Greetings, Fallen Warriors...
It's time for the second Dev Journal, a series of brief interviews with the developers behind Deathbound. Today, we delve into the characters you'll control on your journey through the city of Akratya. Joining us for this discussion are Thiago Baptista, Narrative Director, and Renato Baroni, Lead Game Writer.
Before we delve into character specifics, let's provide a brief overview of the narrative philosophy driving Deathbound, along with the guiding principles informing our narrative decisions.
THIAGO – Since the beginning, we intended Deathbound to have a story that felt distinct from anything already done in the Soulslike genre. And since the staple of the genre is the fact that you die (a lot!) only to rise again and advance further, it was a natural choice to make the story revolve around death and mortality.
But more than that, we wanted the story to be mature and deal with adult themes, such as what it means to know that we have an inescapable end, or how we find the sweet spot between being an individual and belonging to a collective. Unlike most stories in the Soulslike genre – or in any game genre for that matter –, Deathbound is not a power fantasy, but rather a “Greek tragedy”: a tale about characters bound to their destinies and their futile attempts to escape them.
To add even more spice to this sauce, we opted for deviating from the traditional Medieval fantasy tropes. The world of Zieminal is a Medieval world risen from the ruins of a technological First Civilization, adding a touch of sci-fi to the mix. The Medieval aspects of the story are based on real-world, historically accurate Medieval societies. For instance, in Medieval times, the feudal mode of production and the role of religion were far more pervasive than in your run-of-the-mill D&D campaign.
Each Essence in Deathbound has a unique background and combat style. Can you delve into the design philosophy behind creating such diverse characters?
THIAGO – First came the game design and its needs. We originally had planned for 15 playable Essences and 5 distinct “kingdoms”, each with their art style. Also, in the original prototype, there were 5 “classes” of characters, like in more traditional Action RPGs. So, there were 3 characters for each kingdom – each from a different class. As we refined our game design and faced development constraints, though, we settled for 7 distinct characters.
With these constraints in hand, we let our artistic veins roam free. We came up with the kingdoms and their lores first, then proceeded to give each character their unique backstories and personalities. Following our general guideline of basing the story on historically accurate Medieval times, we chose to base each kingdom on a real-world culture, such as Western and Eastern Medieval Europe, the West Africa of Mansa Musa, and the Central Asia of Genghis Khan.
RENATO – One thing I would like to emphasize is that our main character is a rather unusual thing. It is not your regular party, by which I mean, not a group of people that the player merely controls one at a time. Rather, you are a strange creature — unique even in the world of Deathbound — that absorbs the Essence of fallen warriors, thus acquiring both their skills and personalities. A “Frankenstein of souls”, if you will. And we didn’t want that to be solely a good thing. We wanted inner conflict to arise from it so that our dialogues wouldn’t just occur whenever information was needed. There’s always this inner struggle taking place, and the player is to blame because he chose to become more powerful and absorb yet another Essence, and with it more viewpoints, more inner conflicts…
Can you provide insights into the narrative design process behind each Essence's background, and how their affiliation in life affects their synergy in death within the party system?
THIAGO – If there's one thing we were committed to in Deathbound's narrative design philosophy, it's the idea that every aspect of the game should tell the story we want to tell: cutscenes and item descriptions, yes, but also the game's rules and mechanics themselves. After all, telling stories through games is different from doing it in cinema or literature!
One of the biggest narrative design challenges we had was to come up with the Conflict and Synergies system. It was a logical step if you think about it: we have these wildly different personalities forcibly sharing the same body – some of them are mortal enemies. There’s no way on Earth (or Zieminal!) this situation wouldn’t be like a dormant volcano, ready to burst at any second.
We tried different formulas that were way too complex and didn’t quite work out during playtests. After lots of refinement, we ended up with the current system, in which every Essence has potential Synergies and Conflicts with other Essences as disposed in a circle (not unlike the Circle of Fifths in music theory). This system also gave the players more choices, as they can activate or deactivate these Synergies/Conflicts by positioning the Essences accordingly in the party’s slots.
RENATO – We aimed for diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints regarding the story’s main themes, because that would give us a broader range of raw material to work with. To create interesting conflicts between characters, and sometimes a few unusual bonds too.
We also sadly kept many ideas in the brainstorming box because they were a bit too much for our very first game. But if you guys enjoy the experience, we hope we have the opportunity for a sequel! There will be even more ways in which the characters you absorb mold your experience.
In a world without a clear distinction between good and evil, how did you approach crafting the personalities of the Fallen Warriors to reflect the moral ambiguity of the game's universe?
