The game’s soundtrack will feature the same choir from the Black Panther movie.
There are Inception levels of grief and sons mourning their dead dads in this game.
I spoke to Salim about Tales of Kenzera to better understand the game beyond the scope of its trailer.
The game will feature voice acting in both English and Swahili.
GameSpot: So let’s talk, man.
What’s going on?
That’s two stories of African grief you’ve been a part of.
Want to talk about it?
Abubakar Salim: You know what?
And I think for me, it is funny, right?
And for me, the metroidvania genre is the perfect encapsulation of what grief is.
And I think that’s essentially why I really wanted to explore that.
And I think that the African perspective is really just a perspective, it’s a flavor.
You’ve got to be a man."
But that’s a male thing, man.
You know what I mean?
The same kind of thing might be said to you, you could be anywhere.
And I feel like now being at Surgent and building that out, I can do that.
Does it feel dissonant?
A fantasy of purpose?
And that’s the best you could do.
That’s truly the best you might do is be honest and be truthful.
That’s all that any of us can do as storytellers, right?
See, that’s the beauty of it.
And I think that’s what’s exciting about games, is it’s not a single thing.
Even in single-player games, you are technically playing with a GM to achieve.
And I think that’s what I quite enjoy about the beauty of elements that metroidvania games bring.
And then you see what happens.
Are you going to keep pushing through or go back?
The world is your oyster.
How is that story and those narrative themes imparted to the player?
Is it spoon-fed to the player?
We are simply presenting a perspective.
It all flavors it.
But that is, again, your choice.
And I think that is something that we really were keen on pushing forward with our game.
That’s been key for us to explore and expand on.
It’s a way for the GM to secretly guide that player and keep the story on track.
Is that the role of Kalunga, God of Death, in this game?
What’s the relationship like between him and Zau?
That’s essentially what Kalunga is.
We have set this quest that Zau is on to bring his father back.
And that’s essentially where Zau’s drive is.
But as I say, this story is a story within a story.
And I think there is something there, and that’s part of the whole mystery of it all.
Like why [did we pick] the God of Death?
You know what I mean?
It’s like, “What?”
That’s a part of [the story] as well.
There are so many to play with.
How does that actually reflect upon that feeling or journey of grief?
And I’ll be honest, man, there are two sides to this.
That’s something that I wanted to do and I wanted to show.
And as you get new abilities, you’ve got the option to play with these new abilities.
But it’s this dance between, “Am I in control or am I not?
It is quick and easy to do.
That’s everything about grief as well.
And that journey of it, and that feeling of emotions, man.
Well now that you’ve described the combat as “dance-like,” I can bring it up.
Hades is my jam.
Hollow Knight is my jam.
And a huge part of that is how their dance-like combat leans into their incredible soundtracks.
What’s the music going to be like for this game?
You want to know something?
All right, listen, I’m going to tell you something really, really cool.
Listen, the music is going to be freaking dope.
So Nainita Desai is our composer, right?
And she is a beast when it comes to the music of this game.
It is authentic, it is real, it is grounded.
She brings a Black Panther nature to it, but then also brings Tenet.
And that’s in contest with some very modern sort of synth, electronic beats.
And then you’ve got this almost electro-synthy mix.
And they clash with one another, but at the same time, they also work with one another.
And I think that’s really, really dope and cool.
They’re doing the music for us as well.
I swear to you.
So this is, we really went to town.
And Nainita went in.
Every time that Nainita would send us tracks, we’d lose our minds.
As we wrap up, is there anything you would like to add?
I think I’m just excited to get it out there, man.
I’m excited for people to experience it, play it, and vibe on it.
And as I say, it is very much an indie project of ours and a passion project.
I think it’s beautiful that EA has given us this platform to share it with the world.
It’s okay not to be okay.”
That’s kind of the vibe of it.
So yeah, man, I’m just really excited to share it.
This interview was edited for both brevity and readability.
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