The alpha demo for 'Legion of Judgment: Fallen Angel' (hereinafter 'Legion of Judgment'), a 2.5D noir action Metroidvania currently under development by Theremin Interactive, was released on Steam on June 29. This comes three years after the game was first unveiled in 2023.

Generally, three years is not a short development period. For a reasonably sized studio, it would be enough time to produce a fairly polished result. However, for Theremin Interactive, three years has been far from enough. With a team of just three people handling everything from planning and programming to sound, art, and motion, three years passed in the blink of an eye. Nevertheless, Theremin Interactive has not wasted a single moment. While laying the foundation for the game, including the development pipeline, they have done their best to elevate the quality despite limited manpower and resources.

The result of that work is this alpha demo. Through it, Theremin Interactive plans to validate the combat mechanics that 'Legion of Judgment' aims to achieve. To mark the occasion of the game's first public appearance in three years, we met with Yoo Jun-young, CEO of Theremin Interactive, to hear his candid thoughts on the game's current state and future plans.

It has been three years since the game was first revealed in 2023. How have you been.

"We have been busy, still fully immersed in development. Thanks to our consistent efforts over the past three years, our development pipeline is now almost fully established. You could say we have entered the stage of adding content to the framework we have built.

The biggest change is in the visuals. Since we are a small team and lack a dedicated artist, we are learning as we go, which might make things look a bit lacking. However, thanks to our continuous efforts, we have made significant progress compared to before. Of course, we are well aware that there are still many areas that need improvement. We are not entirely satisfied with some aspects of the current build, and we plan to keep refining them.

Adding content to the framework suggests that development is now on the right track.

"I appreciate you saying that. But there is still a long way to go. As with many other games, you could say the real work is just beginning. Completing the game from start to finish is a given, but we also need to polish everything from visuals and motion to direction to ensure there are no awkward elements. Since we are a team of three, I hope you understand that this will take time.

You recently released an alpha demo, but at about 20 minutes long, it felt like just a taste. It was surprisingly short; was there a specific reason for that.

"Legion of Judgment consists of three main elements: the missions shown in the demo, the Metroidvania-style 'Palace of Memories,' and the hotel management system related to character growth. We felt that showing all of this from the start would be overwhelming.

We debated what would be best to show, and the result was the validation of our combat mechanics. Since the demo was created for that purpose, we were concerned that making it too long without much story would actually diminish the fun, which led to the current length.

Of course, there was also the physical time constraint. We decided to make the demo in May and finished it in a month, so these factors combined meant it had to be 20 minutes long. However, based on the feedback, it did seem a bit short. Many people suggested extending it to about 30 minutes, so we are considering increasing the length by adjusting enemy placements.

What do you intend to validate through this demo.

"We want to get feedback on the combat mechanics and the game as a whole. For example, whether the motion feels awkward, if the controls are responsive, and how the effects and direction feel.

Ideally, this should be verified through internal QA, but with only three of us, it is difficult to check everything. We have also become too accustomed to the game ourselves. In fact, one of the most common pieces of feedback was about the flash effects. We were so used to them that we didn't find them uncomfortable, but many players did. We are running this alpha demo to hear honest opinions on the game, including things we might have missed or overlooked.

As it is an alpha, there are many rough edges, such as graphical glitches. Are you worried about leaving a bad first impression.

"It is true that I am worried, as I know how important a first impression is. But there must be a clear reason why players feel that way. If the motion is bad, we can refine it; if the effects or direction are too much, we can tone them down. Since this is an alpha demo, we want to approach it with honesty.

Fortunately, while there is plenty of feedback saying it feels 'unfinished' or 'not great,' there is also a lot of helpful, detailed feedback—like 'this motion here feels awkward,' 'the effects here are too intense,' or 'I encountered a bug when doing this.' We are using this feedback to improve the game's quality in real-time.

It is short for a combat-focused demo, but it feels like you put a lot of effort into it, such as including cutscenes.

"You can think of it as the result of our deliberation over what would make 'Legion of Judgment' stand out compared to other Metroidvanias. We included cutscenes—regardless of their current level of polish—to demonstrate that we are putting significant effort into the story and presentation.

It must be difficult for a small studio to put so much effort into things like cutscenes.

"That is true. Fortunately, Unreal Engine 5 provides a markerless motion capture feature that allows us to capture full-body motion using only video, without the need for sensors or markers. This has allowed us to manage with a small team.

Even within the action game genre, every title pursues a different direction. Some focus on precise combat exchanges, others on parrying, and some aim for flashy, stylish action. What is the approach for 'Legion of Judgment'.

"If I had to classify it, I would say it is a beat 'em up style action game. When you think of a beat 'em up, there is that 'satisfaction of hitting.' You naturally feel the urge to approach an enemy and strike them. The core here is not the approach, but the desire to strike. It is about that visceral, punchy feel. In that sense, Legion of Judgment aims to be a game where you can truly feel the impact of every strike.

Of course, there are differences from traditional beat 'em ups. The most notable is the Y-axis. Since our game lacks a Y-axis, we plan to capture the chaotic feel of a beat 'em up by increasing the number of enemies.

