"To decide what kind of monster you want to be": Necrofugitive devs on title's unique protagonist, art, and more [Exclusive]

Necrofugitive might be one of the most interesting indie games in development that is currently flying under the radar for many players. From its unique protagonist to the delightful art style, there's plenty going on in Black Garden Studios' upcoming project.

To learn more about Necrofugitive, I got to talking with S. Morris, R.X. Fluharty, and C. Shoenig III, the minds behind the project. Their insights provide a clearer picture as to what players can expect in the game.

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Necrofugitive devs discuss gameplay, art style, and more

Q: It would be great if you could introduce Necrofugitive and the team that’s building it to our readers.

S. Morris: Sure. We’re Black Garden Studios: a small team of four gamers who each had a yearning to bring really fun games into the world. Necrofugitive is the first game project that brought this team together and has glued us as a unit for the last several years. In that time, we launched another, smaller game called DEAD MAN’S HAND: Card Roulette Action while we continued to work on Necrofugitive in the wee hours of the night.

Necrofugitive is a 2D Stealth-Action Adventurer that places players in the world of Avencia. Captured and sentenced for crimes of heresy, the player character receives a visit from the ancient god their cult worshipped. As the last surviving member of the cult, the player is tasked with escaping the kingdom while the zealous faithful pursues them.

Tackle the enemies in Necrofugitive (Image via Black Garden Studios)

The most unique feature about our game is likely the shapeshifting mechanic, which allows players to assimilate and transform into any character they can get their tendrils on. Doing so gives the player access to their likeness abilities, which they can use to either stealthily sneak by or even attack with. Lastly, when they’ve built enough meter, they can also turn into a rampaging monster that slaughters enemies, summons minions, and can smash whatever stands in their way.

Q: What’s the reason behind choosing a medieval Gothic setting with a shapeshifting protagonist who's actually evil? Were there any particular challenges, story or gameplay-wise, in incorporating the power of shapeshifting? How many unique transformations should players expect at launch?

R.X. Fluharty: Part of what makes the Middle Ages fascinating to me is how the belief in monsters and the supernatural wasn’t just common, but a core worldview. Now, a knight fighting a dragon is one of the most enduring images ever, yet in most games today, you only play as the knight. Why is this? Necrofugitive not only flips the script but also allows you to decide what kind of monster you want to be.

Shapeshifting gives power over identity and fits right into Gothic folklore. It’s the game’s greatest asset both in terms of gameplay and narrative. So players can expect to be able to absorb and shapeshift into most enemies they encounter, as long as there’s a body to harvest.

Q: What importance does the story have in Necrofugitive?

S. Morris: Many games in the modern era seem to prioritize the story above the gameplay, but in our case, the gameplay is always the foremost priority. In Necrofugitive, the story serves as a vehicle for fleshing out the world of Avencia and dressing the gameplay experience.

Actions players take in their gameplay - from routing to moment-to-moment decisions - will lead to changes in the story, sometimes in small ways and other times in significant ones. Recently, we launched a narrative trailer to give a taste of that, told from the kingdom’s perspective and the myriad things going on in the background while the player goes on their rampage.

Ultimately, we want the story to be a complement to the gameplay that makes the world feel alive.

Necrofugitive's art-style is eye-catching (Image via Black Garden Studios)

Q: For me, the hand-drawn animations and the art style significantly elevate the gameplay experience of Necrofugitive. Do share about the influences behind it and the creative process that brought it to fruition.

R.X. Fluharty: Necrofugitive can get pretty chaotic. Combat can involve up to dozens of enemies from multiple warring factions at once. But clogging the screen with names and health bars to manage this wasn’t an attractive option. So getting the art style right was not only important, but necessary in order to have gameplay read smoothly despite on-screen chaos.

Enemies are designed with their helmet and weapon being distinct in their silhouette, and environments are detailed but muted in color to allow both the action and the player to be the main highlight. Smooth animation completes the scene to deliver exciting combat and abilities.

The enemies can provide to be a handful in Necrofugitive (Image via Black Garden Studios)

Q: Can you elaborate a bit on the enemy AI and how they complement each other while attacking the player character?

C. Shoenig III: The enemy AI are all thinking and observing independently; trying to balance victory with staying alive. Each enemy has a randomized personality. Where one soldier sees danger and flees, another might see a chance for glory and charge in.

In groups, they’ll start to learn what attacks you are using, and the survivors will start anticipating and dodging those attacks much more effectively. You’ll want to hit them hard and fast before they can adapt.

Q: Players who have tried out the demo have been mentioning Necrofugitive’s likeness to Prototype. Did the team draw inspiration or were they influenced by any such work of art, video games, or otherwise?

S. Morris: Our team loves video games as a medium, and has been playing them since we were children. As such, the list of influences from within the gaming world is quite vast. There are definitely some tentpoles that come to mind - Prototype is a great game that a lot of players have brought up to us.

We’ve also seen comparisons to other games like Castlevania, Blasphemous, Carrion, and even the Kirby series. Being compared to so many different great titles, rather than just one or two, is quite flattering and also tells us that we’ve managed to create something that is appealing to different players for different reasons.

What is more prominent, and visibly on display in each screenshot, is the influence of medieval history itself. R.X. can speak more about this at length, so I’ll defer to him on that.

R.X. Fluharty: The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages is full of dramatic events. Plagues, famines, out-of-control wars, and apocalyptic prophecies were all part of daily life. It’s a setting ripe for visual storytelling. Avencia is a land full of secrets, and we believe that environmental clues can reveal so much more than any dialogue tree.

Fight through groups of enemies (Image via Black Garden Studios)

Q: How has the Kickstarter campaign come along for Necrofugitive?

S. Morris: It’s finished. We were successfully funded for our base goal of $50,000 and are now in the process of fulfillment. The campaign is still accepting Late Pledges, which will allow us to receive additional funding even after the campaign has ended, though this will be for a limited time only.

Something rather unique we are doing is giving out keys for our previous title as a thank you to our backers. A lot of the time, backers end up stuck waiting a very long time to receive the games they backed, so we wanted to give them something fun to play in the meantime while they wait.

Q: With the demo being live for some time, how has the response been from players? Any particular feedback that took you by surprise?

C. Shoenig III: The response has been pretty glowing so far. The biggest surprise for me is how many players softlocked themselves by sending the elevator up without first getting on it. That was very much a mistake on my part with how I set that up. I will do better at setting those up in our new areas.

In the meantime, seeing the occasional notification pop-up during my workday about the infamous elevator is very funny to me. Maybe we’ll see a return of that elevator design for accessing a secret area.

S. Morris: For me, the biggest surprise of all has been the international support for this title. With our internal reporting tools, each bug report and feedback submission provides the language of the player’s system. When we compare this to our Wishlist data, we confirm the story: Necrofugitive is enjoyed all over the world!

We actually found that to be a bit of an obstacle during the Kickstarter campaign - we received emails from players who lived in regions that couldn’t actually use the site to make payments due to differences in payment processing between their regions.

With all of this said, we’ve made a point to emphasize our desire to localize Necrofugitive first and foremost to the regions that are most eagerly waiting for it.

Q: Has the team earmarked any release date yet?

S. Morris: At current funding levels, we will get the first scenario of Act 1 to players within the next six months. Additional funds will enable us to do things like hire additional staff to work on the game, thus expediting the process for future updates and releases. These factors will influence the release date of the full title.