"Anyone who’s followed our catalogue of titles will know that we have a soft spot for creating horror games. We’ve always injected a little bit of Welsh – and British – culture into them too but nothing to the extent of where we’re taking Maid of Sker."

What made you want to make a horror game revolving around what is admittedly very spooky Welsh folklore?

Anyone who’s followed our catalogue of titles will know that we have a soft spot for creating horror games. We’ve always injected a little bit of Welsh – and British – culture into them too but nothing to the extent of where we’re taking Maid of Sker. Our studio is based a short drive away from where Elizabeth Williams lived, and where the haunting folklore originated. The tale is truly terrifying but we’ve gathered inspiration from many different versions of the story and put our own Wales Interactive spin on it. In this industry, little is known about Welsh folklore and it’s not all that often you find British culture portrayed in a video game either. As both developers and publishers, we have the creative licence to tell a story to the world — it’s going to be dark, twisted and unsettling for sure.

Survival horror games, due to their very nature, are always in danger of perhaps relying too much on jump scares, and while jump scares certainly have some value in moderation, audiences don’t seem to respond too well to games that rely on them too much. Is this something that’s been in your mind with Maid of Sker? Do you believe there’s any value in jump scares, even in small doses, and can we expect to see some good ones in Maid of Sker?

One thing we often get a lot of credit for is creating atmosphere in our horror games. Don’t Knock Twice for example featured very little jump scares and almost entirely relied on atmosphere, player immersion and story to scare the player. With that said, the few jump scares that did feature in the game brought some grown adults to their knees! There is most definitely value in jump scares but only when they are few and far between. They are risky because, if done incorrectly, it could ruin the entire gaming experience from then on for the player. Thankfully we don’t have to rely on them too much because Maid of Sker will have the complete package of eerie atmospherics, a unique sound-based game mechanic, stories we can elaborate on from Welsh folklore and an art direction that’s far surpassed anything we have done before. You can expect to be terrified in more ways than just jump scares alone.

Will Maid of Sker be veering into psychological horror territory, or is it going to be a more traditional horror experience?

Maid of Sker will be a hybrid of the two for sure, and is one of the reasons why this game will stand out amongst other horrors that often tend to present just one kind of experience. With that said, it is a stealth survival horror at heart. You can die and you can lose progress if you haven’t found a manual save point. Death is avoidable but not with the use of weapons.

"Comparisons are always difficult but let’s say you should expect the stealth elements of Alien: Isolation with the atmosphere of Resident Evil 7 and the drama of Outlast. In terms of narrative, inspiration has been taken from several of our FMV and interactive movie titles including Late Shift and The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker."

Given its first person perspective, comparisons with the likes of P.T. and Resident Evil 7 are bound to be made, while its stealth-focused mechanics seem reminiscent of Amnesia– have any of those influenced Maid of Sker in any way? Are there any other games or other media that influenced it significantly?

We’re inspired and influenced by many different games including the ones mentioned but we try to be as original as possible or else we’ll end up just regurgitating what’s out there already, and there’s no fun in that! Comparisons are always difficult but let’s say you should expect the stealth elements of Alien: Isolation with the atmosphere of Resident Evil 7 and the drama of Outlast. In terms of narrative, inspiration has been taken from several of our FMV and interactive movie titles including Late Shift and The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker. 

The entire concept of a “sound-based” AI system and being able to trap and distract enemies sounds excellent. Can you elaborate a bit on it, and how it translates to gameplay mechanics?

Almost anything and everything that moves will create a certain level of sound that could potentially alarm the Quiet Men. Get to know specific items that can be used as a trap or a lure, some more effective than others depending on the amount of sound it could create. Everything from footsteps, environment creaks and even your breath has various levels of sound than could attract different enemies. Sure, you can hold your breath whilst an enemy walks past but happens if you time it wrong and run out of breath? You pant. You could run away from an enemy — also making more sound — but what happens when your legs are tired and you run out of breath? You’re slow, vulnerable and panting even louder!

Speaking of, what are the enemies we’ll be facing in the game? How much variety can we expect to see in the types of enemies we come across in Maid of Sker?

We can’t go into too much detail regarding the enemies but what we can say about the Quiet Men is that they will be tiered in terms of difficulty, and will require different stealth tactics to avoid. They cannot actually see anything but that doesn’t mean they can’t hunt you down. We’re currently working on a demo which will reveal more in Q1 2019.

How much of an impact will our decisions have on how the story pans out? Can we expect wildly different consequences, or is it more about inserting flavour into a concrete tale?

We have many FMVs and interactive movie titles that utilizes the multi-threaded narrative approach and so we’re using that experience to influence the story in Maid of Sker. We’re implementing a decision based event list that features in all our FMV titles. This essentially calculates all the small or big decisions made throughout the game with a consequence later on in the story. It’s more than just, “you do this and later on this happens”. It can calculate decisions to determine what sort of character you are, what sort of personality you have or what relationships you have with other characters. This will in turn take you on a slightly different path, discovering hidden areas, bypassing certain events or unlocking different endings.

