Though the cutthroat world of gacha video games is reigned by juggernauts akin to Genshin Impression or Love and Deepspace, the extremely aggressive market is house to an entire host of thriving titles with sizable, passionate communities of their very own, even when they don’t make the headlines all too usually. Amongst these, Reverse: 1999 is a standout — its setting, music, and artstyle are among the most distinct you’ll discover in all of gaming. It’s a recreation as a lot as it’s a murals and a love letter to historical past, fully not like what folks usually think about a profitable gacha recreation to be.
Launched in China in Could 2023 and world wide in October of the identical 12 months, the worldwide model of Bluepoch’s turn-based RPG will likely be celebrating its second anniversary later in 2025. Nonetheless, the festivities have begun early — on August 7, the extremely anticipated collaboration between Reverse: 1999 and Murderer’s Creed kicked off, bringing iconic franchise characters akin to Ezio and Kassandra to the PC and cell recreation as playable items.
To mark each the present and upcoming milestones, DBLTAP had the chance to conduct an e-mail interview with Bluepoch concerning the AC collaboration and two years of Reverse 1999, diving into subjects such because the similarities between the 2 franchises, the evolution of the sport to date, and the affect of its Steam launch.
Q: What made you need to collaborate with Murderer’s Creed — particularly AC2 and Odyssey?
A: The choice to collaborate with Murderer’s Creed was pushed by a captivating thematic synergy between our two universes. Each Reverse: 1999 and Murderer’s Creed delve into completely different historic time intervals, however by way of distinctive views. Murderer’s Creed’s wealthy historic settings and compelling narratives, mixed with its components of thriller and secret organizations, resonated strongly with the core themes of Reverse: 1999. Ezio Auditore from Murderer’s Creed II and the world of Murderer’s Creed Odyssey are iconic and beloved by a worldwide viewers, and we felt that their inclusion would create an thrilling and interesting expertise for gamers of each franchises.
Q: How a lot of a problem is it to take an IP like Murderer’s Creed that’s so standard and well-known worldwide after which translate it into your recreation — particularly because the type of Reverse: 1999 is so distinctive?
A: Translating an iconic IP like Murderer’s Creed into the distinctive type of Reverse: 1999 actually presents its challenges. We’re deeply respectful of the Murderer’s Creed universe and its established lore and character designs. Our aim is to combine the essence of Murderer’s Creed – its historic settings, iconic characters, and signature components like stealth and agility – in a manner that feels pure inside the world and gameplay mechanics of Reverse: 1999. This requires cautious consideration of how Ezio’s skills, for instance, might be tailored into our turn-based fight system whereas staying true to his character. It is a balancing act between honoring the supply materials and making certain a seamless and fulfilling expertise for our gamers.
Q: Setting out at launch, what sort of story have been you hoping to inform with Reverse: 1999 and has that imaginative and prescient advanced in any manner during the last two years?
A: At launch, we aimed to craft a story that was each mysterious and deeply participating, centered across the distinctive idea of time reversing. Our preliminary imaginative and prescient was to weave collectively historic settings with a contact of the arcane, making a world that felt each acquainted and fantastical. Over the previous two years, whereas the core thriller stays, our imaginative and prescient has actually expanded. We have delved into extra numerous historic intervals, launched a wider array of compelling characters with their very own wealthy backstories, and explored the intricate relationships between completely different factions inside our world. The gamers’ enthusiastic reception to our storytelling has inspired us to proceed pushing the boundaries of our narrative and discover much more complicated and intriguing themes.
Q: Reverse: 1999 has succeeded in a really aggressive market during the last two years. What do you assume the largest strengths of each the sport and your studio are?
A: We imagine our success stems from a mix of things. The sport has a distinctive artwork type which blends retro and trendy aesthetics, and is tough to copy as a result of it’s so detailed. Coupled with a deep, lore-rich storyline, absolutely dropped at life by our gifted voice actors provides a really immersive expertise. Moreover, our studio’s largest energy lies in our ardour for artistic freedom and our dedication to listening to and interesting with our participant base. We worth each concept and attempt to create unconventional and memorable characters that resonate with our gamers.
