TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 1,975
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
"You have to do the work in order to find that voice, or find that thing that makes you kind of stick out and stand out."
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SFX
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Less than two years ago, Surgent Studios was on the brink. Its debut project, the afrofuturist metroidvania Tales of Kenzera: Zau, reviewed well but underperformed commercially. In July 2024, Surgent laid off around a dozen employees. Three months later, it put its entire team on notice for redundancy.
It's a trajectory that's all too familiar in today's games industry. But the story didn’t end as it seemed destined to. Since then, Surgent has released not one, but two games, each completely different from the other.
It's a remarkable turnaround, and quite the pivot from spending five years building Zau. Surgent's director, the actor Abubakar Salim, tells me it was not the original plan. "We were very much to going down the route of making a game every three to four years and going bigger and bigger," he tells me over a video call. "We just had to adapt and change because we're still indie, and we're still quite to the ground."
Surgent's switch from a traditional game development model to a rapid turnaround was prompted by several different factors. One was a conversation with the publishing arm of Pocketpair—the developers of Palworld.
"I'll always thank Bucky and Palworld for this, because I remember pitching them this big idea. What we were originally going to make was triple times the budget of what Zau was," he says. "And I pitched it to Bucky, and Bucky was like 'Ah, it's a bit too big for us.'"
Undeterred, Salim quickly came back with a new, smaller idea. "I kind of was like 'Fuck it, how about I just make this really funny horror game?' Well, I say funny, it was a very dark horror game," he says. "It's gonna be like an FMV, Command & Conquer-esque videos, but also really dark, like P.T."
The result was 2025's Dead Take, a short, sharp narrative horror with performances from Neil Newbon and Ben Starr. Dead Take was well received on Steam, while the much lower overheads for the game meant it didn't need to find a huge audience to be successful.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
This led Surgent to rethink its approach, focussing less on taking big swings, and instead pursuing smaller, more creative ideas, emphasising sustainability rath...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Less than two years ago, Surgent Studios was on the brink. Its debut project, the afrofuturist metroidvania Tales of Kenzera: Zau, reviewed well but underperformed commercially. In July 2024, Surgent laid off around a dozen employees. Three months later, it put its entire team on notice for redundancy.
It's a trajectory that's all too familiar in today's games industry. But the story didn’t end as it seemed destined to. Since then, Surgent has released not one, but two games, each completely different from the other.
It's a remarkable turnaround, and quite the pivot from spending five years building Zau. Surgent's director, the actor Abubakar Salim, tells me it was not the original plan. "We were very much to going down the route of making a game every three to four years and going bigger and bigger," he tells me over a video call. "We just had to adapt and change because we're still indie, and we're still quite to the ground."
Surgent's switch from a traditional game development model to a rapid turnaround was prompted by several different factors. One was a conversation with the publishing arm of Pocketpair—the developers of Palworld.
"I'll always thank Bucky and Palworld for this, because I remember pitching them this big idea. What we were originally going to make was triple times the budget of what Zau was," he says. "And I pitched it to Bucky, and Bucky was like 'Ah, it's a bit too big for us.'"
Undeterred, Salim quickly came back with a new, smaller idea. "I kind of was like 'Fuck it, how about I just make this really funny horror game?' Well, I say funny, it was a very dark horror game," he says. "It's gonna be like an FMV, Command & Conquer-esque videos, but also really dark, like P.T."
The result was 2025's Dead Take, a short, sharp narrative horror with performances from Neil Newbon and Ben Starr. Dead Take was well received on Steam, while the much lower overheads for the game meant it didn't need to find a huge audience to be successful.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
This led Surgent to rethink its approach, focussing less on taking big swings, and instead pursuing smaller, more creative ideas, emphasising sustainability rath...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?