Exclusive: Holy Cow Productions Reveals Details on PlayStation India Hero Project Game Requital: Gates of Blood

India's console and PC developer scene has more depth than some think.

In February, Sony revealed the first five games that its funding from India as a part of its PlayStation India Hero Project at an event in Bengaluru. One title stood out simply because it wasn’t a known entity much like some of the other games on display, this was Requital: Gates of Blood. Developed by Bengaluru-based Holy Cow Productions, my curiosity was piqued. More so when you consider that the company’s been making games for PC and console for close to a decade at this point.

First it cut its teeth on Zenith, co-development project with Hamburg-based Infinigon before striking out on its own to make games like Mystic Pillars, which also has the honour of being the first made-in-India game to be on PlayStation Plus. Naturally, I reached out to Holy Cow Productions CEO and co-founder Goutham Dindukurthi to know more about Requital: Gates of Blood’s inspirations and PS5 features. He also shed light on what it’s like to work with Sony and what’s new with Mystic Pillars as it makes its way to the PS5. Some responses have been edited slightly for clarity and length. 

1. For the uninitiated, could you give us a brief background of your game development journey?

My name is Goutham Dindukurthi and I started my career in game development as a gameplay programmer in Ubisoft Barcelona and then moved on to start Holy Cow Productions in 2014 with an aim to create quality video games for all platforms.

 
2. Why did Holy Cow apply for the India Hero Project?

We have always been very interested in developing games for PC and Consoles. Our very first game project, Zenith, was available on all platforms and that experience is something we cherish. Sony's India Hero Project is a great opportunity to directly work with the platform and gain access to their dev kits. That prospect and the development funding opportunities led us to apply for the India Hero Project.
 
3. What's Requital about and what can players expect at launch?

Requital: Gates of Blood is a 2D action platformer set in the Duat, the Egyptian underworld, where you will fight Egyptian gods and beasts in boss-rush-like encounters. Players can expect a good amount of platforming puzzles along with engaging boss fights.

  
4. What are the inspirations for Requital and how long has it been in development?

Blasphemous, Furi, and Cuphead are some of the inspirations for Requital. The game has just begun production but we have been working on pre-production in the art and narrative for a while.
 
5. The description for Requital on the PS Blog says that this game is inspired by Egyptian mythology. How did you go about researching the topic and what was the reason for this choice of theme?

Egyptian mythology is something that hasn’t been explored a lot in video games. When we discussed the gameplay for Requital, it involved fighting huge creatures and mythical beasts. Egyptian mythology was one of the ideas suggested by our team and it unanimously felt right for the game. The internet has been our most obvious choice for research. We've gone through multiple articles and podcasts to research Egyptian mythology. We've also looked at the representation in various games such as Assassin's Creed origins for research.
 
6. Moreover, Requital's art direction seems striking with hand-drawn characters. What was the thought process and inspiration behind it?

The art style was something we were keen on keeping unique. We feel 2D animations when hand-drawn bring out a completely different feel and soul to the game and we as a studio resonate completely with that. Games like Cuphead, Indivisible, and Hollow Knight have created absolute masterpieces with hand-drawn art and animation. We aspire to achieve a fraction of that and also hope that our players from around the world will like and appreciate the effort put in for the art of Requital.

7. While it's early days, what's it been like working on PlayStation hardware like the PS5?

We've been lucky to have had the hardware support from the amazing team at Sony. We had a little experience working with it over the last year since we ported and remastered our earlier title, Mystic Pillars for PS5 (released on PlayStation 5 and PS Plus on March 19th 2024). It has been great working with the PlayStation hardware and experiencing the power of these machines.
 
8. Will Requital support for PS5-specific features like adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and activity cards?

Requital will absolutely support all the relevant features of PS5 including the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. We are excited to design PS5-specific features for Requital going forward.
 
9. What's it like working with PlayStation as an indie developer versus sticking it out on your own? You've done both so it would be interesting to hear what it's like.

Our studio has been deeply passionate about Requital. We were hoping to develop the game even if the results of the India Hero Project didn’t pan out. Lucky for us, they did! It has only been positive and all the help and support from the India Hero Project team is amazing and inspiring. Having external feedback and access to technical support, and dev kits helps the development greatly. For example: when we consider things like PS5 features, we can get answers faster than when we were working on our own as we can work directly with their team now.

 
10. Requital is coming to PC as well. While I understand that it's still too early to talk pricing, Indian audiences usually expect a lower price tag on Steam. And while you are probably still deciding how much to charge, I'm curious to know, as a developer and a gamer, what are your thoughts on regional pricing?

We are very excited to bring Requital to PC as well as PS5. As mentioned by you, it's super early to discuss pricing. We will be taking a call on the pricing when we are closer to the release date.

11. Finally, Mystic Pillars is now on PS5 and on PlayStation Plus. In fact, it's the first Indian game to make it to PlayStation Plus. Now, the game's been available on other platforms so were there any challenges porting it to PS5? Are there any bespoke PS5 features the game utilises?

We are pumped to have Mystic Pillars - Remastered available on PS5 and also be the first Indian game to be on PlayStation Plus. It's really cool to have had the opportunity and complete credit goes to Sujith Sukumaran and the Sony team for enabling this opportunity for us.

Mystic Pillars was available on other platforms but the game now on PS5 is a remastered version of it. This game now contains completely redrawn art for the map sections, recreated menus, complete joystick support, and native 4k art among other things. We are supporting PS features such as activities, haptics, and trophies (including a platinum) in our game.

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Dindukurthi’s responses suggest that the PC and console game development space in India has more depth than some give it credit for. And while it's interesting to see Sony appearing to have a more hands-on approach than the previous laissez faire stance that resulted in unintended consequences, rest assured a vocal console and PC gaming audience here will be watching closely.