Ten years ago, Abubakar Salim lost his father. That sadness lives within him.He is an actor by profession and his credits include posed by the wolf and dragon houseFor the upcoming season, he had been searching for years for a suitable medium to overcome his injury. movie. TV program. There was nothing to justify it until he tried to make a video game. “If you're portraying grief in a true and honest way, it's so open and chaotic that you can actually kind of game it,” he says.
Salim is the CEO and creative director of Surgent Studios, the developer of the upcoming Metroidvania game. Tales of Kensela: Zau. The game, scheduled for release on April 23rd, follows Zau, a young shaman who makes a deal with the Grim Reaper to bring his father back to life in exchange for three great spirits. The story reflects coping with loss, and even its premise is built around negotiation, a common step for anyone dealing with death. Button mashing and mask switching are all representative of the craziness people can experience, Salim says.
Games about sadness reflect that emotion in different ways.platformer Guri The stages of grief turn into literal stages as the heroine silently navigates a world that uses color and music to express emotions. Edith Finch's legacy Explore family deaths with anecdotes dedicated to those who died, examining family belongings.
kensela It has its own method. During the game, Zau takes time to stop and talk about his feelings. This is the result of Salim and the game's developers exploring ways to restore character health. The solution ended up being to literally create space for Zau to sit under the tree and just reflect.
Each biome in the game world reflects its journey through hardship. Salim, who grew up playing games with her father, remembers her father often telling her when she was a child. “A person is alone when he is born, and he is alone when he dies.” kensela” developers injected that idea into a woodland setting. This is meant to evoke a sense of the following questions: Will I be forgotten too? ”
The stories Salim's father told him had a big influence on the game, as did Bantu culture, which he says was done as a kind of celebration rather than to educate people.In recent years, games like this god of war and hades It brought a new familiarity to Norse and Greek mythology.a game like kensela Something similar may be possible for the cultures of southern Africa. “To encourage people to look at these stories and lean into these stories,” Salim says.
nevertheless kenselaCombat is evolving over time, it is Danbe's influence, a type of boxing in Nigeria. Zau changes his fighting style by replacing his sun and moon masks, which represent life and death. Salim explains that in Bantu culture, these two balance each other. “That's exactly where the inspiration for these two masks of his came from,” he says. The Sun Mask is hot and fiery in nature, while the Moon Mask has a more icy look and feel. Both masks are beautiful, infused with energy, and an ode to how other cultures treat death. “Especially in African culture, [death] It’s almost celebrated in a way,” he says. “It's a transition to something new.”
