Inven Global

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

During the presentation, Director Baek Ho-young of Studio Nemo took the stage to outline service plans, including key content and update directions. Introducing himself, Director Baek shared that he personally handles various aspects of development, from combat design to sound design, saying, "I do almost everything." He went on to describe Studio Nemo as "a team that strives to create fun games focused on pixel art," and asked for much anticipation as Void Diver is Studio Nemo's debut title.

Before delving into the game details, two cosplayers took the stage to introduce characters from the game. Gayoung is Void Diver's first playable character, who heads into the dungeon to search for her missing older brother. Elara is an AI character who assists the player in various ways, appearing inside a monitor within the game world.

Void Diver is an extraction action RPG for up to three players, featuring 2.5D visuals and a unique world setting. The game takes place in a world where an otherworldly realm overlaps with reality, creating a massive dungeon in the center of the city. Players experience a gameplay loop of entering the dungeon to gather relics, returning safely, using their loot to grow their character and gear, and then heading back into the dungeon once more.

The protagonist is the manager of the antique shop "BALUSHA." However, this is their role in the city; inside the dungeon, gameplay revolves around commanding the divers sent into the abyss.

Inside the dungeon, players must manage three main elements: health, stress, and light source. Put simply, stress represents the mental fortitude required to endure the dungeon. As stress levels rise, various negative situations can occur, such as anomalies triggering or a mental breakdown occurring.

The light source is depicted as a flashlight. Because enemies caught in the light source become weakened, combat requires keeping enemies within its illumination. Conversely, taking attacks from outside the light source can result in massive damage.

In the dungeon, players must manage health, stress, and the light source, as well as their inventory, while farming loot effectively and making a safe return. However, simply coming back safely is not the end. How high a price you can sell recovered relics for is equally important—a task that represents your main job as an antique shop manager.

There are two main ways to sell relics: negotiating prices directly with VIPs or hiring shop clerks to manage sales for you.

Once you earn money this way, you can craft gear or upgrade traits to challenge higher-tier dungeons. The core gameplay follows a loop of farming, progression, and retrying.

One of Void Diver's key differentiators compared to other extraction games is its relatively low death penalty. The game offers three main options regarding this: losing everything upon death, losing only a portion, or losing nothing at all, aimed at reducing the burden on players.

As an extraction game, combat in Void Diver is not ultimately about farming itself. The end goal is to escape from the dungeon. Therefore, rather than hunting every monster in sight, avoiding combat and farming only what is necessary can often be a more effective strategy.

The game presents these choices throughout the dungeon. Enemies range from regular monsters that fall in a few hits, to powerful bosses that are hard to take on alone, to named bosses that can be challenged solo but require preparation and time.

When encountering them, players must decide whether to engage and defeat them directly or avoid combat and continue farming elsewhere. While taking down named boss-level monsters takes time, it offers a chance at valuable rewards, whereas for regular monsters, passing by without engaging may be more efficient for farming.

After finishing the game introduction, Director Baek Ho-young said, "We released a demo in January this year, and we are grateful that the response was better than expected. Our wishlist has now surpassed 250,000, and a significant portion comes from Japan, for which we are truly grateful." He added, "Furthermore, thanks to the continuous feedback from the demo, we plan to release Void Diver directly without going through Early Access. This, too, is thanks to all of you."

Next, the official release window for Void Diver was finally revealed. Void Diver is scheduled to officially launch in January 2027, with a more detailed release date to be announced later.

In the official release version, content will be significantly expanded. Chapters up to the ending will be added, along with a large wave of new monsters, equipment, areas, and divers.

Exclusive skills for each character will also be added. The plan is to structure skills so that choosing different options provides a distinct gameplay feel even when playing the same character.

Shop management content will also expand. VIP affection will be introduced, allowing players to exchange gifts, and the negotiation system will be improved to be more engaging. Additionally, features such as fishing, interior decoration, and minigames will be added. Notably, players will also be able to pet cats in the full release.

Game balance will be improved as well. Work is underway to refine overall balance and QoL features, including lowering early-game hurdles, and mod support will be provided. Furthermore, save data from the demo will carry over to the official version.

Director 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 stop by and show your support."

The game has a bit of a Japanese subculture feel, but unlike typical subculture games, it doesn't revolve around anime girls. It was a bit surprising to see the release date announced in Japan—was there a specific reason for announcing it in Japan first?

“Honestly, the response in Japan has been great, and we felt presenting on a stage like TGS held significant meaning in itself. We're aiming for a January release, and there aren't many major game shows before then. While we could go to the Taipei Game Show in January, we felt TGS was the right opportunity to announce the launch date.

You mentioned earlier that the response in Japan has been strong. What do the numbers look like?

“Until recently, our Japanese wishlist numbers were on par with China, but recently they surpassed China. You could say Japan currently accounts for almost the highest share.

Why do you think the reception in Japan has been particularly strong?

“I think certain aspects align well with Japanese tastes. The game incorporates subculture elements and offers deep gameplay to sink your teeth into, which seems to resonate well in Japan.

There are elements like Cthulhu, urban legends, and creepypasta. Do you think these genre traits are also well received in Japan?

“Works dealing with those themes have been gaining popularity in Japan recently, so personally I think that trend plays a role.

You took the stage today and also set up a demo area. How was the atmosphere at the event?

“It was so hectic that I couldn't really look down at the crowd properly. I was so nervous that, honestly, I couldn't tell what the atmosphere was like.

What kind of reactions did you notice at the booth then?

