The Axis Unseenis an upcoming open-world horror game in which the player is thrust into a curious world full of untamed creatures, unique environments, and mysterious lore. Theindie game, which is available to wishlist on Steam now, is also driven by a heavy metal soundtrack and a handful of interesting game mechanics to aid the player in tackling this dangerous new world.
Game Rant spoke with former Bethesda developer Nate Purkeypile about how his AAA experience helped prepare him to make his own game, the story behind its soundtrack, inventive game mechanics, and more.The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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Q: So just to start us off, can you give me a little bit of a self-introduction and just tell me a little bit about who you are and what your background is?
A:Sure, I’m Nate Purkeypile, and I’ve been making games for about 19 years now. And 14 of those years were at Bethesda, so I worked onFallout3,Skyrim,Fallout4,Fallout76as the lead artist, basically art director. AndStarfieldfor about a year. Also co-lead and lead artist on thePoint Lookoutexpansion forFallout3and also the lead artist onThe Pitas well. Those were really fundamental.
Q: Can you tell me a little bit about your inspiration for this game that you’re making now on your own now? Where did the idea come from? And, how did you move from conceptualizing it to actually starting to work on it?
A:So, I’ve always thought there should be more heavy metal games. And I’ve also played, like, some hunting sims and stuff. And I thought it was really cool how they dug deep into the mechanics of that like following the tracks and stuff. But then playing those games, I was like, “I really wish there were monsters,” because there’s so much tension in those games. But then it’s like, “oh, the deer runs away, there’s a monster your face.” And I also grew up in the woods thinking of stuff like that all the time. So it was kind of a natural fit for me.
Q:So, obviously, you have a lot of big credits on these big games, so I’m curious what inspired you really to want to kind of move out of that AAA space and get into making your own game?
A:Well, it’s kind of like, you know, shippedFallout3,Skyrim,Fallout4. Those all won all like the Game stuff. And then lead on76and that did fine, but I was like, “I got the lead position.” At that point, it’s like, well, do I want to wait to see if I’m going to be lead again, because the projects are sort of offset too.
So I was like, lead lighting onStarfield, but not whole lead artist on the project because they had already been working on it for years. So, yeah, it’s like wait to see if you’ll be lead again. But then like, I’ve done so many of those games. I don’t really want to do that again. I want to do something different.So this is a unique challenge that’s not just making yet another open world game, but I totally get why someone would want to be like, “I want to work onFallout 5,” whenever that happens
Q: Coming off projects like those, now working pretty much on your own, what do you think you’ve taken with you that’s helped you be successful so far?
A:I think making open worlds like that, you have lots of good habits on how to work really efficiently because those could have infinite art. It’s a matter of just finding that fine line of like, can I do stuff as fast as possible that also looks as good as possible.
Games are never going to be, you know, Naughty Dog polished on every single thing. It’s about scale. And so that’s really helpful as an indie dev doing the whole game and also an open world game.I would not advise it, but it’s kind of what I’ve done. So it’s like, I know how to do that.
Q: I’m sure after doing it so long, you kind of anticipate where some of the pitfalls and troubles of doing that might be and that probably helps you keep it a little more tight because you’re maybe doing a little less troubleshooting.
A:Yeah, definitely. It’s not my first rodeo when it comes to open world games.
Q: I guess jumping off that a little bit, what are some of the big challenges that you faced, either working on your own or in general with the projects?
A: I mean, in general, stuff has actually gotten a lot smoother than I expected because working with Unreal has been, like, really nice, and it’s nice having this stable tool set.I think marketing is the thing that takes the most time and effort to learn. It’s not like I didn’t do any before, but ot just wasn’t a full time job. Like I’d cut some trailers and stuff, but it’s not like I was with one out there posting on Twitter before. So, that definitely takes like a decent chunk. I’d say 20 percent of the time, but it’s gone pretty well.Usually there’s something big where it’s like, “oh, yeah, I didn’t anticipate this or this thing went wrong, but we figured it out.” I’m sure I’ll run into something as I go to ship.
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Q: You mentioned you’re using Unreal. I know a lot of people that I’ve talked to have been really enjoying using Unreal and find it to be a really great tool, especially for solo devs. Can you talk a little bit about what your experience in Unreal has been like so far? What do you like about it?
