‘Cassette futuristic’ pixel art CRPG Wind Up Deadman to be published by NEOWIZ
From South Korean developer SaneNuts Studio.
NEOWIZ will publish Wind Up Deadman, a retro pixel art-style CRPG set in a “cassette futuristic” world, developed by South Korean developer SaneNuts Studio, the companies announced. It will be available for PC via Steam.
“Wind Up Deadman meshes branching narratives with a powerful character-building system in a way we haven’t seen in other games, aligning with our story-driven philosophy and making it a perfect addition to our publishing catalog,” said a NEOWIZ representative in a press release. “We’ve seen SaneNuts Studio’s ability to grow an IP with their previous work, and we hope our partnership further elevates this new CRPG to a wider, more global audience. Whether it is first-party or third-party, we want to develop titles that push the envelope of modern narrative experiences.”
Here is an overview of the game and studio, via NEOWIZ:
Wind Up Deadman takes place in a world where survivors of a bio-disaster live in a solitary tower in the desert and rely on cassette tapes to preserve their memories. Players assume the role of an archive runner named Zephyr, who entrusts his soul to a robot as they track down his lost memories. Erased, implanted and reinterpreted memories dynamically influence the game’s narrative and shape Zephyr’s personality on the hunt to uncover the legacy of the past.
SaneNuts Studio is a Korean development team with extensive experience in the RPG genre and a vision of emphasizing the joy of role-playing while offering unique worlds and narrative depth. Their debut mobile title, Metro Blossom: Choice and Dice, was recognized as a Korea Game Award Indie Sector Finalist and placed in the TOP 10 at the 2021 Google Play Indie Game Festival. They demonstrated the potential for IP expansion with the publication of the spin-off novel ‘Coffee of the End of the World’, set 13 years after the game.
Watch an animated trailer below.