Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Devs Are Making A New Afro-Gothic Role-Playing Game

Surgent Studios, the makers behind the Metroidvania title Tales of Kenzera: Zau, are seeking funding for a new game they are pitching and hoping to make.

The title is billed as an “Afro-Gothic RPG” according to a Videogames Chronicle interview, and is codenamed Project Uso. The company is looking for a funding partner to bring it to life.

Studio head Abubakar Salim (known for being the VO of Assassin’s Creed Origins’ Bayek and starring in HBO’s House of Dragons) said the game is set in the Tales of Kenzera universe, but “it’s darker, more visceral, it’s gritty”.

“The best way I can describe it is a single-player, isometric, Afro-Gothic action RPG. The story (with Zau) is that as a shaman you’re challenging the God of Death as a way of looking at the idea of healthy handling grief, so I came up with the idea of what if one reader is inspired to defy death itself, so they create this android which is fashioned to cradle the spirits of the dead.

And what if that spirit isn’t a human being, it’s a God, Eshu, the God of Chaos, so now you’ve got these two mentalities in one frame? That’s something I thought would be really cool to explore.

“As passionate Dungeons & Dragons players, the Surgent team and I knew we wanted to try our hand at creating our own RPG system. As a way to give Project Uso a fast-paced, real-time feel, we created the Crucible system, which requires players to roll against themselves.”

For more on Surgent Studios’ previous game, check out our glowing review of Tales of Kenzera: ZAU.