THIAGO – As previously stated, Deathbound is a mature story about mortality and identity, where we also explore themes such as fanaticism and grief. Each character is an opportunity to explore one of these issues. We made the conscious choice of having playable characters from the opposing factions of the game and were careful not to portray any of these factions as the “bad guys” or the “good guys”.
With that, we have a character that is a former feudal lord turned religious fanatic; a character that is a psychopath, the right hand of the game’s main villain; a former Chancellor and Spymaster to the Kingdom of Krulezgon who’s a master manipulator; a revolutionary guerrilla fighter whose heart is divided between vengeance and duty; a magic-wielding boy cast away by his father because of his unnatural abilities; a Life-worshipper-turned-assassin betrayed by her people; and, of course, our capoeira-fighting warrior-monk.
RENATO – We just tried to see them all as real, complex people, regardless of where they came from or what they did. And we tried to think beyond tropes like “give your bad guy a relatable backstory.” There are so many other ways to make your characters burst to life beyond morality stuff, so many other colors besides the shades of gray!
How do the memories and identities of the Fallen Warriors contribute to the overall narrative depth of Deathbound? Are there specific moments in the game where these memories significantly shape the character's journey or interactions?
THIAGO – The Essences in Deathbound are tragic characters. Their many traumas, backgrounds, and motivations are stored within their memories. During the game, the player will have the opportunity of witnessing these memories unfold firsthand, in two opportunities: during Essence Reveries, and through Echoes from The Past.
Essence Reveries are “mini levels” to which the player is transported whenever they absorb a new Essence. In these levels, the player will bear witness to important moments in the histories of the Essences, such as their childhoods and turning points in their lives, getting to know them – sometimes better than the Fallen Warriors know themselves.
Echoes from The Past are shards of these memories that the player can collect, scattered throughout the Forbidden City of Akratya. Each Echo is a short cutscene that reveals past moments of the Fallen Warriors as they traversed Aratya, which also grants Memory Points that the player can invest to improve their characters and unlock special abilities. This is also a way to reward exploration – you can never know which previously crossed paths or hidden corners can store one of these memories.
RENATO – The player has the freedom to play the entire game without hunting for lost memories or delving that much into the narrative. That was always an important request from the game design department. Therefore we always knew that the story of Deathbound had to be one that worked on different depths: there’s a main plot, a seemingly straightforward objective you as the player feel compelled to pursue; and then, swinging all around this straight line, we have our characters’ own stories. As we approach the end these tales become more and more intertwined.
Our grand hope is that, from discovering new areas to fighting horrendous creatures, everything becomes far more engaging and meaningful for those who choose to pay attention to what has been swirling around. Much like life, am I right?! Haha.
How does your storytelling approach differ from traditional linear narratives in the Soulslike/Action RPG genre?
THIAGO – Traditionally, Soulslike games belong to a category of games that I call “story-rich games”, as opposed to “story-driven” and “story-centered” games. In story-rich games, the story is an important element of the overall game experience, but it is not a central part of it. People play these games largely for the challenges, and the story is a way to “spice up” the experience. Because of that, in these games, the narrative is delivered through subtle devices, such as the environment art and item descriptions.
Deathbound is still a proud representative of the Soulslike tradition; however, we chose to focus more on the characters, their interrelationships, and the game’s plot. The Essences’ inner voices and their dialogues will be constantly heard by the player, who will also witness their memories through echoes from the past. Their conflicts will directly affect gameplay, bequeathing advantages and drawbacks the player will be able to use to their advantage – if they’re wise enough.
RENATO – The way I see it, the biggest difference between Deathbound and other Soulslikes we knew was our approach to the playable Essences. Usually in these games, it is preferable to give players a nameless main character, this empty shell that they fill with an idealized, mostly heroic or cruel version of themselves.
In our case, because of these complex themes we wished to explore — and also due to the narrative mechanics we had at our disposal — it felt better to give players something else. We decided to focus heavily on the playable characters’ personalities, backstories, their inner and outer conflicts… In short, we chose to make Deathbound a more character-rich experience because we want players to care for these cursed deathless beings bound to each other. Emotional investment feels important if you want to talk about grief.
Lastly, a personal touch—do you have any favorite Essences, and if so, which ones resonate with you the most?
THIAGO – Olivia Heinz is my favorite, even before we started writing her scenes. She’s the most interesting character in the game in my opinion, and, if I may be so bold as to say, terrifically well-written. But anything else I could say would spoil the surprise!
RENATO – I quite like the Capoeira fighter, Mamdile Ogaté. Not just due to fighting style (though Capoeira absolutely rules!) but also because of his prideful personality. I find him very amusing as a character and hope we come up with a DLC just for him!
Stay tuned for more updates and news as we journey toward the release of Deathbound. Join us on our social media channels and the Steam Community Hub to stay connected and engaged with the vibrant Deathbound Community.
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