Inven Global

Today (19th), the third day of TGS and the first Public Day, the official release schedule and post-launch development roadmap for 'Void Diver: Escape from the Abyss' (hereinafter 'Void Diver') were unveiled at the TGS 4Gamer booth.

During the presentation, Producer Baek Ho-young of Studio Nemo took the stage to introduce service plans, key content, and update directions. Introducing himself as directly handling various aspects of game development from combat design to sound design, Producer Baek said, "I'm doing almost everything." He went on to describe Studio Nemo as "a team aiming to create fun games focused on pixel art," asking players to look forward to 'Void Diver' as Studio Nemo's first title.

Before diving into the game introduction, two cosplayers took the stage to present characters from the game. Gayoung is the first playable character in 'Void Diver', who heads into the dungeon to find her brother who went missing there. Elara is an AI character who assists the player in various ways, appearing in-game as an AI residing inside a monitor.

'Void Diver' is an extraction action RPG for up to three players, featuring 2.5D visuals and a unique worldview. Set in a world where an alternate dimension overlapped with reality, giving rise to a massive dungeon in the center of the city, players enter the dungeon to collect relics and safely extract. Through this, they upgrade their characters and gear before venturing back into the dungeon in a gameplay loop.

The protagonist is the manager of the antique shop 'BALUSHA'. However, this is their role in the city; in the dungeon, players command the Divers who venture within.

In the dungeon, players must manage three main elements: Health, Stress, and Light Source. Stress represents the mental capacity to endure inside the dungeon. When Stress rises, negative situations can occur, such as anomalies triggering or mental breakdowns.

The Light Source is depicted in forms such as a flashlight. Enemies exposed to the Light Source become weakened, so players must keep enemies within its light during combat. Conversely, taking attacks from outside the light can inflict heavy damage.

Inside the dungeon, players must manage inventory along with Health, Stress, and Light Source, farming loot properly before returning safely. However, returning alive is not everything. Selling retrieved relics for as high a price as possible is equally important—representing the main duty as an antique shop manager.

There are two main ways to sell relics: negotiating directly with VIPs to adjust the price, or hiring clerks to handle sales.

Once money is earned, players can craft equipment or enhance traits to challenge higher-level dungeons. It follows a fundamental loop of farming, progression, and re-challenging.

Compared to other extraction games, one of 'Void Diver's distinguishing features is its relatively lower death penalty. The game offers three main options in this regard: losing everything upon death, losing only a portion, or losing nothing at all, aimed at easing player burden.

As an extraction game, the ultimate objective of combat in 'Void Diver' is not farming itself. Ultimately, the goal is escaping the dungeon. Therefore, rather than hunting every monster in sight, avoiding combat and farming only what is necessary can sometimes be more effective.

The game presents these choices throughout the dungeon. Enemies range from regular monsters defeated in a few hits, to powerful boss monsters difficult to face solo, and named bosses that can be challenged solo but require preparation and time.

When encountering them, players must choose whether to engage and defeat them or avoid combat and continue farming elsewhere. While named boss-class monsters take time to defeat but offer chances at great rewards, it may be more efficient to bypass regular monsters while looting.

After finishing the game introduction, Producer Baek Ho-young said, "We released a demo in January this year, and we are grateful that the response was better than expected. Currently, our wishlists have surpassed 250,000, with a significant portion coming from Japan, for which we are deeply thankful." He added, "Meanwhile, thanks to ongoing feedback from the demo, we plan to release 'Void Diver' directly without Early Access. This, too, is thanks to all of you."

Following this, the launch date for 'Void Diver' was finally revealed. 'Void Diver' is scheduled for official launch in January 2027, with a more specific release date to be announced later.

Content will also expand significantly in the full launch version. Chapters will be added all the way through to the ending, accompanied by a slew of new monsters, equipment, areas, and Divers.

Character-exclusive skills will also be added. The plan is to design them so that even the same character can feel different to play depending on the skills chosen.

