ENENRA

Your journey into game development must have some exciting twists. How did you make the leap into this world?

I started ENENRA in September 2020, around the time I graduated from university. The project was originally called “Tempus,” and it began as a first-person hack-and-slash/shooter hybrid focused on time-rewinding mechanics. That idea quickly shifted into a third-person hack-and-slash with a broader range of abilities. I had never made a third-person game before, or a hack-and-slash for that matter, so it was a huge challenge.

I’ve always loved games like Devil May Cry, Vanquish, Metal Gear Rising, and Ninja Gaiden. Those games heavily inspired ENENRA, especially when it comes to combat and enemy AI. Moments like the fight against Mistral in Metal Gear Rising are some of my favorite in gaming and constantly inspire how I think about boss fights and cinematics.

My academic background includes studying Games Development in college and Computer Games Design at university. I previously worked at Ninja Theory on Hellblade 2 and now work at Spliced. ENENRA was an amazing gateway into the industry — a project that let me show what I’d learned and prove my skills on a technical level.

Unreal Engine is a powerhouse. Could you tell us more about your workflow?

Unreal Engine is an incredible tool and keeps getting better every day. Here’s the workflow behind a parkour cling ability I implemented:

• One of the new parkour moves I added is a wall hook/cling, letting the player latch onto a wall briefly before ejecting off. This is all handled in Blueprints.
• A trace fires in front of the player to check if the wall is in range and to gather the impact point.
• Using that data, the character moves to the right location with a slight offset so he doesn’t clip through the wall.
• During this motion, an animation “masks” the movement to the wall. Movement is halted and gravity is set to zero.
• Gravity is later restored through animation notifies, creating the effect of sliding down the wall. It isn’t full gravity until the animation ends or is interrupted.
• Another line trace checks for the height of the wall.
• If it’s too high, the cling plays. If it’s low enough, the character performs a mantle.
• Another trace checks the wall’s thickness. If it’s too thin, the character transitions into a mantle-flip.
• When ejecting, the system checks if the player is clinging and jumps, then launches the player in the calculated opposite direction.

ENENRA puts a big emphasis on abilities. Could you paint us a picture of what this third-person game is all about?

In ENENRA’s world, everyone is born with a Daemon core — a crystalline organ that grants powers. Some people move like lightning, while others have underdeveloped cores. A powerful organization gathers elite core wielders into a mercenary force. Enenra, the main character, starts with a dormant core.

There are three stances that grant different move sets:

• Blade Master – a flexible stance with a wide variety of base moves
• Ranged Shift – focuses on close-to-mid-range attacks
• Iron Wall – a high-risk, high-reward counter-based stance

On top of that he has access to five katana variations. Each katana is embedded with a Daemon core that grants a fragment of its ability, such as the Strand Blade with its tether-style skills.

Quick explanation to the new tether ability!

There will be balancing in the future but here is the first instance of balance! #indie #indiedev #indiegamedev #indiegame #gamedev #gamedevelopment #gamedeveloper #ue5 pic.twitter.com/U4ngG8g97O

ENENRA (@ENENRAGame) May 20, 2023

Enemies have their own cores and abilities too, so managing your powers to counter theirs becomes a key combat strategy.

The ability system is tied tightly to the combo count: as you land hits, abilities unlock. If you take damage, the count drops. This creates a high-risk high-reward flow and gives the combo counter more meaning than just a score multiplier.

Combat uses a hybrid free-flow system. You can instantly attack enemies in any direction by tilting the stick toward them, moving freely in 360 degrees. When locked on, you gain aerial attacks, executions, and targeted abilities.

The launch date must be a secret for now, but can you share how development is going?

I’m roughly 55 percent through development. There are about five more levels to build, plus boss fights and abilities. If everything goes well, we’re aiming for mid-2024.

The models and animations look fantastic. Are these store assets or custom-made?

The concept for the main character and weapons was created by the very talented Michael Adams (@RCaijin), where we went for a cyberpunk-meets-organic visual style.

The enemies — Ashigaru and Yakubo — as well as the swords were modeled by Arturo Vazquez (@Dspazio_3D), who did an amazing job bringing them to life. He even designed the sword with a functional handle the character can pull.

The final main character model was created by Fajrul Falakh (@Fajrul97), complete with multiple customization segments.

I’m moving away from store-bought assets and shifting toward custom-made models. Any store animations used are heavily edited to maintain cohesion with ENENRA’s combat, since mixing animation packs can get messy fast.

Speaking of numbers — that 21k Twitter following is impressive. How are the Steam wishlists looking?

With no marketing and just posting my work on social media, ENENRA has reached around 23,000 wishlists. I’m extremely grateful for every single one.