At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking this is Supermassive Games’ next epic narrative horror game – but you’d be mistaken. Agni: Village of Calamity is a chilling love letter to fixed camera horror games from Indonesian developer Separuh Interactive. The game follows Agni, an investigator who ventures into the heart of a remote village despite many foreboding warnings. What could possibly go wrong? Take a look at the trailer below.
During an Xbox Asia Developer Session, we got to learn more about the cinematic horror game. Relentless in her pursuit of answers, Agni delves deep into the mysteries of Desa Purba, collecting clues and solving puzzles while danger haunts her as she searches for her missing partner. It also wouldn’t be a horror game without a protagonist wrestling with her own trauma. Agni: Village of Calamity is a cinematic horror game, crafted with respect to its genre predecessors.
The game features an incredible fixed cinematic camera, giving the game a film-like quality as you venture deeper into the mystery. From collecting items integral to Agni’s survival to investigating items in each area, while avoiding gruesome creatures… or fighting them head-on.
Not only is it an astonishing feat in cinematography, but it’s also a significant milestone for Indonesian indie game development, being able to produce this level of motion capture. Separuh Interactive knew early on in the development that they weren’t just making a game:
“We at Separuh Interactive, with our expertise in both Animation and Games, would like to double down on that cinematic and give a platform for others to collaborate on their future projects, so other indie dev could focus on the game while we handle the mocap production and cinematography.” Said Ardhan Fadhlurrahman, Producer at Separuh Interactive. “Even though we’re not the first to do it, I believe with the expertise that we had, we’re one of the best that could do it in Indonesia. Technology is the tool, but how the tool was used is also something that we could say we had more experience than the average indie dev because of our previous outsourcing experiences for AAA environments.”
– Ardhan Fadhlurrahman, Producer, AGNI: Village of Calamity
Even from just the trailer alone, the game is stunning, so to hear the studio has plans to also support other local studios in motion capture and assist in making that technology more accessible, focusing on supporting a growing community speaks volumes about their care for helping to build a sustainable games industry in the region.
While we don’t yet have a release date for Agni: Village of Calamity, you can find out more here. You can also find the Indonesian developer on X and YouTube. If you’re a horror fan, then you’re going to want to keep both eyes on this one!
