{"id":3908,"date":"2022-07-21T13:19:42","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T13:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/21\/step-right-up-to-circus-electrique-zen-studios-steampunk-circus-rpg-coming-september-6\/"},"modified":"2022-07-21T13:19:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T13:19:42","slug":"step-right-up-to-circus-electrique-zen-studios-steampunk-circus-rpg-coming-september-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/21\/step-right-up-to-circus-electrique-zen-studios-steampunk-circus-rpg-coming-september-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Step right up to Circus Electrique, Zen Studios\u2019 steampunk-circus RPG coming September 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">Sometime in late 2019, a small team of creative minds within Zen Studios pitched an idea to the rest of us: \u201cLet\u2019s make an RPG set in a steampunk version of London where all your playable heroes are circus performers.\u201d Pretty much everyone who read the pitch\u2014myself included\u2014reacted in a manner that I hope you share upon hearing such a premise: \u201cWhat a crazy idea\u2026 I love it!\u201d Just a few weeks away from the September 6 release of\u00a0 Circus Electrique, allow me to reflect on how it all came to be\u2014and other ways the game differentiates itself from other RPGs, as well\u2026<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode shortcode--youtube\">\n<div class=\"youtube-video\">\n\t<button class=\"youtube-video__load-button\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Play  Video<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/p><\/button>\n<div class=\"youtube-video__iframe\"><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"\">Making a game we ourselves want to play<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">The idea for a project first referred to as \u201cCircus Scandal\u201d came about when team members fresh off other Zen Studios RPGs like the first-person dungeon-crawler Operencia: The Stolen Sun, tactical roguelite Dread Nautical, and 4X genre mishmash CastleStorm II all expressed our desire to bring another RPG to life. At Zen, it\u2019s important that we make the kinds of games we ourselves want to play\u2026and it just so happened that in recent years, a certain relatively new subgenre of RPGs had particularly enthralled many of us, best exemplified by Darkest Dungeon. And amidst that darkness, a lightbulb went off: \u201cWe enjoy this kind of a game. Let\u2019s make our own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52229625858_501b49485a_k.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">Steampunk offers a unique aesthetic<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">But what exactly was the best way to make a game like Darkest Dungeon \u201cour own\u201d? We realized early on, the first step was to present a unique aesthetic. High fantasy is cool and all, but what if we took things someplace else? What if we didn\u2019t even have any knights or mages or orcs or elves or dragons? (Not even a single dungeon, poorly lit or otherwise!) What if we\u2026went steampunk?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">That was designer Andras \u201cBabar\u201d Klujber\u2019s idea, to which pretty much all of us said, \u201cSteampunk is great! We love steampunk! Why aren\u2019t there more steampunk games? Let\u2019s change that.\u201d Before we knew it, we found ourselves researching the era\u2026which led to finding awesome circus posters like these\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52228615767_66772957c5_b.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">So that got us thinking\u2026circus performers have their own unique special abilities, don\u2019t they? What if they used them to fight? What if it were up to these circus folk to save a late-Victorian steampunk London from common citizens gone mad? What if the electrical innovations of the day from the likes of Tesla, Edison and Westinghouse were really amped up (pun absolutely intended)? Not a whole lot of games with a premise like that out there.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">Driven by story<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">Now we had our basic idea\u2014a steampunk RPG where you fight as circus performers against everyday people gone \u201cbarmy.\u201d But how do we make that make sense? That\u2019s where another one of our key differentiators came in: a greater emphasis on story. Something more narrative driven\u2014maybe even more influenced by JRPGs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">To summarize things simply, the world of Circus Electrique was identical to our own until 1873, when a great innovation revolutionized electricity, sending the timeline in a more steampunk direction. Our story takes place 26 years later, after a terrible event known as the Maddening has caused everyday people to attack innocents, seemingly beyond their own will. Mysteriously immune to the Maddening, performers in the Circus Electrique join our protagonist Amelia on a quest to find out how this all happened, and how to stop it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52229620441_cc3a89fb9c_k.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">Accessible difficulty and atypical RPG heroes<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">Circus Electrique\u2019s uniqueness doesn\u2019t stop at aesthetics and story. For one thing, we know that a lot of players find this particular RPG subgenre to be overly punishing. Though not without challenge, Circus Electrique aims to be a game you\u2019ll not only want to complete\u2026but actually will! We\u2019re easier\u2026but not too easy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">It\u2019s also worth another mention that these aren\u2019t your typical RPG heroes. Character classes like Strongmen, Knife Throwers, Human Cannonballs and even Robot Bears\u201415 all together\u2014are a welcome change of pace from more fantasy-focused archetypes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52229620256_6fe461041a_k.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">Circus planning<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">And finally, because everyone knows the show must go on, there comes Circus Electrique\u2019s \u201ctycoon-like\u201d aspect\u2014planning a circus. This takes the form of an intricate, almost-puzzle-gaming experience where placing the best roster of characters based on their likes and dislikes directly relates to the show\u2019s success. It\u2019s the kind of thing that can take you a minute or an hour, depending on how much you want to think about it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52229620326_551978b606_k.