Q: Trying again on the final two years, what piece of suggestions from gamers resonated with you essentially the most? What stunned you essentially the most?
A: The suggestions that has resonated most deeply with us is the appreciation for the historic accuracy and a focus to element we put into the sport’s numerous settings, character outfits, and cultural references. Realizing that gamers who’ve a real curiosity in historical past discover and luxuriate in these nuances is extremely rewarding. What has stunned us essentially the most is the sheer ardour and dedication of our world neighborhood. The fan artwork, theories, and general engagement have exceeded our expectations and actually encourage us to proceed creating and enhancing Reverse: 1999.
Q: As somebody who studied historical past, I actually recognize the eye to element you place into all of the outfits, story backgrounds, and so forth, regardless of the sport being set in a actuality that’s not precisely ours. How do you strategy the analysis for all this? Is all of it executed in-house or do you communicate to specialists?
A: Our strategy to analysis is primarily pushed by our in-house staff’s ardour for the twentieth century, particularly standard tradition and historic occasions. We conduct in depth analysis on numerous time intervals, specializing in vogue, structure, social customs, and vital historic moments. Whereas we do not usually seek the advice of exterior specialists, our staff contains people with a powerful curiosity and data in historical past, and we meticulously evaluation our work to make sure a degree of authenticity inside the context of our recreation’s distinctive alternate actuality. Our aim is to create a world that feels grounded and plausible, even with the presence of Arcanists and the mysterious “Storm.”
Q: What has your strategy during the last two years been to maintain the turn-based fight gameplay contemporary and difficult for gamers? Do you assume you must combine issues up extra sooner or later or is it greatest to maintain issues simple and streamlined?
A: Our strategy to preserving the fight contemporary has concerned introducing new characters with distinctive abilities and mechanics that encourage completely different staff compositions and methods. We have additionally carried out new gameplay modes like “Critter Crash” and “When the Alarm Sounds” in our earlier replace, which provide various kinds of challenges and rewards. We imagine in sustaining a core, streamlined fight system that’s straightforward to grasp however provides vital strategic depth. Shifting ahead, we goal to proceed introducing new components and twists by way of occasions and character skills slightly than drastically overhauling the basic gameplay, making certain a stability between familiarity and novelty.
Q: How early in growth was the duality between the distinctive, lovely character artwork and the extra simplified, but cheerful and expressive fight chibis established? Was it all the time deliberate that manner, or was {that a} type of ‘Eureka!’ second?
A: The duality between the detailed character artwork and the expressive fight chibis was a deliberate inventive selection established very early in growth. We envisioned the character artwork as a technique to showcase the distinctive personalities and backstories of our Arcanists in a visually hanging method, akin to the type of a visible novel. The chibi type for fight was meant to convey a extra lighthearted and dynamic really feel to the battles, permitting for clear visible communication of actions and talents whereas retaining the appeal of the characters. It was all the time deliberate to have these two distinct types complement one another, enhancing completely different elements of the general recreation expertise.
Q: Numerous gacha video games appear to be making their technique to Steam lately, however you anticipated this pattern final 12 months. Would you say transferring to Steam had a optimistic affect on the sport?
A: Sure, completely. Launching Reverse: 1999 on Steam has had a considerably optimistic affect on the sport. It has broadened our attain, permitting gamers preferring PC gaming to simply entry and luxuriate in our title. The optimistic reception and excessive consumer scores on Steam point out that this transfer has been well-received by the neighborhood and has undoubtedly contributed to the sport’s general success and visibility within the aggressive gaming market.
With limited-time story quests that convey gamers to Florence and Greece – primarily based on AC2 and AC Odyssey, respectively – and beneficiant rewards celebrating the collaboration, it’s an ideal time for brand spanking new and outdated gamers to take a look at Reverse: 1999.