"While 4k will not be supported, we are working towards 1080/60fps with HDR enhancements for Xbox One X."

Will 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?

While 4k will not be supported, we are working towards 1080/60fps with HDR enhancements for Xbox One X. With that, we are going beyond anything we have created before in terms of visual aesthetics. Similar to most of our games, we are using Unity game engine and with Maid of Sker, we are proudly pushing the engine to its limits with a High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) and a new Post-processing Stack. We have a small development team but we’re here delivering AAA quality visuals. Don’t just take our word for it, watch the early teaser trailer and stay tuned for the upcoming demo release!

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

The PS4 Pro will receive all the same enhancements as the Xbox One X.

Moonfall Ultimate was announced for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch about a month ago. Well, the game is out now, and a brand new trailer has been released to celebrate its launch. The game released for the PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch on September 4, and released today for the Xbox One.

The game, developed by Fishcow Studios, is a side-scrolling action RPG and features a hand-painted 2D world with an industrial gothic setting. The new edition brings an Endless mode, and also allows players to enjoy the game with 2-player couch co-op. There will be three classes for players to choose from, and throughout the game, you will slowly be able to discover the various secrets about the game’s world.

Regarding the game’s launch, Stefan Nitkulinec, project director at Fishcow Studio stated, “We are very pleased to be able to offer Moonfall Ultimate for our players on PC and consoles early in September 2018. We believe that special game modes will delight many players, especially local multiplayer will bring a lot of fun. We are honored that we could cooperate with the professional team from Wales Interactive, and we are proud that our game will be published by such a successful British publisher. Together, we will try to bring more games of the high-quality level in which players spend many great experiences that will remain in their memories for a long time.”

Moonfall Ultimate is now available for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. You can check out the new announcement trailer below.

If you’re a fan of hack-and-slash games and the Metroidvania genre, you might be excited to learn about the upcoming game Moonfall Ultimate. This side-scrolling action RPG has just been announced by developer Fishcow Studios and publisher Wales Interactive. The game will be releasing for PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch on September 4, and will release for the Xbox One on September 5.

Moonfall Ultimate will allow players to explore an industrial gothic setting. Players will be able to choose their class, and also upgrade their gear as they explore the world and engage in strategic combat against enemies. The game can be played either solo or with a friend as a 2-player couch co-op game. There is also an Endless Mode for those who can’t get enough of the gameplay. There will be a total of 13 levels for players to complete, each with their own bosses, quests, and more.

You can check out the announcement trailer for the game below. Does the game look interesting to you? Let us know your thoughts in your comments below.

Wales Interactive’s Soul Axiom finally has a release date. The first person adventure title which sees you exploring the cyber world of Elysia will be out on February 29th for Steam on PC, Mac and Linux. Check out the launch trailer for the game below.

Soul Axiom feels very similar to The Talos Principle but posits a lot of its existential pondering in a cybernetic afterlife of sorts. You’ll move through 40 different locations and gain new powers while solving puzzles to unlock your purpose. Multiple endings await and Wales Interactive promises more than 15 hours of gameplay. The trailer below showcases levels from Chapter Six Zero and how the fourth ability can help you.

Soul Axiom is also slated to release for Xbox One, PS4 and Wii U but these versions will be out in Q2 2016. What are your thoughts on the gameplay trailer and will you be picking the game up? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more details.

GamingBolt had a chance to speak Wales Interactive’s Ben Tester on the game, including the various influences that dictated its direction. We were also curious to learn how Soul Axiom differentiated itself from other psychological adventure games in recent memory. Thankfully, there seems to be more to this otherworldly trip than meets the mind.

"It’s very important for us to give the player respect to find their own way as there is more player satisfaction when you feel that you have solved a puzzle or found out a key bit of information about the story. It’s then up to the player to go on journey of discovery and puzzle solving in order to find out who they are and why they are there."

Rashid K. Sayed: Soul Axiom is unorthodox to say the least. What influenced the ideas of spiritualism, immortality and sci-fi that form the core concepts of the game?

Ben Tester: It certainly is, we tend to come up with concepts that don’t restrict our creativity and imagination. We’re always experimenting as a team and exploring new ideas between different gaming genres. Our thoughts are that in the future it would be science fact rather than science fiction that we would be able save our personalities, consciousness and memories digitally.

We took the premise and visualized it, which led to the development of Master Reboot. Now, with Soul Axiom, we feel we had some unfinished business with the whole idea. We’ve evolved the unique visual style that we’re known for in the previous title to create beautifully simplistic emphasis on striking shapes, strong colors, and shader effects. Our aim is to be surreal rather than real and the bold art direction is deliberate to elicit a variety of emotions for the player.

Rashid K. Sayed: There are many first person adventure games, especially psychological ones, in the market these days. Did that inspire the need to be different with Soul Axiom’s premise or was the perspective a natural fit for the story?

Ben Tester: Soul Axiom is a first person sci-fi adventure game but we also like to class it as a thriller. That’s not a genre that we normally have a tick box for in the game industry, even though it’s an established one in the film industry, but the themes, story and gameplay in Soul Axiom really suit that tag. We’re are always striving to find originality in the games we create and we purposely try to fit between genres in order not to be directly compared to existing titles with similar themes.