A:Yeah, it’s great.So I’m doing the whole project with their blueprint system. And I figured I would reach some point doing the systems where I would dive into code, but so far I still have been able to do the entire project in blueprint. AndI’m also a really big fan of all the stuff they put in Unreal 5in particular, because it makes it a lot easier for open world games.
And they also have their nanite technology, where it’s like those multi-million poly models, which awesome for me because the way I make a lot of the art is I’ll sculpt it in VR. And then instead of doing, you know, like these low poly versions and you have to do baking and unwrapping your models and stuff, I can just take my high-res models and shove them right in the game. So, I can do like a whole sculpture in less than an hour, usually, because you’re skipping all these extra steps because it’s just going to make it run. That tech is magic.
Q:That’s awesome. I would imagine it’s probably a huge time saver, you know, especially if you’re not working on a massive team like you had in the past.
A:If it can make it faster to make, but also looking better, that’s a great combo.
Q: And I feel like very rare combination to run into. So yeah, that’s amazing. Jumping a bit into design now, I want to talk about different aspects of the game. What are some of the tricks you have up your sleeve to achieve the atmosphere and look ofAxis Unseen?
A: I guess I’m going for an exaggerated feel. I don’t like games that are really monotone on the color.So I’m trying to push the color a lot. AndI’ve done a lot of weather and lighting. So that is really useful to leverage that to do a bunch of really interesting stuff.
I think the new lighting system I have is also really for an open world because sometimes you have to know light map bakes and stuff to see all these results, but in UE5 can just see it right away. So that’s really useful to iterate on that really fast.
I just like pushing stuff really far. I think some of the stuff I’ve done in the past that helped me a lot that people responded to the most are probably some of the weirder things like Black Reach inSkyrim.
Q: In terms of making those kinds of decisions on how you’re building environments, do you draw from your past experience or do you have points of inspiration outside that, or maybe like some combination of the two? Where are you getting your main inspiration from for those kinds of choices?
A:I suppose in my mind this is the world where monsters live so it’s just fitting to me having like all these skull statues and two and a half mile tall mountain. So I don’t know. Yeah, it’s not like I’ve traveled somewhere and been like, “oh giant sculptures they were really cool.” Because I guess a lot like the metal stuff that is out there it kind of tends to be more like almost satire with like head banging dudes and stuff like this and to me this is the dark fantasy approach to it instead.
Q: Do you feel like, I mean it sounds kind like the music itself is kind of the forefront rather than being a thought that’s integrated later. Do you feel like that’s true in terms of your creative process that you’re thinking about the music while you’re designing the world?
A:It’s a very intertwined thing where the whole world in the game has a primitive feel to it and so does the music where it was metal but also metal with primitive instruments with all these old drums and horns. One of the earliest things that was even done, I think, maybe even started before building the art, I was already talking about music and started talking to Clifford Meyer from the band ISIS.
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Q: Can tell me a little bit about your relationship? How did you guys meet and come to work together on this?
A:Yeah, I didn’t know him at all before I started this and I was just, you know, thinking about the music from the start. I really like that band ISIS and their music, and I’ve been listening to it for years so I was like, well, I wonder if they license their music. Hey, here’s their band camp page I’m going to just send email and say, “hey I worked onSkyrimand stuff, do you license your music?”
And I heard back and it’s like, yeah they license it, and so I’m going to have some of the music from that. But it turns out Clifford was actually a fan ofSkyrim.I did not expect that response so I’m super happy that that worked out, and it was awesome to work with him.
Q: Oh cool, that’s amazing. You kind of already briefly talked about this sort of primitive metal soundtrack. Did you guys work together to get to that idea, or was that something you already had in mind going in?
A:It was part of my initial pitch to him, and I sent him idea sort of influences that were not really quite what I was looking for, but there’s like this band who is doing musiclike the newSenua’s Sacrificegame, and there’s also like this Mongolian metal band, The Hu, who are really cool.
Both those have really cool elements, and I sent him that, but then saying that it also should be kind of like the ISIS stuff. Then like the first track that he sent back ended up using in my now it’s trailer. It was pretty much exactly what I was looking for. So, I think he somehow was able to understand what I was really going for with the whole metal idea because I can’t think of anything that’s actually like that beforehand.
