At Poznań Game Arena, we had the opportunity to learn about many upcoming games, one of which was Cult of Shadows. Developed by Many sp. z o.o., this dynamic action game transports players to the world of Bel Noa, a place full of secrets and enemies. We had the opportunity to talk to Tomasz Janicki, the originator of this project and one of its main creators, about the details of its production.
Cult of Shadows is a challenging game that focuses on the player’s skills. The main goal is to defeat hordes of cultists and the Mythos they summon, which allows gamers to strengthen their character’s skills and upgrade their weapons. However, fighting with large numbers of enemies simultaneously is not easy, prepare to die many times in order to return stronger. Will you be able to face the enigmatic Cult of Shadows?
In this interview, we asked Tomasz about the feedback gathered during PGA, the most important mechanics, and the inspirations behind the creation of this fictional world.
Intensely, I’m now dedicating all my time to implementing the feedback I collected at the expo. Since several hundred people played Cult of Shadows during PGA, that huge amount of input really gives you a boost.
Of course, we were there the whole time, and crowds kept showing up. There were very few moments to catch a breath, for example, on Friday I was alone the entire day and only sometime after 6 p.m. I had literally a single minute of peace before someone else walked up and asked, “So what do you have here?” It was a very intense time, but a very positive one.
They could see some artwork from the first two levels of the game, a small display of gadgets, and a computer with the game running. And there was also this guy with glasses and no hair who happily talked to everyone and explained the game he was working on. I’m not sure which of those things worked best, but a lot of people stopped by and eagerly played our game.
These numbers show that many people took on our challenge, and honestly, some of them came back multiple times to play longer. And since the game is survival-like, there’s no shortage of enemies, so the numbers went up very quickly. As for deaths, I decided not to share that stat because, well… you die a lot.
Exactly. The idea was to take Diablo and Vampire Survivors and combine these two games in a way no one has really tried before. That aligns with how I approach games as a player, I want them to be challenging and rewarding when you make progress. During the expo, it became clear that Cult of Shadows has a noticeable souls-like difficulty element, so I’ll have to update the Steam description accordingly.
However, many people said that even though the game is difficult, it’s also satisfying, because even if your first death happens after 30 seconds, and the next one after 40, by your fifth attempt you manage to survive over two minutes. That’s the kind of satisfaction that motivates you to keep trying.
Yes, though it’s not just about learning. You also keep your progress, your items remain with you, and you can collect, improve, upgrade, or enchant them. There’s some freedom to experiment. Besides that, you keep honing your skills, you learn when to dodge, when an enemy will attack, and what their animation looks like. People really want to learn and play difficult games, a lot of players said that at PGA, so I know this is the right direction.
A lot of people focused on controls, specifically on dodging. We have a roll mechanic, and many players are used to active dodges from other games. But in Cult of Shadows the idea was different, the dodge isn’t just a way to avoid enemy attacks, but also a mean of controlling your character during invincibility frames. That’s useful when the screen is full of enemies, you can easily get stuck. In our case, you can not only move but also push enemies aside with your momentum, creating some space.
However, many people said they had trouble getting used to this dodge, so we’ve already implemented an option to adjust it to personal preference. You’ll be able to choose whether you want the original roll or a version like the one used in other games, both on keyboard and controller, I’m also currently polishing controller support.
Let me put it this way: the game constantly throws huge numbers of enemies at you. Right now, the cap is set to 100, but once optimization is done, that number will rise to about 300. It’s possible that during some boss fights we’ll block regular enemies from spawning for a limited time, but at the moment, during all boss and mini-boss encounters, the horde attacks nonstop.
And here’s where the problem begins. I can roughly estimate the lower bound, assuming you play perfectly and don’t die much, clearing most maps on the first try, it will take around 4 to 6 hours. But I wouldn’t assume everyone will play that fast, particularly because there will be around 200 achievements to earn.
Additionally, you’ll be able to customize the difficulty with the gold you collect, for example, increasing enemy numbers or their level, but also acquiring various boosts like more starting health or faster movement. All of this makes it impossible for me to determine an upper limit, but I think everyone will find something that suits their style.
I don’t want to reveal too much about the Cult of Shadows itself, you’ll learn everything in the game. But each of the four playable characters will have their own motivations that you’ll discover during gameplay. Players will have a journal where they can follow everything and uncover the secrets of Bel Noa, the capital city where the action takes place. Each level is set within this location, but there are twists that will reveal more about the Cult. As for the Mythos, we have an ambitious plan to add a bestiary alongside the journal so players can learn more about the enemies.
The story is handled by Elian Strugała, and he’s the best person to answer that question. From what I know, he drew inspiration from many mythologies, which required extensive research and organizing all the threads. He studied Celtic and Greek mythology, so you’ll find references to them, but a large part of the story is simply his own creation.
Right now, I’m the only one working full-time, but there are quite a lot of people involved part-time. We currently have about 17 testers helping out and testing the game regularly. There’s also Tomasz Rusinow from Fool’s Theory, who is responsible for level design and also oversees testing. Additionally, we have Katsiaryna Slizheuskaya, who works on 2D graphics and UI. Everything else is mostly on my end.
Yes, I was the instigator of this whole endeavor.
Around the beginning of last October I started the initial phase, a prototype combined with pre-production. The project moved to the next level at the beginning of this year, when I started looking for people to form a team. So, it’s been a year, an intense, but fruitful one.
Well, I joke that I’m always in a hurry, and I was quietly hoping we’d make it in time for the October Next Fest. But things turned out differently, we started testing in September, and that showed us it was worth taking more time and polishing the game further.
And honestly, so much changed for the better between September and PGA thanks to these small tweaks that I’m glad it happened this way. But we’re releasing the demo for February’s Next Fest, and if nothing gets in the way, the full game will launch in the first quarter of next year.
You can try out Cult of Shadows during playtests, which started today.
