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We've been following supernatural thriller The Occultist ever since its inception and now Valladolid-based Daloar are teasing their new "full horror" title, codenamed Frame Zero. Here the studio's CEO shares much more on both Daedalic's imminent release and the studio's new prototype.
"Hi Gamereactor friends, this is the BCN Game Fest and this is the last day and I'm here joined by David, David vs. David.
You know we met, I think it was three years ago, in Malaga. You were talking about a game called The Occultist.
A lot of things have happened since then. You're almost ready to release."
"So first of all, I know you have another game now, which we knew about last week.
But first of all, what is the current status of The Occultist and what is left to do?
The Occultist is finished. I mean in terms of development it's almost finished.
We are polishing a few tasks for consoles, PlayStation and Xbox."
"And we expect to have a simultaneous release in Q1 in 2026.
And you have a publisher already, which you hadn't in the past.
So what can you tell me about working with the publisher and succeeding in the development story and then getting to release imminently?
Well, to start working with Daedalic has been something super crucial for us."
"I think we were doing a good job, but when Daedalic entered and worked with us, I think the game has been escalated in terms of quality.
It's a double-A game, but the visuals, graphics, cinematic voices, music, everything.
We've been able to do at the level in terms of quality that we wanted.
And it's been thanks to Daedalic Entertainment, absolutely."
"What is the feedback you're gathering from this event?
This is interesting because the IndieDevDay was the IndieDevDay for many years.
But now it also escalated, it also grew up and now this year it's actually more focused on double-A and bigger publishers.
And you're here showing your game, which started as an Indie slash double-A or triple-I or you call it, right?
So what is the feedback you're gathering from the crowds here?
To be honest, almost everyone likes the game a lot, so it's something that we are obviously super happy."
"I've been here when it was Indie Dev Day, since the first time we started.
And I always recommend everyone who is starting a game to come to this type of event because you receive direct feedback from the future customers at the end.
So a lot of things in The Occultist has been modified, has been changed because of the feedback of the people in events like this."
"And now that you mentioned what has changed, when we saw the game for the first time, you sort of described to us...
I think we were one of the first talking about The Occultist in Europe.
You described to us the whole lore, the protagonist, what's going on here, sort of your personal background with these supernatural events.
So what can you tell me has changed in what's going on in this world?
In terms of lore or the world of The Occultist, it's still the same."
"It's what was written at the very beginning of the pre-production, of the idea of making a game.
What has absolutely changed is the scope of the project.
What we had three years ago was a demo of around 15 minutes more or less, and no more we had developed.
But now the only thing that has changed is the scope."
"The game will last from 8 to 10 hours more or less, with 12 super big different environments.
The story remains still the same, but the way we are telling the game in fact is super bigger compared to the version we had three years ago.
And now that we have the final game, what can you tell me about the gameplay loop?
What do you actually do? You sit down, you start playing The Occultist, and what are we going to be doing for that gameplay loop?
What we want to tell is a story at the end."
"I think we had a good story behind, and to tell the story with the mechanics of the pendulum, also the character itself grows as a character.
It's like Alan, that is the main character, enters the island with some knowledge, but at the end of the game all his life is going to change."
"But it's his personal feeling, but also all the story behind the game I think is the most significant thing of the game.
And also, we talked about growing up, in terms of size and the project, you also collected a bunch of awards.
Which I think can be counterproductive, or can shake your expectations.
How did it feel to collect awards throughout the development, and how did it impact what you guys were doing?
Did it change what you guys were doing? Did it validate what you guys were doing?
Validate, I think is the word."
"Obviously, it's something that when we won some awards, all the team, we've been super grateful, super happy.
And yeah, the end is to validate that the thing we are doing has quality.
I don't know exactly the word, but yeah, the end is to validate all of the hard work that all the team is doing.
Alright, let's talk about the other game. Are you basing both games on the Unreal Engine 5?
Yeah, the only thing is that the new game has a higher version of Unreal, 5.5, and here is 5.4."
"Okay, and if I'm correct it's called Frame Zero?
Is it a mixture between Fatal Frame and Project Zero?
To be honest, well, more or less, but it was a working title.
We need a name to call it, and it was the first thing we thought, Frame Zero."
"But people like the name, so I think at the end, it's going to be the final name of the game.
Okay, and you presented the game at the Out of Bounds event pretty much a few days ago, and it's also a horror game, and it's also first-person.
So what can you tell me differs from this project to the new game?
At the end, something similar with Occultist, and it's what I want to focus the company into, narrative dark games."
"Horror is one of the genres, and it's similar.
We have a story to tell, but what happens in Frame Zero is that you are making a report, a casual report into a building of different apartments, and what at the beginning is something, a new day, something casual, at the end is a super horror story."
"This is truly horror, maybe the Occultist is more dark.
More like a thriller?
Yeah, but the Occultist is more dark fantasy, not so horror.
But Frame Zero is more frenetic."
"What we're going to do is more spooky.
Yeah, worst in terms of horror.
What can you tell me about this story, the deeper lore, and what's going on there?
The thing is that one super famous exorcist has suddenly died in a mysterious way, and you're asking the neighbors, hey, how was it to live with an exorcist in your flat?
And what starts as a normal report, you realize that all the people there were mad, the last case of the exorcist hasn't been finished, and at the end you get involved into a story that you don't have anything related to."
"What mechanics are you going to use here?
Is it anything similar to the Occultist?
Are you sort of fighting with spirits?
Are you collecting parts, puzzles?
Are you exploring?
Yeah, at the end it's stealth, investigation, and all the mechanics are related to a video camera."
"You have to zoom in, zoom out, to focus, to have a good shot, to have a good frame.
That's the reason of frame zero, because everything starts with the first frame.
All the story starts recording.
So yeah, everything is related to a video camera, and the internal mechanics are the same as a real video camera."
"Okay, and this is a vertical slice, a demo?
This is a prototype, it's a pre-alpha, we've been working one month, one month and a half more or less, and the same as I was talking before, we have to test the idea in events like this, very quick, to test feedback and to know if we are doing things well, and if people like the concept and the idea."
"And you don't have a publisher for that one yet, it's just this very early stage, or you're smiling?
Maybe in a few weeks we can say more.
All right, and about The Occultist, you don't have a fixed date, it's just Q1, first quarter, 2026, which platforms?
PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series."
"Are you considering Switch 2? Do you think it can handle it?
Would you like to try?
There's nothing talked.
Okay, thank you so much for your time David, enjoy the show, let's catch up soon! Thank you!"
