PAX West 2024 was fantastic this year, featuring the highest ratio of fantastic indie games that I’ve seen anywhere in quite some time. And, as always, publisher Serenity Forge was out in spades, showcasing gems like Keylocker, Roman Sands RE:Build, and — the topic of this interview — Hack the Publisher’s Centum. Of those, both Keylocker and Roman Sands RE:Build had quite chunky demos that I had a good chance to play before PAX, but Centum? PAX West was the first chance I got to experience Centum.
And let me just say: Serenity Forge continues its essentially perfect record with this one. What a treat for fans of horror, for fans of point-and-click adventures, for fans of art in games… Just an all-around treat. It took me about 20 minutes to play through the first playable demo of the game at the Serenity Forge booth (and I was actually the first person to get to play it at PAX), and I was captivated the entire time.
From extraordinary art direction, to unorthodox and captivating storytelling, to an obvious appreciation to detail, Centum is the kind of “escape room” game that all future games featuring “escape” should aspire to be, at least if the full game lives up to the demo I played. Even though it was one of the first games I played at PAX, and I’m writing this more than 2 weeks after the event, I’m still thinking about this one.
After finishing the fantastic demo, I got a chance to talk for a while with Serenity Forge’s Máté Gecser, the Project Manager responsible for overseering the development of Centum. Máté works closely with the developers, and had some excellent insights into what the game will ultimately look like, including digging into the game’s themes, narrative, and gameplay features.
But, I can’t really do our interview justice just by talking about it, can I? And so, without further ado, here is my exclusive PAX West 2024 interview with Máté Gecser, Serenity Forge’s Project Manager for Hack the Publisher’s Centum:
Graves: Hello! I’m Graves, and I’m happy to be here with Máté Gecser, Project Manager at Serenity Forge. And the latest project you’ve been managing in that role is Hack the Publisher’s Centum. To jump right into it, I’ve just finished playing the PAX West demo for Centum, but for those who haven’t been as lucky, what is Centum?
Máté Gecser: In a few words, Centum is a point-and-click horror/adventure game, where you wake up in a strange cell, and you have 100 days to escape this changing cell. While you try to escape, you encounter plenty of puzzles and strange beasts. By the end of the escape, though, your entire reality — your perception of the world — will be changed. There’s more than just escape on the mind, or at least, your escape is not just from the cell.
Graves: It sounds like it is in keeping with some of Serenity Forge’s other titles — Slay the Princess comes to mind — where you should expect to play the game more than once, in order to figure out what is “really” going on? You always publish games with more going on underneath the hood.
Máté: Yes, yes. That is the same here. The good news with this game is that the game’s shape changes wildly based on what you choose during the process of escape. There are a lot of choices, some more obvious than others, and they all affect the game in a lot of ways. You should expect to go through the treadmill more than once, so to speak. Different routes are practically different games, and of course there are different things you can take away from each, and from all of them put together.
Graves: Very interesting! I noticed that there is a lot of hopping between different times and places in the trailer. Being in one place and ending up somewhere else altogether, though seemingly always in a “cell” of sorts. Do you want to elaborate on that?
Máté: Good question… The thought is that, as you experience the game, there is an AI in the game. And based on the comments you make, the choices you run with, the tasks you start and finish, that AI is shaping the world around you. And, because of that, you are jumping to different dimensions and locations.
And this AI, it can make your life easier, or it can make your life harder. You experience highs and lows based on the AI’s whims, but, of course, you don’t know what its whims are. It gets to manipulate the world around you, but you don’t know anything that would let you do the same to it. I mean, the AI has an obvious job, and that is to keep you in the prison, whatever shape that takes. To ensure you don’t leave your cell. And so you can work with that, but as for why? That is a secret. You’ll see.
Graves: It feels very prescient, with the rise of AI in the real world, social media being everywhere, and surveillance being a constant fact of day-to-day life. In the demo I played, you feel so lonely and cut-off, but, of course, you’re always being watched. That feels extremely… right now, for lack of a better term.
