Cresata has had an interesting journey so far. Originally called Revenant’s Reach, the game is coming to Kickstarter and will eventually be released on PC, XBOX, and PlayStation 5.
A huge boon though for Cresata, is the fact that developer Rocket Panda Games has just announced Ben Starr will be a part of the game, along with other voice talent Aleks Le, who features as the lead character.
We had the chance to speak to Mikey McNamara (AKA M.Panda), the CEO of Rocket Panda Games, about how the collaboration with Ben Starr came to be, what prompted the name change, how difficult Cresata will be, and much more.
Thank you for taking the time to speak to us. Cresta is an interesting name, what’s the story behind it?
Thank you for interviewing us. “Cresata” is the art and combat technique used by our protagonist, and derives from the word “crescent,” like the moon. You can think of it like the “Jedi Arts” from Star Wars.
Why did you change the name from Revenant’s Reach?
With Rocket Panda Games now co-developing and publishing the game, the original developer, David, from Shatter Flask Games and we decided to give the game a “refresh” in both visual aesthetic and branding to mark a new beginning.
Can you go into detail how the “planar movement spine” will work for platforming?
In the trailer, you may notice moments when the camera “rotates” around our hero, despite Cresata being a “2D platformer”. This camera movement will show world-building elements and enemies in the background, which our hero will eventually fight.
Does the visual design being 2.5D make the game linear, or is it quite open?
The game is intentionally quite linear, aside from a few Easter eggs and “extra” areas in certain stages. While I love a good Metroidvania, I don’t always have 30+ hours to unlock new toolkits for the character and explore every corner of the world.
The Steam page mentions you can “attack in any direction”… given it’s a 2.5 game, does that mean “into the screen” as well as side-scrolling attacks?
Great question – but the attacks are in “any direction within a 2D plane”, which was not clear on the Steam page. Thank you for pointing that out.
Think of it as being able to attack at any “time” on the face of a clock.
Will boss battles make use of the extra dimensions?
The different boss encounters will require the player to traverse around the arenas, so to a small degree, yes, it will use the extra dimensions to give players “hints”.
Can people expect MetroidVania like features?
There will be character progression through the stages, but as far as stage / level progression, the game is intentionally linear. Stage 1-1, 1-2, etc…
How about difficulty, where do you plan to land when it comes to challenge?
The game may feel “slightly difficult” for most players, but compared to a game like Silksong, I would say it’s quite doable.
How did the Ben Starr collaboration come about, and how much will he feature?
The VA talent for our lead character, Phaedon, is Aleks Le from Los Angeles. He and Ben have a lot of respect for each other, so when it came time to cast our main villain, Leo, Aleks reached out to Ben and asked him to read the part.
The rest is history!
The art style is gorgeous, what was behind your decision to go that direction?
Thank you very much! The art direction is something David had been working on for a very long time, even before Rocket Panda Games came on board to co-develop.
He was inspired by games like Strider 2 and Castlevania. And, when we started making the backgrounds in 3D, we realized, we can rotate the camera for a new “effect” in a 2.5D game.
At what stage of the project did you decide to go the Kickstarter route?
Making video games is not easy. It takes an entire team bringing together their craftsmanship for one project to come to life. And as you can imagine, a team is not cheap. Hah!
Joking aside, we like the idea of getting the community involved early on to provide player feedback and thoughts to the project. Given the game’s humble beginnings as “Revenant’s Reach” so many years ago, it made sense to continue building the game with the community.
What are some of your inspirations, both old and new?
Strider 2 and Castlevania, for sure… And some of the From Software games, like Dark Souls.
Is the aim to hit consoles as well as PC in 2027, release wise?
Steam deck and portable PCs is the perfect platform to play Cresata. Therefore, it is a big focus for us, as well. We are working with our engineers to make sure the game is optimized for various hardware.
Thanks to Mikey McNamara (AKA M.Panda) for taking the time to answer our questions.
Cresata is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and XBOX Series X|S in 2027. Keep up to date on the Kickstarter, here.
