Surgent Studios, creators of Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, will partner with Japanese developer Pocketpair—known for Palworld and Craftopia—through their new publishing wing, Pocketpair Publishing, to create a horror game set for release in 2025. This exciting new game, developed by Surgent Studios, will not be set in the Tales of Kenzera universe.

Abubakar Salim, CEO of Surgent Studios, said, “Both Surgent and Pocketpair are well-versed in taking risks. We noticed a pattern in the entertainment industry, and Pocketpair has given us the opportunity to make a horror game about it. It will be short and weird, and we think players will be interested in what we have to say.

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We’re still in earnest conversation about further projects set in the Tales of Kenzera universe, but this will be a standalone piece: a mile marker between where we’ve come from and where we’re going.”

John Buckley, Head of Pocketpair Publishing, said, “As the games industry continues to grow, more and more games find themselves struggling to get funded or greenlit. We think this is a real shame, because there are so many incredible creators and ideas out there that just need a little help to become incredible games.

We were instantly fascinated by Abubakar’s creative vision for a horror game on a topic he’s uniquely qualified to explore. The ultimate goal of Pocketpair Publishing is to find creators with a genuine passion for games and enable them to create fun, new experiences for gamers all over the world.”

The game is planned for release later this year.

Why should you be hyped about this latest Surgent Studios collab?

Last year’s release of Tales of Kenzera: ZAU blew our minds here at But Why Tho? and blew the minds of fans everywhere who played the game. For the studio’s first game out the gate, it let players know what the Studio was about and also what kind of bar they were willing to set for themselves. In the process, they never lost the beating heart of the game, delivering a multi-layered story exploring the complexities of grief.

Our critic gave glowing praise for the game, saying that “Legends of Kenzera: ZAU is a triumph of storytelling. It’s immersive and thoughtful in every element of Zau’s journey. But the narrative, for all of its impact, doesn’t stand alone. Instead, the difficulty and complexity of traversing Kenzera complement and add a tactile nature to the emotional endeavor of moving through grief.”

Imagine all of that in a horror game. I don’t know about you, but that immediately makes me excited for what’s to come from this Surgent Studios and Pocketpair collaboration.