Hi, I'm Robin.

Recently I got the chance to interview Jae Yoo of Studio Sai, the creators behind the upcoming indie game "Eternights." This hack-and-slash, Persona-inspired game recently had the honor of being featured in Sony's State of Play livestream event, and in my opinion it was certainly a stand-out in that crowd! I first saw in-progress clips of this game back in 2020 and have followed the game on and off since then. I'm impressed with the progress mad so far and after seeing them featured on State of Play, I just had to interview the creator! Do to a busy schedule, this will be done similarly to my interview with 2LeftThumbs where I sent him batches of questions. So without further ado, let's get on to the interview!

(Eternights Promotional Art.)

Robin.: "Where did the name 'Eternights' come from?"

Jae.: "It will be a spoiler!"

Robin.: "Is this your first game or have you made other games before?"

Jae.: "Before Eternights, I worked on Sky as an engineer and on Legend of Runeterra as an artist."

Robin.: "Was it scary quitting your job to start working on Eternights?"

Jae.: "I would be a lie if it was not scary. However, I really believed in the game I wanted to make."

Robin.: "Do you have a team helping you or is this all a one-man job?"

Jae.: "There is a team helping me on this project."

Robin.: "What does the team help you with when it comes to making the game?"

Jae.: "The biggest help that I am getting outside of what I can do are dialogue writing and environment art in the game at the moment!"

Robin.: "How did you get featured in State of Play?"

Jae.: "It’s a long story, but we got a chance to show off our demo to the team at Sony and they liked the demo. Since then, we started developing a relationship with them."

Robin.: "Did you expect the 'hold R2 to hold hands' clip in the trailer to become as popular as it did?"

(Hold R2 to hold hands.)

Jae.: "I did not, but R2 and holding hands indeed will have a very important role in the game. I am glad it became memorable, because if they found that memorable, then maybe they’ll find the entire game memorable."

Robin.: "How do you feel about the reception to the game so far?"

Jae.: "It is definitely better than what I expected."

Robin.: "How would you say the story and gameplay are different from that which inspired it?"

Jae.: "If we are talking about Persona here, then the easy thing that we can point to is our hack-and-slash combat system and how the game’s story revolves more around romance and the apocalypse. We’d like to share more things that make our game unique, but that would be spoilers!"

Robin.: "With the hack-and-slash gameplay, do you think someone who's a fan of Devil May Cry, Hades or other similar games will like Eternights?"

Jae.: "I believe everyone has a different reason to like D.M.C. or Hades when it comes to the combat. I am excited to see player's reaction once they play it!"

Robin.: "Aside from the Persona series, what else inspired Eternights?"

Jae.: "Beside the gameplay, most of the inspiration actually comes from anime. Shinkai Makoto is one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to the core of the story that I wanted to tell to the player."

Robin.: "What about Shinkai Makoto's works would you say you like the most?"

Jae.: "I love how he works. You can see it if you watch his documentary on making his own film. It inspires me in how to create visual storytelling."

Robin.: "Was the game's art style inspired by anything in particular, or just anime in general?"

Jae.: "In terms of color, I am not sure where the colors are coming from at the moment but I felt the color fits the atmosphere that we’re trying to create in the story."

Robin.: "You advertise the game as a dating action game, what other games in those genres do you enjoy?"

Jae.: "I am not sure if this would be a “dating action” genre game but I really enjoyed Yakuza: Like a Dragon recently."

Robin.: "Are there any particular artists that inspire you? This doesn't have to be limited to just the gaming sphere."

Jae.: "Miaki Sugaru. I adore their work."

Robin.: "What advice do you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?"

Jae.: "If I could give any advice, jumping in and just staring doing it would be a good starting point. Sometimes, stuff might look complicated or like lots of stuff to do from a certain point of view, but once you jump in and just start trying, that view can change."

(A shot from the Eternights trailer.)

I'd like to once again give a big thanks to Jae Yoo for agreeing to this interview! It's awesome to see the attention this project has gotten over the years, and I can't wait to play it once it launches in 2023! If you guys want to keep up-to-date with this game's development, follow Studio Sai on YouTube and Twitter. I know I took kind of extended break, that wasn't on purpose! I'll hopefully get back to putting out more interviews soon. Thank you all for the support!

And with that, thank you all for reading. I'll see you all later.

-Robin.

(If you like what I do and you want to see more, consider making a one time or monthly donation on my Ko-Fi. Every little bit helps! My commissions are now open as well for those of you that are interested.)