The classic games that we used to play on the Nintendo Electronic System (NES) brought hours of entertainment with many 2D sidescrollers, platformers and action games. The old school style 2D action RPG is getting another game for fans of games like Castlevania, Metroid and Outcast to look forward to.

Bringing the classic and challenging game style back is a group known as Quartomundo who is working on The Light of the Darkness: Age of Epiphany, a 2D action RPG that will feature a mix of simple attack patterns and a hack ‘n’ slash battle style.

Although majority of this game was created by a single developer, Fernando Rabello, as the game got closer to completion, more people were brought on board to make sure the game could be completed as it is meant to be done. They are using an engine of their own designed that they call “Sephius Engine” runs on Adobe Air and Stage 3D environment. Additional properties are from third party technologies like Starling and Nape.

Story

After the occurring of a terrifying attack in his hometown, Sephius, a pale peasant, goes after an army of dark beings which carried his fellows as prisoners. Following then to a place called Lands of Oblivion, Sephius is brutally attacked and thrown into a pit to his certain death. But Sephius did not died. More than that he had raised as a strange mestizo creature with both light and dark natures. Sephius then would to struggle in this mysterious place in order to go out alive, while he tries to figure out what happened to him.

Q&A with Rabello

What inspired you to make this game?
“The Light of the Darkness is inspired in modern entertainment works from series, films and games like Buffy Vampire Slayer, Legacy of Kain, Outcast (game), Lord of the Rings and Dark Souls, also on nostalgic games like Castlevania, Metroid.”

What type of game play will it offer?
“The Light of the Darkness is a deep 2D action RPG with platform elements and free exploration in a style known as "Metroidvania". Player explores a huge region divided in sub areas, with bosses and different art and level design elements. Through the game player can combine natures to create spells, can collect items and weapons to use them to fight dangerous creatures and transpose obstacles to access unreachable areas. Also, the game explores deeply the winged nature of the main character Sephius, allowing the player to perform actions like flying, and gliding.”

What can players expect while playing your game?
"Player can expect a strong and interesting story allied with a beautiful art and graphics and a complex game play who challenge the player. Game feels very familiar, with consecrated gameplay elements, but also authentic. People can also expect a convincing universe with unique characteristics with great potential for expansion."

Will you be able to play as any other character or partner up with an AI on the adventure?
“No. But the game supports 2 players. We are planning to make some parallel game modes which player can control other characters but we can't talk about that yet.”

How is the combat style?
“Combat is a mix of Castlevania (simple attack patterns) with Odin Sphere (more hack and slash). We prefer a more simplistic combat style to focus more on the RPG attribute systems than explore dozens of attacks and super-fast reactions.
Each weapon on the game can have its own attack pattern and ranges. Beyond the weapons player also use spells witch has big role in the game. Some examples of that approach is to find enemy nature weakness and use the appropriated weapon/spell. A fire entity for example, of course does not take damage from fire damages. A water entity can only take physical damage if gets frozen before by a cold spell.
The attacks are fast, with some combos, but not like a pure hack and slash game.”

What is the overall objective of the game?
“In the game, the main character tried to save some fellows but end up to almost died. So the first object is to stay alive and get out the dangerous situation which the character put himself into. Parallel, player need to discover what happened which can explain what creature he has transformed. As the story goes on player interact with other characters and facts which gives some other objectives. Mostly, the game is about exploring, fighting and collecting.”

When did development start for The Light of the Darkness?
“The development started in 2009. It's long time ago, I know. But there was a lot of story witch happened related with the development of this game and the development restarted 2 times. This version, which is the one we will launch has started in 2012.”

Check out the Game Presentation:

The Light of the Darkness: Age of Epiphany is expected to launch Q1 of 2018 for PC, Mac and Mobile. If you would like to follow Quartomundo for updates on The Light of the Darkness or their other games they will develop, check out the links below:

Website
Facebook for The Light of the Darkness
Facebook for Quartomundo
Instagram