How a greek legend was horrifyingly reimagined in PS VR’s Theseus, releasing on 26th July

Hello everyone! This is Samuele Perseo from Forge Reply, the team behind the upcoming PlayStation VR game Theseus. We are super excited to reach out to you once more, because the wait is almost over: Theseus will be available on PlayStation VR on 26th July!

Here is a brand-new trailer to celebrate the announcement of the release date:

We do not want to spoil the story, but as you may have guessed from the trailer, Theseus is trapped in some kind of loophole. It will be up to you to find out what is going on, and how to deal with it. This just one of the differences from the original myth, and quite a subtle one as well. the Minotaur itself, on the other hand, is quite visible… and bulky!

With the earliest designs of the Minotaur, we tried different approaches. Eventually, we decided to develop those elements that felt more ‘alien’ and disturbing.

But how did we come to this take on one of the most famous creatures of Western mythology? As you may already know from our previous post, we wanted our game to be established on the uneven relationship between an “ordinary” man and a dreadful, invincible foe.

On the other hand, we liked the idea of engaging the player with something they could recognize, but we also wanted to twist and change things here and there to tell our own story. The character design process is meant to express these two basic concepts.

As we shaped the head, we focused on a balance between a distinctive silhouette and a recognizable pattern for the face.

The early versions of Minotaur actually resembled a bull, or the classic vision of Asterion, son of King Minos of Crete.

As we iterated on these drawings, however, we felt that this constraint did not add a real value to the atmosphere of the game. We went for something more alien and disturbing, and the black substance of the body of the monster is a direct consequence of this approach.

It is something that we have pushed even further, with the same goo infesting the labyrinth itself, spreading darkness and corruption. Not to mention the Minotaur’s spider-like minions, that will stalk you where their master cannot.

At this close-to-final stage, we were focusing on the mix between the black gooey substance of the body and the other osseous elements.

We also wanted to keep some recognizable elements, though. For example, we worked on the silhouette of the Minotaur, so that its shadow could resemble the original creature.

Another important element is the head, and we have strived to make it as iconic as possible, a signature and a symbol of the whole game. Moreover, the fact that is made of white bone is also useful in terms of gameplay, because it helps you read the movements of your foe.

You may have also noticed that one of the horns is broken, and that is no coincidence… But as we said earlier, no spoilers! You will have to wait until 26th July to unveil all the secrets of the labyrinth. Do you have what it takes to face the mighty Minotaur?

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