- ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE is an indie game from a solo developer that hopes to capture the same frenetic feeling and satisfaction found in AAA character action games.
- The project has been in development for quite a while, and the latest footage shows a promising game in the making.
- We recently spoke with the mind behind ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE and discussed various elements like an upcoming demo, a console release, and more.
ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE is one of the many indie games that are carrying forward the spirit of iconic character action games like Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry.
As work on the project continues to be led by solo developer Zahid Ali Jeelani, ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE has turned a lot of heads for its blistering fast combat, impressive production values, and interesting character designs.
In our latest interview with the developer, we discussed these elements in detail and shed light on areas like the total number of wishlists, the planned release date, and more.
Zahid Ali: ENENRA is set in a neo-cyberpunk world between dense hive cities with their own economies and hierarchies. The ENENRA universe revolves around the essence of Daemon cores.
Every person is born with a Daemon core. Daemon cores are crystalline organs which grant supernatural abilities. Some wielders can move as quickly as lightning, whereas some have underdeveloped cores and can barely activate them.
At one point in time, The Great Harvest began, in which multiple pharmaceutical companies began to harvest people for their cores specifically targeting powerful cores. A core is usually latched onto the heart organ itself; removing the core has a 95% mortality rate.
Many fought against them, but with the combined efforts of corrupt militaries and PMCs, they were overpowered. This began the first Daemon war. (Set prior to the events of ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE).
ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE is a third-person, hack & slash game with an emphasis on abilities. One specific group, Ronin Industries, gathers high-end Daemon core wielders and has created a huge mercenary organization far superior to any military. You play as Enenra, a Daemon core hunter and member of Ronin Industries.
Zahid Ali: The biggest inspiration for ENENRA is Ninja Gaiden. The flow of combat, as well as the relentlessness of enemy behavior, was a massive inspiration for the combat. Devil May Cry is also a large inspiration as directional and pause combat is a great addition to a combat system.
Zahid Ali: The idea behind using a combo metre was to give everything a purpose. I found adding a combo count with a style rank served no real purpose apart from letting the player know they have performed certain actions.
However, giving the combo count a purpose in which there is a high risk and high reward would incentivise the player to perform defensive actions as well as offensive actions.
When taking any damage, any stored combo points are lost, so the idea of a dance-like encounter in which the player must evade, block and attack to gain access to weapon abilities works fairly well in this instance.
Initially, the idea was taking the combo metre and using that as the health you gain back, but after testing, it was almost impossible to get killed, as the sole purpose of the game is to attack enemies, so the player would be constantly healing.
Zahid Ali: Hand-to-hand was added as a fan request, as many fans wanted a hand-to-hand style. The idea behind the hand-to-hand stance is there is no blocking or parrying, but bobbing and weaving become available, allowing the player to dodge, bob, weave, and counter seamlessly.
The stance also allows the player to punch projectiles back at enemies, such as bullets or rockets. Also, you can perform unique finishers such as suplexes and DDTs.
Zahid Ali: After the initial playtest on Steam Fest, I found some players struggling with the lock-on system. Holding the lock-on input (similar to DMC) was not easy for many people; this made me shift focus and improve locked-off combat. So, both locking on and locking off combat have pros and cons.
The freeflow was inspired by the BATMAN ARKHAM series. However, the freeflow works with aerial combat, meaning the player can zip between aerial enemies (There are flying enemies to deal with).
It’s as simple as the player should expect: push in the direction of an enemy, zip over to them and perform the attack with one input. Simplicity was important here so as not to overcomplicate this system. It should feel natural and embedded within the player’s moveset.
When locking on, the player gains access to attacks such as launch (Riser) and slams (Stomps), as well as chase attacks, which let you close gaps almost instantly. Locking on also allows for the tracking of enemies, which uses Blink cores (Teleportation), giving the player a general idea of where the enemy is located.
Health information is provided in both instances, but when locked on, there is more detail in the UI.
Zahid Ali: As I continue to develop, I find myself learning more and taking the teachings forward in ways to make different mechanics. The idea is giving everything a purpose and only adding new mechanics into the game if they have a purpose. I experimented a lot and made 100s of mechanics for ENENRA only to remove 90%, as most of the mechanics served no purpose.
I tend to look at the idea and find a way to make it unique, for example the embedding and ricochet blades are considered the ‘projectile’ equivalent of Ninja Gaidens shurikens, a method to continue the combo but also provide an incentive and purpose. Creating new mechanics now has to make gameplay ‘fun’
Zahid Ali: To keep up with the speed of combat, I found that wall running during combat encounters heavily slows down the pace. I instead opted for a wall bounce or wall hike, as this keeps the flow of combat. Parkour is not too heavily involved in the combat apart from the wall bounce, but this may change!
Zahid Ali: Extremely! Developing games is difficult to begin with, making a solid experience which is optimized and unique is insanely difficult! I have continued to attempt to push the production value in regards to the quality of the game, in models, environments, cutscenes and more.
I have friends who are also developing their own projects, which have been a massive help where we push each other. Check them out here:
Zahid Ali: ENENRA will definitely be released on consoles! I am planning a demo soon for PC with the new mechanics and all the clean up / Optimisations! This demo will have a heavily integrated training mode allowing the player to fight many enemy types!
Zahid Ali: I have not personally looked into this, so I cannot give a reasonable answer.
Zahid Ali: Hoping for an end-of-year release or early 2025. As I work on this game part-time, it may change depending on the quality of the game, which I continuously intend to improve.
Zahid Ali: Just over 35,000!
Zahid Ali: I do believe action games/character action games are making a comeback as indie developers are putting the time and effort into bringing back a genre which was more or less lost to us.
Zahid Ali: It feel the souls like genre is now extremely saturated, I personally will not be adding any souls like features in ENENRA. There are some games which find a great balance between souls and hack and slash such as Stellar blade.
For example, A health consumable does not exist in ENENRA. All health is absorbed through enemies by executing them! (However, in easier modes, there are health posts from which players can heal).
Zahid Ali: I post a lot on my discord, so joining the discord is a good place to keep up to date! You can also follow me on Twitter/X and everything else.
ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE is progressing rapidly as Zahid Ali Jeelani continues to polish the experience. With the game aiming to launch by next year, we encourage fans to follow the relevant social media channels for the latest information as new updates are provided on the development.
We would also like to thank Zahid Ali Jeelani for this interview and wish him all the best since we can’t wait to see how ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE turns out.
