Welcome to another episode of our dev diaries. Today, we’re inviting you into the creative process behind one of the most important pieces of Hell Galaxy lore: the moment a raider is born. Specifically, we’re going to share the creation of the character responsible for this entire process, the Extractor, who appears in the game’s opening cutscene in the demo.
When we began conceptualizing the Extractor, we wanted a character shrouded in mystery, one who would reveal very little. The Extractor is the one who extracts the mind and installs it into a ship; he is the force that brings raiders to life, and we wanted him to embody a sense of both solemnity and royalty.
But that wasn’t all. When we envisioned the extraction scene, we wanted it to be not only solemn but eerie, a “ritual” carried out with makeshift tools in a dimly lit room. To capture this, we gave the Extractor moving limbs that convey the impression of a being that drags itself with stiff, robotic motions through the Hall of Passage, a dark room filled with unsettling instruments. The Hall of Passage is the Extractor’s domain.
Through the Extractor’s deliberate movements, we aimed to convey a sense of inevitability. Those who find themselves under his knife know they won’t return in the flesh. They understand they’re about to be transformed into strange hybrids of gray matter, brain waves, and ship hulls.
From this concept, it was only natural to give him hands with long, pointed fingers hiding needles. The Extractor’s lethal arm is shrouded in bundles of cables, inspired by the dense, flowing circulatory system depicted in Di Sangro’s eighteenth-century anatomical machines.
Sound design was also key to portraying the Extractor’s constant, ominous pace as he approaches his chair. By blending these elements, the sounds, the reaching limbs, the regal yet sinister face devoid of eyes or any comforting markers, we brought the Extractor to life as you see him in the demo.
When you stand before the Extractor, remember: you can scream, or try to calm your breathing, but there’s no escape. Your transformation into an eternal bio-machine hybrid has already begun, and there is no turning back.
With that, we’ve come to the end of this new entry. And since we’ve been talking about the Extractor, today you can say it out loud:
Farewell, raiders!
