Crafting a Harmonious Fusion: Kepler Interactive’s Approach to Creative Vision and Game Innovation

Kepler Interactive proudly presents a notably diverse collection of games, ranging from Tchia, inspired by the vibrant blue waters of New Caledonia, to the survival horror adventure game renowned for its haunting visuals, and operates a creative studio that enables collaboration across various artistic mediums and cultural expressions.

During our conversation with CEO Alexis Garavaryan, the company is simultaneously celebrating its recent transition to a majority stakeholder in the French indie game studio Tactical Adventures. He further elaborates on this exciting collaboration, how Kepler Interactive identifies, assesses, and partners with new game developers, and discusses the primary challenges currently facing the gaming industry.

Kepler Interactive holds a varied assortment of games, but it might be challenging to identify how a title like Tchia aligns with another like Scorn – could you clarify what defines a project as a Kepler Interactive game?

Fundamentally, Kepler games advocate for bold artistic direction and inventive game design. Our process generally begins there, yet we particularly appreciate games that look beyond the confines of traditional gaming, drawing inspiration from all forms of art, culture, and lived experiences. Many games tend to be introspective, mainly focusing on other games and a limited selection of iconic intellectual properties from various media. We view an opportunity to forge a distinct identity by collaborating with developers who seek inspiration from diverse sources, and I believe this can already be seen in our portfolio.

Tchia draws upon Awaceb’s heritage from New Caledonia. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 similarly approaches the JRPG genre through a uniquely French perspective. Pacific Drive was influenced by Jeff VanDerMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, alongside Cassie Dracott’s personal journey of navigating a web of connections throughout the Pacific Northwest of the United States, exploring themes of attachment and dependency.

This connection provides us with the flexibility to engage in a variety of projects since it’s not overly prescriptive. We want that connection to work for us, rather than hinder us.

How does Tactical Adventures fit into this framework specifically?

Whenever we onboard a new studio or partnership, it’s vital that they resonate with our values and contribute to uplifting the entire team—whether by sharing expertise in a new genre or style, or offering creative insights and unique strategies, we consistently aim to grow and share our knowledge collectively. With Solasta, Tactical Adventures engages with the RPG genre through the lens of tabletop gaming, blending intricate tactical combat—where verticality, positioning, and creative problem-solving take center stage—with the rich narratives that define classic pen-and-paper adventures. We are excited to assist them in continuing along this path while also absorbing their insights. Our role is to support them with our expertise in any way we can, whether that involves enhancing their game’s exposure through our extensive marketing abilities, boosting their platform visibility with our publishing division, or leveraging our solid relationships with platforms and partners for optimal placement. Additionally, we approach team composition by ensuring that all our studios exchange knowledge, technology, and ideas in a manner that allows us to operate on par with much larger publishers while ensuring they retain creative control and independence.

Could you elaborate on Kepler Interactive’s approach to Early Access releases, both generally and regarding Solasta 2?

Decisions about how our studios wish to approach development for their games are wholly theirs. Tactical Adventures finds the early access model advantageous, and it has significantly benefited Solasta: Crown of the Magister. It’s critical that the studios and developers we collaborate with can tailor their launch strategies to what makes the most sense for their game, genre, and team—it’s always something we prioritize flexibility for.

How do you go about discovering titles that you wish to collaborate with? Do developers approach you, and are events significant as they return post-COVID?

It needs to be a blend of different strategies, simply due to the abundance of unsigned games available. The best opportunities often arise through the personal networks of the Kepler team members, but it’s hard to predict where the most exciting projects will emerge—we’ve signed games at events, through referrals, by spotting them on Steam, and from unsolicited submissions via our website. It’s impractical to see everything, so we strive to cast our net as wide as possible and then ensure that we only sign games that align with our creative principles.

Establishing those principles is extremely important. We discuss this often, but having a clear understanding of what constitutes a Kepler game is crucial when scouting for new titles. There are countless outstanding projects out there. We pass on great games all the time. We’re looking for the unique games that can help shape the identity of Kepler, and those are rare.

Is there anything that could definitively deter you from signing a game? Just a straightforward no?

There exists a very common pool of influences that has been overly used throughout the industry, and we prefer games that avoid relying on those clichés. Franchises like Star Wars, Blade Runner, zombie films, Greek mythology, and superhero comics (to name a few) wield a disproportionate influence on how many games appear and feel, and we strive to look beyond them as much as possible—Pacific Drive serves as a prime example of creating a fresh atmosphere by mixing a diverse range of influences that aren’t typically found in other games, and players have been drawn to that. That’s what we’re on the lookout for, and pitches that don’t embody that are rather easy to identify.

A lack of originality can seem very difficult to rectify, so I can understand why a team might seek the familiar in hopes of securing an audience, but we view this as a risk. A similar situation occurs whenever a game truly breaks through and surprises