Sometime in late 2019, a small team of creative minds within Zen Studios suggested ideas to all of us. “Let’s make an RPG set in a steampunk version of London where all playable heroes are circus performers.” Most people (including myself) who read the pitch heard that assumption. They responded in the way they wanted to share: “What a crazy idea … I love it!” Just a few weeks after the September 6th release of Circus Electrique, what’s all going on? And you can look back on how the game is differentiated from other RPGs …
![Step into Circus Electric, a steampunk circus RPG from Zen Studios on September 6th.](https://img.youtube.com/vi/esg_Yf0Gefs/maxresdefault.jpg)
Make the game you want to play
The idea for the first project, called the “Circus Scandal,” came when team members renewed other Zen Studios RPGs such as the first-person dungeon crawler Operencia: The Stolen Sun, the tactical villain Dread Nautical, and the 4X genre Mishmash Castle Storm II. Was born. We have expressed our desire to bring another RPG to life. At Zen, it’s important to create the kind of game you want to play. And in recent years, certain relatively new sub-genres of RPGs have especially fascinated many of us. This is best shown in Darkest Dungeon. And in that darkness, the light bulb went out. “We enjoy this kind of game. Let’s make it ourselves.”
Steampunk offers a unique aesthetic
But what exactly was the best way to make a game like Darkest Dungeon “our own”? We realized early on that the first step was to present a unique aesthetic. High fantasy is cool, but what if you take it somewhere else? What if you didn’t even have a knight, a mage, an orc, an elf, or a dragon? (It’s not even a single dungeon, with insufficient lighting!) What if we … go to steampunk?
It’s the idea of designer Andras “Babar” Klujber, and almost all of us said, “Steampunk is great! We love steampunk! Why isn’t there a more steampunk game? Change it? Let’s do it. “Before we knew it, we realized that we were studying the times … which led to finding great circus posters like these …
So we thought … Circus performers have their own special abilities. What if they fought with them? What if it was up to these circus people to save the late Victorian steampunk London from the general public? What if the electrical innovations of the day from Tesla, Edison, Westinghouse, etc. were really enhanced (the pun is absolutely intended)? Not many games have such a premise.
Driven by the story
Now you have a basic idea. It’s a steampunk RPG that fights everyday people as a circus performer. But how can you make it meaningful? That’s where another of our key differentiators emerges. It’s more about the story. Something more narrative-perhaps even more influenced by JRPGs.
In short, the world of Circus Electrique was the same as ours until 1873. At this time, major innovations revolutionized electricity, sending the timeline in a more steampunk direction. Our story seems to go beyond their own will 26 years later, after a horrific event known as Madening has caused everyday people to attack innocent people. Curiously unaffected by Madening, a circus electric performer, along with the main character Amelia, explores how this happened and how to stop it.
Accessible difficulty and atypical RPG hero
Circus Electrique’s uniqueness goes beyond aesthetics and storytelling. For one thing, we know that many players feel that they are overly punishing this particular RPG sub-genre. It’s not without challenges, but Circus Electrique aims to be a game that you don’t just want to complete, you really want to complete. We’re easy … but not so easy.
It’s also worth mentioning that these aren’t your typical RPG heroes. Character classes (15 in total) such as Strongman, Knife Thrower, Human Cannon, and even Robot Bear are a welcome pace change from fantasy-focused archetypes.
Circus plan
And finally, there’s a “big-name” aspect of circus electric, as everyone knows they have to keep going-plan the circus. This takes the form of a complex and almost puzzle game experience where placing the best character roster based on likes and dislikes is directly related to the success of the show. It’s like it can take you a minute or an hour, depending on how much you want to think about it.
On behalf of the team, I couldn’t be more excited to present our unique vision to you right away. What do you think if Circus Electricrique hits the PlayStation of your choice on September 6th?