Shop management content will expand as well. VIP affection will be added, allowing players to exchange gifts, and the negotiation system will be improved to be more entertaining. In addition, features like fishing, interior decoration, and mini-games will be added. Notably, players will also be able to pet cats upon full release.

Game balance will also see improvements. Work is underway on overall balance and QoL features, including lowering early-game entry barriers, and mod support is planned. Furthermore, save data from the demo will carry over to the official launch version.

Producer Baek Ho-young concluded the presentation by saying, "We are exhibiting at the Indie Booth in Hall 9. We are also running events, so please drop by and show your support."

The game has a bit of a Japanese subculture vibe, but it isn't centered around anime-style female characters like typical subculture games. Announcing the release date for a game like this in Japan was a bit surprising—is there a specific reason you announced it in Japan first?

“Truthfully, the response in Japan has been great, and we felt announcing it on a stage like TGS held significant meaning. We are aiming for a January launch, and there aren't many major game shows before then. We could participate in the Taipei Game Show in January, but we decided TGS was the right opportunity to announce the release date.

You mentioned during the presentation that the response in Japan is strong. What do the numbers look like?

“Until recently, Japanese wishlists were roughly equal to China's, but recently they've surpassed China. You could say it's practically our highest region now.

What do you think is driving such a positive response in Japan specifically?

“I think there are elements that align well with Japanese player preferences. With subculture elements combined with gameplay that rewards deep investment, it seems to resonate well in Japan.

It also features Cthulhu, urban legends, and creepypasta themes. Do you feel these genre characteristics are particularly well-received in Japan?

“Personally, I think there is a trend, as works dealing with those themes have been gaining popularity in Japan recently.

You took the stage today and set up a demo booth. How was the atmosphere on site?

“It was so hectic that I couldn't really look down at the crowd. I was so nervous that, frankly, I couldn't get a read on the atmosphere.

What kind of reaction did you see at the booth then?

“I couldn't observe properly today, but up until yesterday, visitors were playing the game, expressing surprise at milestones like hitting 250,000 wishlists, and overall enjoying themselves. Quite a few people on Discord said they were coming to see us at TGS, so the reception feels positive.

Could you feel firsthand that players were having fun with the game?

“I was able to see visitors playing the game and walking away with giveaways.

Since it requires active control, it seems difficult to showcase all the game's appeal in a short time, especially with progression and character growth involved.

“The base difficulty is somewhat high. I mentioned the early-game hurdle during the presentation earlier—players who aren't used to it might keep dying repeatedly at first. Because of that, there were some initial reactions showing a bit of disappointment.

Watching the footage, I felt the fun was multiplied when playing co-op rather than solo—especially when working together to beat bosses that are hard to take down alone early on. It looks like a game that becomes exponentially more fun with two or three players. What are your thoughts on the appeal of co-op play?

“I believe that is definitely one of the core appeals of this game. There's real enjoyment in working together with multiple players to overcome challenges that are tough on your own.

Beyond 'Void Diver', attendance by Korean game studios at TGS seems to be growing. Many Korean studios target the global market by approaching the Japanese market first—is 'Void Diver' taking a similar directional approach?

“In truth, launching on Steam inherently means stepping straight into the global market, so participating in shows—whether TGS or others—makes sense regardless.

So are you aiming at the Asian market first?

“Since we are launching on Steam, where the game gains traction isn't something we can dictate solely by our own will. We participated in TGS, and as Asian developers, it might be somewhat easier to resonate with Asian sensibilities rather than Western ones. The reaction in Japan, as mentioned earlier, seems influenced by those thematic elements.

Of course, we hope for a positive response in the West too, but we anticipate it will likely be somewhat more popular in Asia.

Cthulhu features prominently within the urban fantasy setting. Cthulhu mythos is still somewhat niche in Korea, whereas it's relatively familiar in Japan. Did this factor into considering the Japanese market?

“It likely had an influence. Japan has many works dealing with Cthulhu Mythos themes, and I think opportunities to encounter such content are more common there than in Korea.

