A new gameplay demonstration video for Tanais Games’ 2.5D adventure title, Saint Kotar, was released. The trailer reveals an early concept of their point-and-click adventure showcasing the advantages of using 3D over 2D characters set against hand-drawn backgrounds.

The early concept video basically showcases why the team decided to use a 2.5D approach, mixing 3D characters with 2D backgrounds for a point-and-click style interface. Originally they were going to make the game entirely in 2D, but after experimenting and investigating the 3D alternative, they decided to go with the 2.5D method.

You can check out the alpha footage for Saint Kotar below.

Marko Tominić, game director, writer and designer commented further about the design decision that went into the switch to 3D characters, mentioning in the press release…

“What led us to the reasons in favor of the 2.5D approach is the fact that Saint Kotar has a psychological horror narrative, a serious dark tone within a real world setting.”

 

“It doesn’t have characters with giant heads and long arms for example, or houses with strange unearthly shapes and dimensions. Something weird and mysterious is going on in the town of Saint Kotar, but the place is located in the mountainous region of Croatia. In Europe. On Earth. And thus, in order to achieve better player immersiveness in a real world setting, we’ve decided 2.5D approach to be the best. At some level this could be achieved in a true 2D approach as well, but never good enough as in 2.5D.”

The 2.5D approach actually seems to benefit the artistic design of Saint Kotar. The levels and character designs remind me a lot of Charles Cecil’s Broken Sword series.

Players will be able to examine objects, talk to NPCs, explore the environment and interact with certain points of interest.

They plan on finishing up more of the game and then launch a playable demo. By the summer they hope to have the game mostly wrapped up and prepped for its Kickstarter.

If you want to further follow the development of the game you can do so by visiting the official website.