For the combat system, we focused on skill-based, flashy action. The combat in 'Legion of Judgment' can be broadly divided into four categories: basic attacks, command skills triggered by specific attack timings, SP-consuming skills, and execution moves. We’ve created a loop where you whittle down enemy health with basic attacks and command skills, then earn SP by finishing them off with an execution move, which you then spend to unleash powerful skills.

Beyond that, there are many details we have paid attention to. Because the alpha demo is short, you might not have felt it, but in Metroidvanias, you often face situations where you don't know where to go, which can be stressful. We have addressed this by providing subtle, natural cues for the direction to take, without being too direct.

Recent Metroidvanias often have a high barrier to entry due to their difficulty. What are your thoughts on that.

"I believe that can be a strength or a weakness depending on the game. Regardless of personal preference, we are making sure that 'Legion of Judgment' avoids reaching an extreme level of difficulty. While players will certainly encounter challenging bosses that require multiple attempts, we want to avoid forcing them to face such obstacles repeatedly.

For instance, we include clear 'clear' elements. Take a fire-attribute boss as an example. It is intentionally difficult, and you might feel like you've hit a wall when you first meet it. There are two ways to handle such bosses in our game. One is to learn the patterns through trial and error. But as I said, not everyone wants that. For those players, we provide 'clear' elements; if you explore the surroundings, you can find means to overcome the boss.

So, using the fire boss as an example, there might be an ice-attribute weapon hidden nearby. If you are confident in your controls, you can just fight it, but if not, you can overcome it by exploring and finding the right weapon.

As an aside, it might be good to include darker and more brutal elements, such as by enhancing the blood effects.

"Blood effects are already included, and we have even created dismemberment animations. These aren't just visual; they affect gameplay. For example, if you cut off a leg with a low attack, the enemy might crawl or beg for mercy. We have created various such animations.

However, it felt a bit too cruel. While we are aiming for a dark atmosphere, we didn't intend for the game to be this brutal. We are also concerned about different censorship standards in each country. So, we will need to adjust this further.

Compared to other Metroidvanias, equipment seems to play a significant role. The fact that each piece of equipment has different grades and stats feels like the hack-and-slash genre. Why did you choose this.

"We did this because we want players who aren't confident in their controls to enjoy the game as well. Overcoming challenges with skill is great, but there are definitely people who struggle no matter how many times they try. For those players, this is just a source of stress. We decided that it is better for them to find equipment and build their character to make clearing the game easier.

My past experiences have influenced this. When I played 'Castlevania: Symphony of the Night' in the past, the most enjoyable moments were when I obtained new gear and pondered how to set it up. In 'Legion of Judgment,' I want to provide that same joy by allowing players to customize their loadouts—including artifacts—based on their playstyle, rather than simply equipping whatever gear has the highest stats.

It seems like you could create various builds, such as a parrying build with a generous window, an evasion build, or a bloodsucking build. Is that possible.

"That is our ultimate goal for builds. In the alpha demo, both evasion and parrying are available, but in the final version, we plan to make them usable only by equipping specific artifacts. We plan to have artifacts for parrying, 'Issen' (flash strike), and evasion (just dodge), and by allowing only one to be equipped, we want players to choose based on their playstyle.

The protagonist carries two swords, but only uses one. Is the other just for decoration.

"No. We plan to implement a 'stance' system where you use different weapons depending on your stance, which will change the combat feel. In this alpha demo, it was difficult to include the full stance system, so we limited it to one. The protagonist carries a Japanese sword and a hwan-do (Korean sword); the current combat style in the alpha is the hwan-do stance. The Japanese sword stance will offer a different style and feel, and we also plan to include a dual-wielding stance that can be used once per mission, for a total of three stances.

When using the dual-wielding stance, the protagonist discards their armor. This isn't just a visual effect; it makes them incredibly strong at the cost of reducing their defense to 10%. It is a high-risk, high-reward stance, and we intend to provide unique fun for each stance.

Metroidvanias are generally characterized by an organically interconnected stage structure. How does 'Legion of Judgment' handle this.

"I think you might not have felt that in the alpha demo. It uses a mission-based stage structure that only lightly incorporates side-scrolling action and Metroidvania exploration elements. The organic stage structure you mentioned can be experienced in the 'Palace of Memories,' which you visit after clearing these missions. The Palace of Memories has a non-linear structure where you can recover your lost abilities and memories.

It is notable that you are reflecting feedback immediately, rather than just collecting it for the final release.

"We did that to show that we are not just recording player feedback, but truly listening to it. Of course, reflecting every minor detail has a limited impact, so in the future, unless it is a critical bug, we plan to collect feedback and implement it in batches so that the improvements are clear.

How far along is the development currently.

"Including the development pipeline, the game system is about 80–90% complete. Now, all that remains is to add content and polish it to raise the quality. This depends entirely on how many people we can bring on and how much time we can invest, so it will vary based on funding. We estimate that content resources are about 20–30% developed, and at our current pace, it would take about 10 years for the three of us to reach our target quality.

When do you internally expect the release to be.

"Under the current circumstances, if investment or publishing is secured and development costs are covered, I think we can release it within 20 months. Of course, this is only if the investment proceeds as planned. We will continue to show progress, so please look forward to it.