We recently sat down with Błażej Zbrzeźniak from Red Dev Studios to talk about their brand new 2-D hack and slash, called Down To Hell, out now on Steam. The title, which features a lone warrior on a quest of brutality, is packed with frenetic action, hideous monsters and a whole lot of metal references. Błażej and I sat down and talked about musical influences, the state of the genre, favorite bands, what makes Down To Hell unique, Dark Souls clones, and of course.... metal.
Interview was lightly edited for space and flow*
DLH) Thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk with me. When we watched the trailer for Down To Hell and saw the tone you guys were going for, a fusion of the world your team has created coupled with brutal metal, we knew we wanted to have a chat with you guys. For those who don’t know about Down to Hell, describe it as you guys see it.
BZ) For me, Down to Hell is and an amalgamation of Berserk, Castlevania and metal, actually. To me, this game is a love letter to metal, because there isn’t just metal inside the game, there are metal Easter eggs inside the story, inside descriptions in the game, inside the metal art we have - all those kinds of things.
DLH) I was actually going to ask if there were any metal Easter eggs players should be on the lookout for, if there were any areas that metal-loving gamers should kind of specifically look into, or pay attention to.
BZ) Metal is everywhere in our game. I mean, every enemy in the game shares a name with a metal band or musician or album! There will be, for example, NPC’s named after metal musicians, you can also find lyrics from metal songs in the actual dialogues in our game and a lot of other metal stuff throughout.
DLH) So, obviously you guys are big metal fans, what metal bands are some of your favorites, or just what metal are you listening to right now?
BZ) Right now I'm listening to the new album from Luminaria all a time, a post black metal band from Canada who are really cool. Besides that, I love Polish black metal, Kriegsmachine, Behemoth, I’m listening to Decapitated of course, I love those guys. Other than that, Slipknot all of the time, and I’ve been jamming to the new Ramstein video, even at work. It’s great.
DLH) If it’s not too broad a question, what would you say is the most metal thing about the game? For example, the world itself, the boss design, the enemies…?
BZ) I think that the most metal thing in the game would be the way we present the world [of Down To Hell]. Actually the hero is metal as fuck too… he’s like a metal berserker. That’s probably the most metal thing in the game.
DLH) You guys have come up with enemy types that are super unique looking, almost like a combination of demon and nature...
BZ) Yeah.
DLH) ...like, some enemies look almost mossy, with hands that look like they're jagged limbs of trees…
BZ) Yeah, that’s the goal.
DLH) And the bosses are crazy too, just really unexpectedly unique looking. Where would you say you guys are drawing inspiration for your enemy types? Who is writing these messed up descriptions down and who is putting them into the game?
BZ) I describe them on paper, and our graphic designer makes them, obviously. But it’s a hard question because we are taking inspiration from pretty much everywhere; from metal music, album covers, Berserker, all the dark and gritty movies and comic books we’ve read and watched. That’s our main goal, to think about and develop something different, something that doesn’t occur in every game.
DLH) So, I’m sure you guys are working like crazy right now to get your game out, but what are you all playing right now when you have the time?
BZ) Well, right now I'm finishing Sekiro. Recently I also reinstalled Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines again, to get back into the vibe of the story and the storytelling. Besides that, a lot of the team's playing Red Dead Redemption 2, and our programmer is playing Resident Evil 2 and DMC 5. We also play some older titles, like Salt and Sanctuary to see how other teams made their games, how they think about their mechanics.
DLH) That’s funny, I was just playing Salt & Sanctuary with a friend the other night and it reminded me of your game, not because they are similar but because they both have such a clearly defined world. Both games have such a unique, specific look and feel.
BZ) Thanks. Also, you know, when we started, we thought it would be cool to make a "Dark Souls 2D", but then we thought, no, we have to make something different we have to make something that will fit our style, and our story. And a slasher was [the best genre] to tell it.
DLH) That’s interesting, because a type of problem you are seeing in the industry right now, is “who is going to make the next “Borne” this, or “Souls-esque” title and there is such a pressure to come up with the next Dark Souls thing. So I kind of expected that when I started up your game, just because that’s where the industry has been lately; so flooded. But your guys' game isn’t that at all.
BZ) Yeah, I think that everybody needs to move their own way. Sure, we could take something from other games, but especially as an indie game developer, you have to find something that will define you, and if you are looking for another Dark Souls game, there are a couple of Dark Souls 2D style games already out there. Down to Hell is very distinct. We wanted to make our own game, not another clone of Dark Souls. Although we do love Dark Souls!
DLH) For the music in the game, is it like a compilation, or are songs originally for the game? Basically, what can you tell me about the music in the game?
BZ) So, the metal songs will only be during the boss fights and during the gameplay we will have more ambient styles of metal, you know, instrumental metal. This way, the players won’t be tired of listening to only metal, and we also wanted to really emphasize boss fights. We are currently talking about making specific music for the game, and we are also talking to a couple bands on big labels to see about using their music for our game in future chapters.
DLH) How long do you anticipate the game being, hour-wise at full release?
BZ) Every chapter will take about 3 hours of gameplay, and we have 5 chapters. 12-15 hours of gameplay is what we’re aiming for. Every chapter will have like 4 bosses to fight, because bosses are our main thing, the big thing we want to present to players. Every boss is different, and each have a couple of phases and every boss has a metal song associated with it. I think we’ll finish the game at the end of the year, and probably around that time we will also release a Nintendo Switch version.
Down To Hell is out now, available on Steam. Pay attention this week when we'll release our review!
