I recently had the opportunity to talk with Olly Bennet CEO of Cardboard Sword the studio behind new Metroidvania, The Siege And The Sandfox. A game which I’ve very much enjoyed but haven’t been able to finish yet due to an accessibility issue. What I have played left me with several questions about the inspirations for Siege And The Sandfox as well as the studios plans moving forward. Olly was gracious enough to provide me with answers to all my questions and even shared a message to everyone who has played Siege And The Sandfox.
Here’s what we discussed:
Q. The Siege And The Sandfox is a 2D metroidvania but with a twist. It has a massive focus on stealth, what was the biggest inspiration behind this idea to focus on Stealth? Personally, it reminds me of the Thief games.
Thief was definitely one of the main inspirations, and is a much loved and respected game by many on the team. Mark of the Ninja was also a massive inspiration, and was the only game we knew to have really done 2D stealth fully. Sandfox started originally as a pixel art hobby project by our 3D artists - the art of which evolved into the art style the game is today. When we saw those beautiful assets we knew we had to make something with them, and combining those two game inspirations into a Metroidvania felt like something unique and cool to try.
Q. Following on from that, there have been a lot of metroidvania games hitting the market over the last few years. Did any of these games have an impact on The Siege And The Sandfox? If so, how?
Dead Cells definitely. Their normal mapping inspired us to normal map our art, which led us to conclude through experiments that hand-authoring the normals was the best approach, even though incredibly labor intensive. This led to a beautiful rich depth to our art, working with the Unreal lighting, that makes it stand out so much. Games like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous of course impacted thoughts on things like scope and atmosphere, or other elements, but directly Dead Cells was the one I can point to.
Q. Now, as someone with a disability I'm very passionate about accessibility. I don't often need to make use of it myself but I know many players that wouldn't be able to play The Siege And The Sandfox in its current state. Do you have any plans to add more accessibility options in the future?
Olly said “We love watching players jumping into the world of The Siege and the Sandfox, and seeing how they play it. Right now we’re mostly taking onboard feedback and are focused on resolving critical issues to ensure a smoother gameplay experience for all.”
I also asked Olly about bringing the game to other platforms, namely the recently released Nintendo Switch 2. Which I think Siege And The Sandfox would be perfect for. Here’s what he had to say:
Olly responded “Right now The Siege and the Sandfox is available for PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG.com, and Humble. Any future plans for Switch or Switch 2, or any other console, haven’t been announced.”
Q. Furthermore, we live in a world of ongoing games and DLC. Are there any plans to add new content to The Siege And The Sandfox in the future?
Olly said “Our game tells its story and wraps things up. Cash DeCuir, our writer, made tons of lore that’s shared through scrolls found throughout the game, so there is certainly scope for more. Will that materialise into extra content? A Sequel? We’ll see…”
Q. Finally, I wanted to ask what have you and the team made of the reaction to The Siege And The Sandfox since release and is there anything you'd like to say to the players?
Olly said “We’re delighted to have our debut title in players’ hands, and - bugs aside - reading and listening to some truly lovely feedback and reviews. It’s great to see people noticing all the extra details and layers of quality we built into the game. We spent a lot of time and hard work, consideration and thought, into many subtle elements, so when those are noticed and appreciated it feels worth it. So I’d say ‘thank you!’ and mention that we’re still updating it to make it even better.”
That was where our Q&A ended, but after some reflection one thing became very clear to me Cardboard Sword is a passionate studio with a clear idea behind the game they wanted to create. With Siege And The Sandfox, they’ve managed to create a game that respects the history of it’s genre while offering a new twist to set it apart from its competitors. I just hope that they can add some accessibility options in the months ahead, so that I can finish the game and even more people can take part in this great experience.
Thank you to Olly Bennet and Cardboard Sword for taking the time to answer my questions and congratulations on the release of The Siege And The Sandfox. Which is available right now on PC via Steam, Epic and GOG.