Episode 166: Chasm
Added 2018-08-20 13:07:39 +0000 UTCHello, friendos — here's a Retronauts podcast about (gasp) a brand-new game. But it has an old soul. And it kind of works as an epilogue to our Metroidvania history series of episodes, too.
I've been following Chasm since back in the days when 1UP.com existed, if you can believe that. By complete luck I happened to be taking a trip to the area where creator James Petruzzi lives, just a week or two after the game's release. Given how brilliantly Chasm channels the spirit of Koji Igarashi's portable Castlevania games — the last of which, Order of Ecclesia, turns 10 years old shortly — it seemed like worthwhile topic to tackle in an interview with James.
In fact, our interview turned out to be a more expansive and broad-ranging conversation than I expected, not only touching on Chasm's classic inspirations but also the philosophy of design that goes into a game like this and just how much player expectations for retro-style indie games have shifted in recent years. It's a fun conversation about a fun game, which I've been enjoying at a leisurely, don't-want-it-to-end kind of pace over the past couple of weeks. (Check it out if you haven't yet!)
Description: Jeremy talks to Chasm's James Petruzzi about creating the best IGA-vania style exploratory platformer in a decade, along with the challenges of meeting modern player expectations with a game built so clearly in the classic spirit of Symphony of the Night.
Comments
Awesome! I’m glad the dev was receptive to porting it over and I hope we get it this year.
El Pescado
2018-08-28 16:57:50 +0000 UTCSwitch version was just announced.
Retronauts
2018-08-28 15:38:55 +0000 UTCI checked out the trailer for Chasm after listening to this episode and it looks awesome. I hope it hits Switch eventually. It looks like it’s more to my tastes than Dead Cells ended up being. I wouldn’t mind getting more episodes about current indie games as long as they could be tied back to old school influences and stuff like this one was with Castlevania and Symphony of the Night.
El Pescado
2018-08-25 00:47:25 +0000 UTCExcellent, thoughtful discussion about Chasm and the broader genre of metroidvanias. Refreshing to hear a developer speak frankly about his game's reception, which has been mixed. As you said Jeremy, games are made by actual humans, who just want to make the best game possible. I for one had shelved the thought of playing Chasm, in this deluge of great metroidvanias of late, but now intend to pick it up soon.
Kormakur Gardarsson
2018-08-21 13:17:58 +0000 UTCI didn't pause, I said "Acerbic?" There's clearly an audience for that approach. I started out writing that way myself, but I outgrew it once I finally made the connection that, oh, games are made by actual humans.
Jeremy Parish
2018-08-21 00:41:15 +0000 UTCI'm really looking forward to playing Chasm and found this interview -- with it's reference and discussion about SOTN and Metroid -- to be super interesting. I also found it interesting how there was potentially something unsaid when you both paused after James mentioned Yahtzee's review style. I'm a fan of both RN and Zero Punctuation in a big way, and given that he has been making his signature reviews for years, I'm often curious what games journalism and creators thinks of this 'roast' approach. Is it entertaining? Is it unfair? Is it both?
Travers Travers
2018-08-20 20:16:06 +0000 UTCIt is... GOOD. — JP
Retronauts
2018-08-20 13:55:45 +0000 UTCNot gonna lie, I've been waiting for Jeremy's take on Chasm since the game was finally released!
Diamond Feit
2018-08-20 13:13:27 +0000 UTC