Máté: It is. But it’s also a response to what the developer team knows. The development team [Hack the Publisher] is a Russian and Ukrainian development team, and so a lot of the game’s themes are inspired by things going on there. A lot of that ties into what you said, but there is more there; things like war and government control are there as well. And separation.
I can’t speak on specific inspirations for the team because the team is so broad and influenced by so many different things, but the end result is what counts. When a bunch of creative people get together from Russia and Ukraine — even despite all the conflicts between those countries right now — what inevitably happens is that these writers, these designers, these coders, they end up making something that touches on a lot of different things. That goes deep into the psyche of people. When you get those people together, they come up with this amazing, incredible idea.
Graves: The game is very well-written, I certainly see how it can touch on all these themes and unify them. And, now that you mention it, I can definitely tell that there is Russian and Ukrainian influence. The writing does have that kind of dour humor of Russian literature, the art is unsaturated but striking, like so much Ukrainian and Russian art is… It’s definitely there. Sorry, I don’t have a specific question.
Máté: I think a lot of this comes naturally, with the game being originally written in Russian. So some of the style, you notice because of that translation. And other things… Well, I wouldn’t be surprised, knowing the developers, if there are even specific references there, terms that show up from older sources, but might appear slightly different because of differing translations. I think you’re on to something there.
Plus, like you say, there is a Slavic feel to it. What you are seeing, it really is a demonstration about who these developers are. They really have put their heart on their sleeves for this one.
Graves: Well, now you’ve stumbled into one of my favorite questions: while we are on the topic of the story, what are some of the themes that Hack the Publisher is trying to convey with Centum? What is it trying to say?
Máté: Oh, that’s a hard one. Well… I mean… I think that you do have to discover a lot of that yourself. I’m not even done discovering that myself, and I work with the game. It’s a hard question.
That said, I can say a few things. The game is divided into 4 chapters, and each one takes a different look at what the developers are trying to say. I’m sorry I can’t get into specifics — I’ll have to ask the devs — but I can say that each chapter is filled with different puzzles and minigames, and that those puzzles and minigames… well, they are puzzles in more than one sense. They mean something bigger, a lot of the time, I’ve found.
I don’t want to put words into the developers’ mouths, or to spoil what their meanings are, but… Look at the puzzles. Think about them, even after you solve them. If you do, it very well might come together in the epilogue, which you’ll reach after about 5 to 7 hours. Of course, you still have to deal with your experience always changing, and your reality always changing. So even in the epilogue… there’s always more.
Graves: This is why I love talking to publishers, because you always get the important stuff across that I forget to ask about when I get too focused on “themes.” You know what people want to know. Maybe that will help with my next question: the description of Centum on Steam says “…you must escape. But is that really the goal?” Now, I’m very curious: why might you not want to escape, as the player?
Máté: Well, as I mentioned, there is an AI in the game. And it is trying to keep you in the cell for some reason, and it has the power to change your life for the better. So, with that… Maybe it is better to stay in the cell? Maybe comfortable imprisonment is better than whatever is outside the cell? Especially if you learn how to manipulate the AI, to make it work in your favor. And if you do, then leaving the cell might not be in your interest. You played Slay the Princess, I think you understand what kinds of factors might be in play.
Graves: That’s a good comparison, one I’ve noticed as well. Centum certainly continues the Serenity Forge brand: games Serenity Forge publishes often tend to have unreliable narrators, subversive twists, and darker paths than you originally expect.
Máté: That’s for sure. We really do specialize in that, I guess! We like games that explore deeper angles than one might expect. That’s part of it.
Graves: And what are some of the deeper angles that Centum explores? What is the ‘hook,’ so to speak? Aside from what we’ve already discussed.
Máté: Hmm… Well, I could tell you, but then the development team would kill me for spoiling their game. But I can say, I think what really makes Centum special is that it always challenges you. Morally, mentally, observationally. Some challenges make you depressed, other challenges make you happy, others get you stuck for a long, long time. And so what really should hook you in is responding to challenges. And that’s where those deeper elements come from, too. I can’t tell you what kind of challenges you’ll face, but overcoming challenge is what draws players in, and the developers know that there are many different ways to challenge players.