How has the reception to Cthulhu and similar themes been in Western regions?

“There is some response in the US as well. Wishlists in the US rank within our top three regions, though we can't tell whether that reaction comes from Western players residing in the US or Asian players living there.

You mentioned urban fantasy—is the entire work structured as urban fantasy, or is Cthulhu the core with urban fantasy elements added?

“Urban fantasy comes first. Cthulhu can be viewed as one of the key monsters among the ones we feature. Entities like Hachishakusama also appear. Ultimately, we aimed to build a world where anything that could emerge in a city setting is fair game.

What about post-launch update plans? Given that various monsters including Cthulhu appear, are there plans to add new urban legends or other monsters in major future updates?

“Plenty. Many of the monsters currently in preparation are already drawn from other urban legends. You can view Cthulhu as just one of the prominently featured themes.

As you mentioned earlier, taking advantage of TGS was a great opportunity, but it also feels like there was confidence that the game could resonate well in Japan.

“You could say that. We do have confidence that it can generate a solid response in Japan.

While there are cute characters, from a genre standpoint, extraction games themselves seem somewhat niche in Japan. How do you view this?

“Our direction evolved from what we originally envisioned. Most extraction games tend to be military-themed, right? So we decided to take a different approach by blending in action RPG mechanics, adding subculture elements, and incorporating urban legends.

In a way, because it blends so many elements, even we couldn't accurately predict where or how it would take off. Still, because it has subculture elements, we thought from the start it might resonate a bit better in Japan. Looking at the actual results, there does seem to be a good response in Japan.

That said, we didn't build the game targeting a specific country from the start.

At first, I thought of it as an extraction game with an urban legend Monster Hunter vibe—hunting monsters and using them as materials. At the same time, extraction games can be difficult to sustain as long-term live services. What are your thoughts on this?

“In the end, our game isn't PvP. PvP games require ongoing live service and long-term operation, but ours is a buy-to-play boxed title where players can stop after reaching the ending. In that regard, we have a degree of freedom.

Not being a live service title can be both an advantage and a disadvantage.

As a single-player extraction game, 'Escape from Duckov' comes to mind. Did seeing its success help confirm the potential of this genre?

“Seeing 'Escape from Duckov' sell well made us think, 'This could work.' When we first submitted the proposal and started development, we weren't entirely confident whether a single-player extraction game could succeed. But during development, 'Escape from Duckov' came out, and it gave us confidence that as long as it's well-made, there's definitely potential.

In fact, we referenced 'Escape from Duckov' quite a bit. It gave us confidence that single-player extraction games can generate plenty of interest if they're fun.

You mentioned targeting a complete game rather than a live service, but some games operate in a semi-live service model—concluding the core story while adding massive expansion content. Do you have plans for that kind of approach?

“If we can, we would love to. Ultimately, if the game sells well and receives a good response, there's no reason not to make additional content.

Lastly, there are likely players in Korea waiting for 'Void Diver'. Could you share a word with Korean players?

“Thank you for continuing to wait. We will do our best to deliver a highly polished, fun game.

Because we are a Korean developer, it's naturally easier for us to process feedback from Korean players compared to overseas players. We are receiving plenty of feedback through various channels, so we're working hard to make a game that satisfies as many people as possible.

You mentioned receiving a lot of feedback—could you share any instances where you felt 'this was a critical issue' or, conversely, 'this was really great feedback'?

“One thing that comes to mind is controller support. We support controllers, but initially, we applied controls designed around keyboard and mouse to the controller.

So for controllers, we added auto-targeting for nearby enemies, but testing it showed it was problematic. While attacking a boss, if a minor enemy moved closer than the boss, targeting would suddenly snap to that minion. Auto-targeting meant for convenience ended up working contrary to our intention.

So we created a new lock-on system. Thanks to player feedback, we realized things like this that we hadn't thought of. Internally, since Korean developers mostly think with keyboard and mouse as the baseline, it was easy to miss details necessary for controller play.