal is to incentivize replayability and create systems that make you want to play the game multiple times, with each playthrough being unique in some way. Hades is a big point of reference here, I consider it an absolute masterpiece when it comes to the overall design.

What can you tell us about Alterborn’s relationship system? How much do players’ actions affect the game’s world and its story?

We want the player to feel like each of their decisions impacts not only themselves but also the world around them. Alterborn is set in a world of no heroes, just humans and their conflicting desires, all in an unwelcoming world. You may encounter a specific person who wants you to eliminate a different person; such a decision should feel difficult and in turn lead to varied outcomes linked to both the narrative and gameplay itself.

What can players expect from the game’s progression mechanics? How expansive will they be, and how much of an emphasis will they put on build variety?

Progression is one of Alterborn’s core pillars. There will be many different progression systems within the game that function in symbiosis, letting the players customize their character in countless ways. Again, we want the player to be presented with a lot of choices that are both interesting and difficult. As you play the game, you’ll find countless weapons, armors, trinkets, slottable passive and active abilities and much more. You won’t be able to equip all of them though. In fact, you’ll be quite limited and have to constantly tweak your loadout to adapt to challenges that are being thrown at you. As you keep on progressing through the game, you’ll learn more about enemy archetypes and whatnot subsequently being able to make better, informed decisions.

"We make use of procedural content BUT at the same time we are well aware that such content can end up feeling bland and simply not interesting. We combine interesting, handcrafted levels with procedural content and partial procedural geometry to achieve the most optimal experience."

Alterborn’s clearly pulling a lot from a lot of different genres, but specifically where it’s combat is concerned, what sort of a balance does it strike between shooting, looter shooter, and Soulslike mechanics?

Our very first step when making Alterborn was to break down all these genres into prime factors and think long and hard about what makes them tick if you will. Is it the action loop of the player? The game’s structure? Progression systems? All of those combined? Or something else entirely? We mixed and matched different solutions which in turn led us to many prototyping sessions and the current state of Alterborn. Frame by frame, we analyzed the gunplay of shooter games that we consider the best out there, trying to replicate the fun factor. Players familiar with looters will feel right at home because of progression. As for the Soulslike genre, we think its strongest features are the level design, the enemy behavior and the overall design philosophy.

How is Alterborn’s world structured? Is it a game that places much of its emphasis on exploration, or is it more of a guided experience that focuses on forward momentum?

Exploration is a key part of the game, there are many secrets to be found. We want the player to feel like they make impactful decisions when exploring the Shattered Lands. Alterborn is not fully linear and you’ll be able to make some decisions on how to progress through the game.

Alterborn’s approach to how to tackle difficulty is one of its most intriguing aspects. Can you elaborate on how that works in the game?

Much like FromSoftware games, Alterborn will not have a difficulty setting. With that being said, as you learn more about the game’s mechanics, discovering and unlocking new ones, you’ll be able to use them more efficiently subsequently innately lowering the game’s difficulty.

With that being said, sometimes we might reward players that choose to overcome toughest of challenges BUT we never want to force anyone to play the game in a certain way – that is your choice that should not be dictated by anything other than yourself.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of Alterborn be?

The game time will be highly dependent on how you choose to play. Also, we expect most players that actually finish Alterborn to play it again because of the replay value which is really important to us.

What was behind the decision to skip last-gen console releases?

It is too soon to tell whether we will skip the last generation of consoles – we want to release Alterborn on as many platforms as possible. For now, we only confirmed the release on PS5, Steam and Xbox but you can expect more such confirmations in the future.

"Progression is one of Alterborn’s core pillars. There will be many different progression systems within the game that function in symbiosis, letting the players customize their character in countless ways."

What can you tell us about the game’s boss fights?

Boss fights are an essential aspect of all the genres we are inspired by and we want them to be a core part of the Alterborn experience. Expect each boss to be distinctive and challenging. Stay tuned for more information in the near future.

How are you handling death in the game?

The game is a Soulslike but we also want it to be slightly more welcoming to newer players; you’ll find tools as you play the game that will help you overcome adversity. Still, a veteran player seeking a greater challenge will not be disappointed. Getting the combat right is absolutely pivotal to us.

What can you tell us about weapons and customization in Alterborn?

We want each gun to feel unique and for the player to have many ways of customizing it. We’ll be sharing more information about specific weapons in the future.

Will Alterborn also throw in puzzles in its gameplay loop?

Yes, we will have some environmental puzzles. To give you an example, one of our unique features is the Altered State system that was inspired by the Legacy of Kain series. When in the Altered State, your surroundings change in real time before your very eyes. The system is designed to keep the players on their toes, challenging not just their combat skill but also their wit and observation skills.

Since the reveal of the PS5 and Xbox Series’ specs, a lot of comparisons have been made between the GPU speeds of the two consoles, with the PS5 at 10.28 TFLOPS and the Xbox Series X at 12 TFLOPS. How much of an impact on development do you think that difference will have?

These two are generally different consoles, built with different ideas, with bandwidth being only one of many factors. To us, as developers, both are great to work with and we look forward to releasing our game on both consoles.

The PS5 features an incredibly fast SSD with 5.5GB/s raw bandwidth. How can developers take advantage of this, and how does this compare to the Xbox Series X’s 2.4GB/s raw bandwidth?

Our game and all its assets are optimized with multiple platforms in mind and we feel confident that we’ll achieve optimal performance on both, no matter the difference.

"Boss fights are an essential aspect of all the genres we are inspired by and we want them to be a core part of the Alterborn experience."

Super Resolution is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. How do you think this will help game developers?

FSR as well as DLSS are great technologies that significantly improve the experience for those who look for the highest quality possible. We look forward to seeing how the biggest triple A titles will handle the technology.

What are your thoughts on the Steam Deck? Do you have plans for any specific optimizations for the device?

While for the time being, we’re not 100% sure whether the game will be on Steam Deck, we want to release it on as many platforms as possible.