Also, it’s a horror game, so the decisions you make, the themes that are tackled, and the ideas that are there… They are a lot darker and more frightening than you might expect. It’s a great genre for that kind of challenge, it works so well.
Graves: Horror has a tendency to raise the stakes, which makes puzzles more tense and decisions more harrowing. It can go to pretty dark places.
Máté: It can, it really can. But, you know, there is a lot more to like than the story. The art design is really cool, with these higher-pixel-count screens that look like paintings, it’s fantastic.
Graves: Oh, please keep going about the art style. It is what I was going to ask about next.
Máté: Oh, it’s so cool. It’s really amazing. I love what they did there. There’s the background art, which looks like paintings, but there are also all these incredible animations — they get so unsettling, but gorgeous. They have fully realized locations, especially. Even things in the backgrounds, like birds, they are rendered in detail. Looking at the background and in corners is rewarding, there is always more to see. Some games that have pixel art, you know, they can use it to be simple and as an excuse. Not Centum, though, this game is just filled with so many things.
Graves: One of those things, artistically, that I noticed was that between scenes gorgeous, dreary scenes set in the cell, there are some simpler, more abrasive blank and white animations — often paired with almost poetic, literary text. Is there a reason for that contrast? The difference in style between the abstract, black-and-white animations and the semi-realist depiction of the cell?
Máté: You’re asking hard questions! I cannot tell you specifically, but I’m sure the artists would know. Sometimes, there are artistic decisions that only the artist knows. I’m just as fascinated as you are. But I do think you are on the right track: the main gameplay takes place in the cell, which you should know, as a player, is 100% real. It is where you are. Even if it is made by the AI, you are there, it is reality for you. I guess that gets muddy, but still.
But then it comes to the other, black-and-white animations, and those are not real. They are something like a dream or something. I don’t know exactly what is being said through those, but they aren’t as real. They are more abstract, like you say, more like a dream, or poetry. You are somewhere else.
Graves: Maybe those could be equated to metaphors?
Máté: Maybe something like that, yeah. I feel like we could talk for a long time about what those are.
Graves: Don’t get me started, you don’t even want to know how long I can talk about meanings in games. But, to avoid that — and so I can make time to see other games today — let me wrap this conversation up with a couple last questions. Firstly, when can we expect Centum to release?
Máté: Currently, we are expecting Centum to release sometime next year, in 2025. It depends very much on where the dev team is at, though, and we like to make sure our developers get the best game possible and can be comfortable working on their games. But right now, we are shooting for 2025,hopefully early. But, to keep up to date, you know, wishlist the game. That’s the best thing you can do for Serenity Forge and for the developers.
Graves: I’ve already got it on my wishlist, and definitely agree that it should be on the wishlist of anyone else who likes horror or adventure games. I loved my time with it. Now, to finish up: is there anything else you want people to know about Centum?
Máté: I think that the strongest part of Centum are the puzzles and the minigames. They aren’t just smart, but they have a habit or working into the story, and into what is being said. They are just so creative, and thinking outside the box will reward you while you are playing with them. So, puzzle-lovers, this is your game!
Graves: You could not possibly sell me on this game more. I’m so excited for it. Thank you for your time, Máté. Please extend my excitement to the devs for me!
Máté: Will do! Thank you, thank you.
Now, that was an interesting interview. Serenity Forge seems to have yet another phenomenal game on their hands (I swear, they don’t miss), and Máté was an excellent interviewee. A bit of “inside baseball” here, but I hope you all appreciated his ability to skirt spoilers and still provide exceptionally thought-provoking answers. After all, it sure seems that Centum is going to be the kind of game where “thought-provoking” is one of its defining features.
Outside of that, both Máté and I meant it when we said that those who like puzzle games, horror games, or adventure games should already have Centum, which you can find here, on their Steam wishlist. Seriously, you don’t want to miss this one.
After all, don’t you want to escape?
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Graves
Graves is an avid writer, web designer, and gamer, with more ideas than he could hope to achieve in a lifetime. But, armed with a mug of coffee and an overactive imagination, he'll try. When he isn't working on a creative project, he is painting miniatures, reading cheesy sci-fi novels, or making music.
