Tuesday, 09 March 2021 22:08

Loop Hero Developer Explains The Game's Writing Philosophy

Written by Anthony Puleo
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Loop Hero combines elements of roguelike gameplay, RPG action, deckbuilding strategy, and more together, but its story is particularly intriguing.

Published by Devolver Digital and developed by Four Quarters, Loop Hero is currently taking Steam by storm. Its interesting premise and unique blend of gameplay elements from different genres work together to make it a standout title this year, and Game Rant recently had a chance to talk to one of the minds that made it all possible. Aleksandr Goreslavets, better known as blinch, is the game composer and sound designer for the game, and also contributed to its game design as a whole. During the interview, blinch opened up a bit about the game's writing philosophy and how Four Quarters crafted this empty yet intricate world.

For those that haven't checked it out yet, Loop Hero's premise is simple. A hero walks around a single, looping path indefinitely as the player generates the world around them. In terms of story, fans see a hero try to save the world from destruction countless times, but there's a key twist here. In this game, the world has already been destroyed, and the hero has to remember what the world was like as they go on their adventures. This leads to some very interesting narrative decisions and great worldbuilding.

RELATED: Loop Hero: How Do Chrono Crystals Work?

"The main story was written by our artist Deceiver. In the beginning, we had basic gameplay and the plot was then written according to the principle of 'answers to questions asked by the game.' Why we only have a road and nothing else is probably because the end of the world happened. Why does the hero create the world around him even though he is just an ordinary person? Well, let's say he 'remembers' these lands. This is how the basis of our plot was created, and based on that, we added interesting features and stories."

When asked about the writing philosophy used to come up with the story of Loop Hero, blinch responded with a surprising answer. As it happens, the gameplay came first here, and the story was derived by answering questions that the game itself seemed to be asking. For example, at the start of any expedition in Loop Hero, the world is completely empty save for one road. In seeking to explain this, the developers decided that the end of the world must have happened. Similarly, when pressed on a reason for why the hero is able to recreate the world around him, the developers came up with the concept of him remembering this world.

We tried not to pay much attention to the world of the past. Although the hero "remembers" the world, he is more concerned about its future. Meanwhile, in order to reveal the world and its inhabitants, we have added dozens of small stories that you can read in the encyclopedia. We put a lot of effort into these stories, and we hope players who like to read will appreciate them.

Early on in Loop Hero, players will encounter a group of vampires. Without getting into the details of the encounter, it becomes quickly apparent that vampires in the world before its end were seemingly very different than what most players think of them. These types of small hints at the world of the past are abundant in Loop Hero, but there's also an encyclopedia full of them within the game. Although players may never get to see what the world was truly like back then, those that enjoy diving deep into the lore of games will find no shortage of material within Loop Hero.

Loop Hero is available now on PC.

MORE: Loop Hero Cheats

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