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We've been following Mansion Games for a while and here at last lead artist and programmer Miki Carrillo walks us through the different features, retro and modern, that make up the upcoming side-scrolling adventure.
"Hi Gamereactor friends, this is day 2 at the Barcelona Game Fest and I'm here joined by Miki and as you can see we're taking a look at Operation Highjump, which is a game I was looking forward to learning more about because, you know, it's a World War II setting but it's fresh in its approach and it's also not just a run and gun but it's got an RTS touch to it so first of all tell me a little bit about the setting in the last days of the European Resistance Well, this is the idea, we are making a game based on the last days of World War II Well, this topic, World War II, is not the real one, you know, it's with a bit of magic and a bit of..."
"What can I say?
We don't have zombies but we have some kind of magic and some kind of dark magic and these kind of things Dark forces?
Dark forces, yeah, yeah, yeah Well, the game is not based on the classical Metal Slug We have a lot more layers of gameplay, we have different characters that we can use We can use a sniper, we can use a bomber with an airplane So we added some kind of different layers to give more interest to the game and make a fresh style And that style permeates the art as well?
So I can ask you about the art specifically, what can you tell me about the approach and the sort of the drawing style that you chose for this one because it's different compared to Metal Slug and other World War II side-scrolling games Yeah, we mix two different styles For the enemies and the vehicles we have the classic pixel style, you know but we mix it with the background The background is more some kind of illustration with all the effects that we can use in the modern engines Today with effects, light effects So we mix these two styles, the retro style and the new style to create something new, you know Something with more interest And there is a beautiful story about this game and Azpiri And we love his art and of course we've been following him for many many years and of course he was, you know, back in the days of Dinamic and we enjoyed his cover art in the past So can you share a little bit of that story and how you got to work with him and it's probably one of his last works, if not the last Of course, well the team worked with Alfonso some years ago I was not in the company at that moment So I don't have the possibility to work with the great master, you know And for me working in a game with a cover from Azpiri is something very special I remember my young days, you know, when I played a lot of games in the 80s and the 90s with a cover of Azpiri and after I worked in Dinamic for several years I don't meet with him, but at the end of my career I can have a game with a cover of Azpiri and for me it's something very special for me and the rest of the team, you know Your art meets in the game Yeah, after all these years I can have a game with a Azpiri cover So for me it's something very very important Fantastic A little bit more about the gameplay So how is the game structured?
You mentioned sort of the RTS layer to it, a little bit of Commandos touch to it So how are we going to progress through the game?
Is it level based and then you have some final bosses or is it more open-ended?
How does it work?
It's a level based with final bosses But while you are playing you are receiving from your commander, you are receiving different missions So it's not just running to the right, you know It's not just running and killing You need to do things, you need to get objects, you need objects to do things You need to talk with NPCs So there are a lot of backgrounds and a lot of things that you need to do It's not just running and killing It's something with more layers We try to give this a little difference with the classical ones We mentioned the art but something that goes with the setting and with the art is also the music And this sounds a little bit like Turrican to me, I don't know why Well we got the music from Chris Huelsbeck as well So like the Azpiri, the team made a great work contacting him And yes, we got the same artists that did the Turrican music and other great games So for me and for the team it's something very important To have Azpiri and the music is amazing And about the status of the game, if I'm correct you ran a pretty successful Kickstarter And you're pretty much ready to go When are you guys releasing, on which platforms, what's left to do?
We make a deal with Tesura Games So we are waiting a window to sell the product to the public But we are still working on it It's not finished, we think the next year it's going to be finished And we wait for a good window to go to the market And any platforms confirmed so far? PC only?
We are working on Unity so we can make the port to any platform And we foresee to have it in PlayStation, Xbox and PC at the moment But we are open to every platform And finally something very crazy that you want to share about the game Something very special, something that happens in the story Something that is, I don't know, perhaps part of a level That is very very crazy or fresh or a boss Or something that you can share without getting into spoiler territory No, well I invite everyone to play the game Because it's a fresh game, it's got a lot of layers Got a lot of bosses, got a lot of background And it's something that can refresh a little bit the style Fantastic, thank you so much for your time Enjoy the show, looking forward to playing more Operation Highjump [The Fall of Berlin] in 2026 Enjoy the show"
