A real medium acted as a consultant for The Occultist

We told you about The Occultist last month when we exclusively learned about the movie adaptation that's being worked on in Hollywood. But what about the survival horror game itself? Now that the game is about to be shown at TGS we recapture our interview earlier this summer at Gamepolis with Pentakill Studios' CEO David Lorenzo to gather some more interesting and even supernatural titbits.

"Could be said, yeah," Lorenzo admits when we compare the titular character, Alan, to a creepy version of Simon Baker's The Mentalist. "For us The Occultist is a guy who is able to interact with what we call the other side, the other reality, to contact with spirits, spectres... A guy whose way of life is to perform rituals based on different cultures and religions, and, yeah, could be said. It's a good definition".

Now, this is when it gets a little bit hair-raising:

"It's not [inspired by Valladolid] by our city, but the real thing is that a real guy gave me the idea of the occultist", says David when asked whether this is all based on real places, books or events. "I know that these things are strange, but I met a guy who is able to talk to dead people like a medium, and he actually gathers data from the dead: names, surnames... And I think it was what triggered the initial concept".

"Yeah, I think we have two important things", he finally adds in terms of gameplay loop. "The first thing is a pendulum, I think it's the different thing [coming] from other horror video games. We have five unique mechanics that surround the pendulum, and we don't want to fight against enemies, the mechanics are just to discover more about the game. And the second thing, which is also related, is the narrative. I think we have a great and a cool, and also original script behind the game and that's what we want the player to know, to unveil the story behind".

Play on the interview for more on balance between action and narrative, or on why choosing Unreal Engine 5. Currently in the process of signing a publisher, The Occultist will be present as a playable demo at Tokyo Game Show 2022 and then aims to release on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC in early 2024.