I wouldn’t be here writing this blog if I hadn’t grown up with an original PlayStation. I used to love games before I got one, but titles like Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid changed my life and set me on the path to a career in the gaming industry. So it gives me great joy to be able to announce the release of Paradise Killer on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 this month – March 16th to be exact!
Paradise Killer is an open-world murder mystery set on a bizarre island ruled by a secret society that worships goat-headed alien gods. Monolithic crystal statues rise from the ocean and gaze upon an island full of secrets, demons, and shrines to unspeakable cosmic beings.
We knew it would look fantastic on PS5 – with all of our shiny black marble, golden temples and towering crystal statues screaming just to be covered in glorious ray-tracing. It’s also very whimsical and surprising every time I start the game and the PS5’s SSD stupidly loads the whole world fast. Besides looking super cool and flying at 60fps, the DualSense wireless controller’s haptic feedback adds immersive touches to things like climbing ladders, lighting your torch, and buying drinks from vending machines (my personal favorite addition). I wasn’t sure what haptic feedback would add to Paradise Killer but now my friends I can tell you it adds many
We were already hard at work on our next game when we got the opportunity to work on the PlayStation version of Paradise Killer, so we needed some help. We were lucky enough to work with our friend Harry on the port and couldn’t be happier. We wanted to manage Paradise Killer ports ourselves but we didn’t have the resources in-house. Luckily, Harry came highly recommended by our Art Director Rachel and was fortunately able to join us on the project, handling the port and implementing only PlayStation 5 features like haptics.
It’s scary to give something so personal to someone else to work on, but Harry has done an amazing job working with our Technical Director Phil to bring the game to PlayStation. Rachel has now joined the team full time as Art Director and helped us balance the new lighting to improve the game but also retain the style of the original release. Rachel had worked on areas from the original version of the game, and the PlayStation release gave her the chance to revisit her work, balancing new lighting that was still in keeping with the style of the original.
Here’s what she has to say about the new version:
“When we learned that we had the opportunity to bring Paradise Killer to PlayStation, we were really excited about the potential for some of the visual enhancements we could add to the game. Now that everything is ready, we can’t wait to show you the new and improved Paradise Island. We were aware not to lose the charm of Paradise Killer’s visual style, however, it’s still the nostalgic paradise island players know and love, but with a few visual tweaks to tweak it and make it a new, brighter version. My favorite change is the new lighting and improved ray tracing, it really brings those views of the island at sunset a bit more life!”
– Rachel Noy, artistic director
We’re using Unreal 4 to bring Paradise to life – with the move to PlayStation we’ve made good use of all the latest tech on offer, plus a few custom additions to ensure the brightest rendering at the brightest frame rates . We also removed some things, like loading screens. If anything, the world is charging too quickly now. What happens if I miss tips on the loading screen?
We certainly didn’t want to just release Paradise Killer with only technical improvements. We were blown away by the reaction to the game and wanted to add some extra stuff. I want to be a little cryptic here because I want to surprise players but there’s new music, new skins for your Starlight investigation assistant, new collectibles, a new side quest giver who’s a ghost [REDACTED] and a bunch of rogue AIs trapped in corrupt vending machines. These terrible cyber-villains hold the key to unlocking Barry “Epoch” Topping’s new belt music tracks. They are well hidden but definitely worth tracking down.
We’re excited to release the PS4 and PS5 versions of Paradise Killer. When we quit our jobs to create this unique game, we thought we wouldn’t find an audience, but we were wrong. Now we can introduce all of our beautiful monster children like Lady Love Dies, Sam Day Break and Shinji to a whole new group of players. We hope PlayStation owners enjoy bringing Paradise back to life!
