NEOWIZ has announced a publishing agreement with Korean indie game developer SaneNuts Studio to release Wind Up Deadman, a new retro pixel-art styled CRPG for PC (Steam) set in a “Cassette Futuristic” world. Wind Up Deadman takes place in a world where survivors of a bio-disaster live in a solitary tower in the desert and rely on cassette tapes to preserve their memories.
In the story of Wind Up Deadman, players take on the role of Zephyr, an archive runner who entrusts his soul to a robot as they track down his lost memories. Memories will dynamically influence the game’s narrative and affect Zephyr’s personality while aiming to discover the legacy of the past.
“Wind Up Deadman meshes branching narratives with a powerful character-building system in a way we haven’t seen in other games, aligning with our story-driven philosophy and making it a perfect addition to our publishing catalog,” said a NEOWIZ representative. “We’ve seen SaneNuts Studio’s ability to grow an IP with their previous work, and we hope our partnership further elevates this new CRPG to a wider, more global audience. Whether it is first-party or third-party, we want to develop titles that push the envelope of modern narrative experiences.”
SaneNuts Studio is a Korean development team with extensive experience in the RPG genre. Their debut mobile title, Metro Blossom: Choice and Dice, was recognized as a Korea Game Award Indie Sector Finalist and placed in the TOP 10 at the 2021 Google Play Indie Game Festival. The studio also published the spin-off novel “Coffee of the End of the World,” set 13 years after the game.