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">On behalf of the team, we couldn\u2019t be more excited to present our unique vision to you very soon. Please let us know what you think once Circus Electrique hits your PlayStation of choice on September 6.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Step right up to Circus Electrique, Zen Studios\u2019 steampunk-circus RPG coming September 6<!-- wp:html --><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Sometime in late 2019, a small team of creative minds within Zen Studios pitched an idea to the rest of us: \u201cLet\u2019s make an RPG set in a steampunk version of London where all your playable heroes are circus performers.\u201d Pretty much everyone who read the pitch\u2014myself included\u2014reacted in a manner that I hope you share upon hearing such a premise: \u201cWhat a crazy idea\u2026 I love it!\u201d Just a few weeks away from the September 6 release of\u00a0 Circus Electrique, allow me to reflect on how it all came to be\u2014and other ways the game differentiates itself from other RPGs, as well\u2026<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode shortcode--youtube\">\n<div class=\"youtube-video\">\n\t<button class=\"youtube-video__load-button\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Play  Video<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<p><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-video__iframe\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"\">Making a game we ourselves want to play<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">The idea for a project first referred to as \u201cCircus Scandal\u201d came about when team members fresh off other Zen Studios RPGs like the first-person dungeon-crawler Operencia: The Stolen Sun, tactical roguelite Dread Nautical, and 4X genre mishmash CastleStorm II all expressed our desire to bring another RPG to life. At Zen, it\u2019s important that we make the kinds of games we ourselves want to play\u2026and it just so happened that in recent years, a certain relatively new subgenre of RPGs had particularly enthralled many of us, best exemplified by Darkest Dungeon. And amidst that darkness, a lightbulb went off: \u201cWe enjoy this kind of a game. Let\u2019s make our own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52229625858_501b49485a_k.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">Steampunk offers a unique aesthetic<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">But what exactly was the best way to make a game like Darkest Dungeon \u201cour own\u201d? We realized early on, the first step was to present a unique aesthetic. High fantasy is cool and all, but what if we took things someplace else? What if we didn\u2019t even have any knights or mages or orcs or elves or dragons? (Not even a single dungeon, poorly lit or otherwise!) What if we\u2026went steampunk?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">That was designer Andras \u201cBabar\u201d Klujber\u2019s idea, to which pretty much all of us said, \u201cSteampunk is great! We love steampunk! Why aren\u2019t there more steampunk games? Let\u2019s change that.\u201d Before we knew it, we found ourselves researching the era\u2026which led to finding awesome circus posters like these\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52228615767_66772957c5_b.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">So that got us thinking\u2026circus performers have their own unique special abilities, don\u2019t they? What if they used them to fight? What if it were up to these circus folk to save a late-Victorian steampunk London from common citizens gone mad? What if the electrical innovations of the day from the likes of Tesla, Edison and Westinghouse were really amped up (pun absolutely intended)? Not a whole lot of games with a premise like that out there.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">Driven by story<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">Now we had our basic idea\u2014a steampunk RPG where you fight as circus performers against everyday people gone \u201cbarmy.\u201d But how do we make that make sense? That\u2019s where another one of our key differentiators came in: a greater emphasis on story. Something more narrative driven\u2014maybe even more influenced by JRPGs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">To summarize things simply, the world of Circus Electrique was identical to our own until 1873, when a great innovation revolutionized electricity, sending the timeline in a more steampunk direction. Our story takes place 26 years later, after a terrible event known as the Maddening has caused everyday people to attack innocents, seemingly beyond their own will. Mysteriously immune to the Maddening, performers in the Circus Electrique join our protagonist Amelia on a quest to find out how this all happened, and how to stop it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52229620441_cc3a89fb9c_k.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">Accessible difficulty and atypical RPG heroes<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">Circus Electrique\u2019s uniqueness doesn\u2019t stop at aesthetics and story. For one thing, we know that a lot of players find this particular RPG subgenre to be overly punishing. Though not without challenge, Circus Electrique aims to be a game you\u2019ll not only want to complete\u2026but actually will! We\u2019re easier\u2026but not too easy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">It\u2019s also worth another mention that these aren\u2019t your typical RPG heroes. Character classes like Strongmen, Knife Throwers, Human Cannonballs and even Robot Bears\u201415 all together\u2014are a welcome change of pace from more fantasy-focused archetypes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52229620256_6fe461041a_k.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">Circus planning<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">And finally, because everyone knows the show must go on, there comes Circus Electrique\u2019s \u201ctycoon-like\u201d aspect\u2014planning a circus. This takes the form of an intricate, almost-puzzle-gaming experience where placing the best roster of characters based on their likes and dislikes directly relates to the show\u2019s success. It\u2019s the kind of thing that can take you a minute or an hour, depending on how much you want to think about it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52229620326_551978b606_k.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">On behalf of the team, we couldn\u2019t be more excited to present our unique vision to you very soon. Please let us know what you think once Circus Electrique hits your PlayStation of choice on September 6.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:html --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}