Tales of Kenzera: ZAU dev Surgent Studios is making an Afro-Gothic RPG inspired by Planescape: Torment

Tales of Kenzera: Zau developer Surgent Studios is making what it calls an “Afro-Gothic RPG” inspired by games like Planescape: Torment, and is “looking for a funding partner to bring it to life.”

Speaking to VGC, studio head Abubakar Salim showed a pitch for the game, for which the studio is currently seeking funding.

The game, codenamed Project Uso, is an isometric RPG. “It’s still in the Tales of Kenzera universe, but it’s darker, it’s more visceral, it’s gritty,” Salim told us.

“The best way I can describe it is a single-player, isometric, Afro-Gothic action RPG,

“The story (with Zau) is that as a shaman you’re challenging the God of Death as a way of looking at the idea of healthy handling grief, so I came up with the idea of what if one reader is inspired to defy death itself, so they create this android which is fashioned to cradle the spirits of the dead.”

“And what if that spirit isn’t a human being, it’s a God, Eshu, the God of Chaos, so now you’ve got these two mentalities in one frame? That’s something I thought would be really cool to explore.”

Salim tells us that he envisions the game being similar in price in Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, which launched at $19.99/£17.99.

“I like respecting the player’s money and time,” he told us. In terms of the game’s scale he says he isn’t looking to make a game that’s “photorealistic”.

“We want to really focus our time and attention on the mechanics, on the gameplay on the feel of it as a whole, because I think that’s what’s really key,” he said. “That’s what is going to make it really sing.”

“As passionate Dungeons & Dragons players,” Abubakar said, “the Surgent team and I knew we wanted to try our hand at creating our own RPG system. As a way to give Project Uso a fast-paced, real-time feel, we created the Crucible system, which requires players to roll against themselves.”

Surgent Studios has developed a fully functional prototype of Project Uso and is actively seeking a partner to bring it to life. Last week, the developer put its staff on notice of redundancy as it seeks funding for the project. 

Earlier this year, the company laid off over a dozen developers. 

Tales of Kenzera: ZAU was released earlier this year. Published as an EA Original title, the game received generally positive reviews at release, with a Metacritic score of 76.

VGC’s Tales of Kenzera review called it a “challenging, poignant Metroidvania.”

“Tales of Kenzera: ZAU feels like a studio stretching its legs for the first time,” we wrote. “Visually inventive, and full of great platforming, average combat and exploration lets it down.”