Today Tokyo-based studio Unseen provided another look at the development of its upcoming game Kemuri.
Specifically, we meet Kemuri‘s lead game designer, Kenan Alpay, as he has a lovely chat with the studio’s CEO and creative director Ikumi Nakamura.
Alpay is a veteran of game development, having worked for ten years at Ubisoft (where he last worked on South Park: The Fractured But Whole) and three years at Square Enix.
As the two share a PB&J sandwich and rice with umeboshi (an extremely sour pickled plum… I don’t know how you do it Kenan), they chat about the game’s development, Japan, and work at Unseen.
As a bonus, scattered across the video, you can see several glimpses of gameplay prototypes of Kemuri, which is great because we haven’t seen much just yet since the game’s reveal at The Game Awards last year.
Another interesting element highlighted by the video is the fact that, despite being located in Tokyo, the studio employs both Japanese and Western developers from various countries, with Alphay himself often interpreting for them.
We hear that the goal isn’t just to create a good game, but also a good studio that can merge both Japanese and Western development styles.
You can watch the video yourself below.
If you’re not familiar with it, Kemuri is a supernatural-themed online co-op PvE game in which players enjoy the role of Yokai Hunters, who act as a bridge between the worlds of humans and that of Yokai.
They can use the “Fox Window” power to see the supernatural, but at the same time, using it causes them to be detected as well. You can fight against the Yokai or negotiate with them, on top of collecting their powers to use them in battle.
If you want to see more, you can also enjoy another video that provides an even deeper look into the game.
If the name of the studio doesn’t ring a bell, it was founded in 2021 by Nakamura-san herself. She’s best known as the former creative director of Ghostwire: Tokyo after rising to internet fame due to her super-cute presentation at Bethesda’s press conference during E3 2019.
Ste previously worked on The Evil Within and its sequel, Okami, Bayonetta, and even Scalebound. She left Tango Gameworks in 2019 before founding Unseen.