The game is set in the not too distant future inside the latest state of the art Digital Soul Provider, Elysia.  When you start the game you are literally dropped into the action with no idea who or where you are.  We give you no guidance, but the levels are intuitive and you have to find your own way through the game puzzle solving in order to piece together the story as you go along.

It’s very important for us to give the player respect to find their own way as there is more player satisfaction when you feel that you have solved a puzzle or found out a key bit of information about the story. It’s then up to the player to go on journey of discovery and puzzle solving in order to find out who they are and why they are there.

Rashid K. Sayed: Many adventure games tend to top out at a handful of hours but Soul Axiom will offer roughly 8 to 12 hours of gameplay when it releases. How does this work out in terms of pacing and gameplay content?

Ben Tester: This amount of content is a big step up for us and we’re finding some gamers are already clocking around 8 hours of gameplay, and we’re only half way through. The game, which is out on Steam Early Access, is chapter based, with only the first introductory chapter following a linear path.

Once the player reaches the Hub, they will have the opportunity to complete various puzzles to gain new powers which can be used to unlock the next chapter. Then, the player can choose whatever level they wish to within that chapter. As the game is currently in Early Access, players can experience Chapters 1, 2 and 3 with 4, 5 and 6 coming soon.

"Players will get the chance to unlock four different powers, all very unique to each other. The first power is something we call the “Phase” power, which can best be described as materializing and de-materializing objects or parts of the environment."

Rashid K. Sayed: What kind of replayability will Soul Axiom offer its players? The universe seems too compelling to only run through once and forget about.

Ben Tester: We’re offering the player the chance to do as much or as little exploration as they like in this game. Alongside completing puzzles, players can explore the levels to find what we call PEMO’s which are essentially personal messages and stories from outside of the world of Elysia.

These bits of information, which takes the form of a little monkey pickup, guides the player through their journey and helps them piece together the story. Players can see what PEMO’s they have collected and re-visit areas to find any they may have missed, which could change how they interpret what is going on around them in the strange world they are in.

Rashid K. Sayed: How has Early Access benefited the development of Soul Axiom? What kind of features are you adding as a result of fan feedback?

Ben Tester: This is our first Early Access game and we set out with a clear goal in mind and that was to listen to our fan’s feedback and be prepared to change or tweak certain areas of the game that the players have reacted to. So far, the reaction has been extremely positive, and we are being praised for releasing updates that are well polished with only minor bugs every now and then.

This is something we are quite proud of actually. We set up idea and suggestion threads and have even promised a shout out in the games credits for the top contributors of the development, this seems to have gone down well with our fans and likewise, we appreciate the support these guys and girls give us.

Rashid K. Sayed: What kind of powers will players have to aid them on their journey in Elysia?

Ben Tester: Players will get the chance to unlock four different powers, all very unique to each other. The first power is something we call the “Phase” power, which can best be described as materializing and de-materializing objects or parts of the environment. The second power, being the “Play” power, animates objects with one hand and pauses them in time with the other.

Recently, we released the third “Destroy” power and the fourth… well… you’ll have to wait and see when it’s unlocked later in the game! You’ll use these powers to help you solve puzzles and manipulate your surrounding environment which is what we like to call our “Dynamic Adaptive Environments”. As games designers these new game mechanics we’ve developed give us much more scope for a creating a wider variety of puzzles by combining powers to problem solve.

"The console development is going great and in fact, Microsoft exhibited a demo of the Xbox One game at the GDC and EGX Rezzed this year. We were privileged to have been one of just a few UK indie devs chosen to exhibit on heir stands."

Rashid K. Sayed: Are there plans for any post-release content in Soul Axiom? We’d love to know more about and explore the universe after the main quest is finished.

Ben Tester: There aren’t any plans for that as of yet, but it’s something we would definitely consider, especially if there is a request for it. As with all our games, we will certainly be releasing an art book and soundtrack DLC with the game.

Rashid K. Sayed: How are the PS4 and Xbox One versions shaping up? Are they going to run at 1080p and 60fps?

Ben Tester: The console development is going great and in fact, Microsoft exhibited a demo of the Xbox One game at the GDC and EGX Rezzed this year. We were privileged to have been one of just a few UK indie devs chosen to exhibit on heir stands. The final version will be running at 1080p 60fps and this is something we achieved with our PS4/XB1 title, Infinity Runner, which released on April 22^nd this year.

Rashid K. Sayed: When is the launch happening for the PS4 and Xbox One versions?

Ben Tester: Soul Axiom will have its 1.0 release on PC, Mac and Linux in Q3 with the PS4, Xbox One and Wii U version set for Q4 2015.

Rashid K. Sayed: Is there anything else you want to tell us before we let you go?

Ben Tester: We would like to thank Gaming Bolt for giving us this opportunity and also to our fans that have supported us throughout the development of the game. It is available to buy now on Steam Early Access for PC, Mac and Linux for $14.99/$19.99.