After seeing the interesting announcement of Past Cure, I was really interested in knowing more about the game. I reached out to Phantom 8 Studio and was able to get a conversation with Managing Director Simon Gerdesmann.
After our conversation, I was just even more excited for this game to launch! It seems like it is going to be an excellent mix of survival and defenseless horror with a twisted story that will leave us confused until the end!
Interview with Gerdesmann
What inspired you to take the pshycological route?
"Me and my business partner started in smaller studios and then the art director came to us for the game and the story in mind. So we have the real world and the strange dreams happening. We said OK, a lot of Inception and Fight Club mixed where people have done experiments on the protagonist and now he is coming out of the experiments and has special skills."
What can you tell me about the protagonist?
"His name is Ian and at this moment something is changing in Ian. He has nightmares he doesn't understand and can do things like telepathy."
What type of enemies will be featured?
"There will be enemies like Dioscura, an Eastern-European mafia gangsters, that are trying to get their hand on the medication from the doctor, Marcus, and is part of the experiments. The protagonist is on the hunt to find out how they are connected. There are also aggro guys that will come at you directly with melee.
Dream enemies are porcelain figures and they break into pieces when they are shot. There will be other situations where you can't do anything against them because you do not have a gun. So you will have to trick them by hiding or block them in specific locations or avoid them all together.
Then the main villain who keeps appearing in his dreams, who will remain unnamed for now, and will also appear in the real world. He has a bigger role and there will be a boss fight with him."
Will Ian, the protagonist, have any allies?
"The doctor is the assistant trying to find the people who did this to him. He will always be able to assist and talk to the protagonist and doing research.
Sofia is a double agent that appears in real life and in his dreams that will help him in various ways."
Will it is be story based?
"We have a very strong story with a finer arc. We don't want to give too much away, but there will be a lot of characters and a high arc moment."
What forms of combat will there be and how many weapons will be featured?
"It is an action-stealth game. So the stealth is really in the combat because you have to stealth in the areas. But in the nightmares you will have a horror style gameplay where you have to sneak around. But then you have missionary areas and melee areas, which is where we paid a lot of attention to and used motion capture for the game.
We worked with MMA fighters, including champions from Germany and Europe, and made up some pretty cool fighting moves including combos. We took inspiration from John Wick for this part of the game play as well. Brutal, efficient kills in the game. There will be random different fighting sequences and different ending moves including roundhouse kick and jabbing a knife in their neck.
There will also be guns, including handguns, automatics with a laser gun, sniper style with a laser pointer, and the rough guy oozie. The laser pointer will also be used by enemies and when you see them, it needs to be thought about when it comes to how you want to play through the section of the game. Your weapon choice should also match the type of setting you are in, so don't use an automatic in an stealth based area."
How long has it been in development?
"We started working on this in March of 2016. At the end of 2016 we had eight people and now we are up to 10 people. It should be launched by Q4 of 2017 (PC and XB1 with physical release).
We wanted to look at the market and technologies, assessed the games that are there. It used to take two to three million dollars to make the games that would require 300-500 thousand sales at thirty dollars each just to break even. But now that technology has gotten more accessible and cheaper, a smaller talented team with a lesser budget can still be able to bring a quality game."
How long will it take to complete the game?
"It depends of course, but I think it will take anywhere between six and eight hours, but we have also had people take eleven hours to complete the game. How much you are investigating and how well you get through areas, including the puzzles, will decide how long it takes. There is a guidance system, so time won't be gone from being lost and you can learn some back story from the extra stuff around the room from investigating, so on average six to eight hours."
Check out the Trailer:
While all of the combat shown off so far looks really cool and epic, I am glad there will be moments of stealth, hiding, and avoiding enemies as well! This will be a great mix for players who get thrills in different ways!
Past Cure is going to launch on Steam, PS4, and XB1 for $29.99. If you want to follow more development, check out their Facebook and Twitter.