“I couldn't observe closely today, but up until yesterday, visitors played the game, were surprised to see milestones like hitting 250,000 wishlists, and enjoyed playing. On Discord, quite a few people said they were coming to TGS to see us, so I think the response has been quite good.

Could you feel firsthand that players were enjoying the game?

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

Since the game requires skill and controls, it seems difficult to showcase all of its fun in a short time, especially with character progression involved.

“The baseline difficulty is somewhat high. I mentioned early-game hurdles during the presentation earlier; for first-time players, even skilled gamers might find themselves dying repeatedly early on. As a result, there were some reactions that seemed a bit disappointed after their initial play.

Personally, watching footage, the game felt even more enjoyable when played with others—especially when cooperating to tackle bosses that are hard to beat solo early on. It seems like a game where the fun multiplies when played with two or three people compared to solo. What are your thoughts on co-op gameplay?

“I believe that is indeed one of the game's key appeals. Playing together with multiple people and cooperating to overcome challenges that are tough solo is very rewarding.

In addition to Void Diver, Korean developers' participation in TGS seems to be steadily growing. Many Korean studios look toward the global market while targeting the Japanese market first. Does Void Diver follow a similar strategy?

“In truth, launching on Steam means going directly to the global market, so participating in show events whether TGS or others makes sense for us.

So is Asia your primary target for now?

“Since we're releasing on Steam, which regions react isn't something we can decide by willpower alone. We participated in TGS, and as Eastern developers ourselves, we felt it might be a bit easier to align with Asian sensibilities rather than Western ones. As mentioned earlier, the positive response in Japan likely stems from those thematic elements.

Of course, we hope for a good response in the West too, but we expect it might lean slightly more popular in Asia.

Cthulhu appears as an important theme within the urban fantasy genre. From what I understand, the Cthulhu Mythos is still somewhat niche in Korea, but relatively familiar in Japan. Did this factor into considering the Japanese market?

“It likely had an influence. In Japan, there are many works featuring themes like the Cthulhu Mythos, and opportunities to encounter related content seem more frequent than in Korea.

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

“There is a decent response in the US as well. The US ranks in our top 3 for wishlists, though we can't tell whether that's driven by Western gamers in the US or Asian gamers living there.

You mentioned urban fantasy—is the entire work built around urban fantasy, or is it centered on Cthulhu with urban fantasy elements added on top?

“Urban fantasy comes first. Cthulhu can be viewed as one of the prominent monsters among those 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 are your post-launch update plans? Right now, various monsters including Cthulhu appear—if you do major updates in the future, do you plan to add new urban legends or other monsters?

“There are plenty. Among the monsters currently in preparation, many are drawn from other urban legends. Cthulhu is best understood as one of the major themes we draw from.

As you mentioned earlier, announcing the release date in Japan was partly because TGS presented a great opportunity, but it also feels like there was confidence that the game could resonate well in Japan.

“You could put it that way. We do have confidence that the game can generate a strong response in Japan.

While there are cute characters, from a genre perspective, extraction games are generally considered somewhat niche in Japan. What is your take on this?

“Our direction now differs somewhat from what we initially envisioned. Ultimately, most extraction games are military-themed, right? So we wanted to try something different by blending action RPG elements, then adding subculture themes and urban legends.

Since it's a mix of various elements, even we couldn't accurately predict where or how it would take off. Still, because it includes subculture elements, we had a thought from the beginning that it might resonate a bit better in Japan. Looking at the actual results, it seems to be gaining traction there.

We didn't design the game targeting a specific country from the start.

At first, I felt it was like an extraction game with an urban legend Monster Hunter vibe, given that you hunt monsters and use their materials. On the other hand, extraction games can be challenging to sustain over a long-term service. How do you view this aspect?

“In the end, our game is not PvP. PvP games require long-term operation as live services, but ours is a premium single-purchase title where players can stop after reaching the ending. In that respect, I think we have a degree of freedom.

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

As a single-player extraction game, 'Escape from Duckov' comes to mind. Did seeing that game's success reaffirm potential for you?

“Seeing 'Escape from Duckov' sell well made us think, 'This could work.' When we submitted the initial proposal and started development, we didn't have much confidence in whether a single-player extraction genre would be viable. But as 'Escape from Duckov' released during our development process, it showed us that if made well, there is real potential.

We actually referenced it a lot. It gave us confidence that single-player-based extraction games can capture plenty of interest if they're fun.

You mentioned aiming for a complete standalone game rather than live service, but some games conclude their main story while adding major expansion content in a pseudo-live service manner. Do you have plans for that kind of model?

“If we're able to, we'd love to. Ultimately, if the game sells well and receives good feedback, there's no reason not to make additional content.

Lastly, there are likely players in Korea waiting for Void Diver as well. Could you say a word to Korean players?

“Thank you for continuing to wait for us. We will do our best to create a fun game with the highest quality possible.

Honestly, since we are a Korean studio, receiving feedback from Korean players is a bit easier than from overseas players. We receive a lot of feedback through various channels, so we are working hard to build a game that will satisfy as many people as possible.

You mentioned receiving a lot of feedback. Are there any examples where you felt 'this was a critical issue' or conversely 'this was really great feedback'?

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

For instance, we thought auto-targeting the nearest enemy would suffice, but when actually playing with a controller, there are situations during boss fights where you need to attack a specific target. In those cases, simply auto-targeting the closest enemy doesn't work.

So we created a new lock-on system. Player feedback revealed things like this that we hadn't thought of ourselves. Since our internal developers mainly think in terms of keyboard and mouse, it was easy to miss features needed for controller gameplay.