Q: I’m actually really curious about the integration of the music into the game. How do you actually go about taking the music and syncing it with gameplay? Because you mentioned that it’s a dynamic soundtrack so it can change from, you know, just pure metal to maybe something a little more atmospheric. How does that work?
A:It’s a whole series of music depending on the region you’re in, then what time of day is, and then whether or not you like fighting creatures. All those different events will cause different things like as soon as the sun peaks after a night for example. So the music track will kick off at a certain point, and you’re like, “I made it through the night.”
Or there’s off tracks to, like, if you get a new power, then a track will play. So it’s not too sophisticated to implement. It works out nicely for different events. Also that way it’s not overwhelming because if it were just straight metal the whole time you wouldn’t be able to hear the monsters.
So that’s why it’s a lot more low-key. And sometimes the tracks will play and then after like the initial track plays I can switch to a more low-key version of it where it’s just two of the instruments instead of the whole thing. Yeah, so it becomes more of a background thing at that point.
Q: Gotcha. How do you think that direction with the music affects the player experience? Because obviously you don’t want it to just be heavy metal pumping all the time, like you said.
A:I think music is core to experience and helps build that horror because some of those more low-key tracks are kind of scary when you’re creeping through the woods at night and stuff. But then also once something does see you instead of it being screeching violins, like some typical horror thing, it goes metal. It’s intense, and you’re running from a werewolf at night with tree monsters after you. I think that’s a cool way to build the intensity in a little bit of a more distinct way.
Q: So I want to back up here and touch on some of the elements of game play. I’m curious about the player character. Can you tell me a little bit more about their position in the world, you know, what’s their story and what’s their purpose in this world that you’ve created?
A:Yeah, so there will be like a whole intro to the game that’s set stuff and that will go over how you ended up in the world, so I don’t want to give too much away.
But you originally weren’t in this world. You were in the regular world, so it will start with a little bit real world and how those myths cross over and how people move between these
worlds.You end up with this magical bow with runes on itthat can collect energy from these creatures.
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Q: So, touching on the bow and arrow mechanic a bit. One of the intriguing things for me was not just having different abilities and different arrows, but there’s a sort of interactivity between them and how you can compound arrow attacks to get different effects. Can you talk a little more about that mechanic?
A:So rather than have, like, 3000 different weapons with one use, I liked the idea of weapons with those combinations that you mentioned. So having a fire which, you know, that’s how you kill a giant tree monster is with a fire arrow, you can also use a wind arrow to change the direction that the wind is blowing and then with a big gust of wind you can make walls of flame. So that one’s really fun.
Q:Talking a little bit about the creatures in the game, you mentioned being able to track them and you also have this sort of sense ability. Can you tell me a little bit about that mechanic in terms of the senses, where those come from, and interactions with different creatures in the game?
A: Yeah, so it’s like as you go through the game you’ll unlock all those different sense powers and one of them you can see their scent particles. That way instead of just them smelling you, you can smell the creatures too, or you can come across the tracks and see how old those are.
You also get a sort of vision because one of the regions is cloaked in darkness and it’s like, you could try and bumble through there, but it would be very difficult. But if you unlock night vision then you can see more normally there. So it’s a series of powers to help you become a better hunter but also a little bit of world gating for how you get through the world a bit easier.
Q:That’s actually it for the bulk of my questions. You already answered some of the others in your previous responses, so is there anything else we haven’t touched upon yet that you want to talk about?
A:So the writing. That’s one part I’m not actually handling myself and I’m getting a bunch of different writers from different backgrounds and stuff and giving them a sort of framework of the world asking them what kinds of stories they want to tell the world. So you’ll find all these different journals and stuff throughout the world and these different stories of people that came into this world and like their documented understanding of it.
They might not always know what’s going on because if you’re just a person that gets dropped in this world you’re not going to know how anything works. So I think that’ll be a fun thing for players. And if people don’t want to read, that’s fine, it’s not like you need to read these things to find out where to get a keycard to go to the next area or anything. It’s about world building and I think it’ll be really fun for the people who like that kind of stuff like the same people that love just sitting reading the books inSkyrim.
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The Axis Unseenis in development, and available to wishlist now on Steam.
