Video Games

Tales of Kenzera: Zau dev Surgent Studios puts entire team on notice for redundancy

Company is looking for funding to finance its next project

Marco Wutz

Surgent Studios

Surgent Studios, the developer behind Tales of Kenzera: Zau, announced that it “had to put our entire team on notice for redundancy” as it’s pausing the work of its games division while trying to secure funding for its next project.

Surgent described this potential game as “darker, edgier, and more visceral than our first game.” It’s supposed to feature the same “high-octane combat and cultural depth” as Tales of Kenzera: Zau. The team has finished a prototype of this title and will release “a couple of exciting updates” for Tales of Kenzera: Zau before going on its hiatus, according to the announcement.

The studio is asking for potential publishing and funding partners to contact it and take a look at the prototype in order to facilitate its continued production.

GLHF’s Oliver Brandt wrote in their Tales of Kenzera: Zau review that it’s a game that “breaks a lot of conventions of the metroidvania genre, focusing more on story than exploration and outfitting you with most of your abilities from the get-go.”

“In a crowded metroidvania landscape, Tales of Kenzera: Zau stands out as one of the best in recent years,” they added.

Surgent Studios was founded in 2019 by British actor Abubakar Salim, who served as creative lead for Tales of Kenzera: Zau, the company’s debut game. It was released on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch in April 2024 under EA’s indie publishing label, EA Originals.

Despite generally positive reviews, the game was evidently not the commercial success Surgent needed it to be.

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Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg

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