In April 2021, during the Indie World presentation of independent games for Nintendo Switchwe met a title called Aztech: Forgotten Gods which immediately caught our attention. Intrigued, we observe a world that mixed Aztec mythology and futuristic technology, created by the Mexican studio Lienzo.
Now, almost a year later, everything is ready for launch. Aztech: Forgotten Gods will go on sale Thursday, March 10, 2022 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
In preparation for its arrival, we spoke with Guillermo Vizcaino—writer and narrative designer of this title—to learn more about this game.
PS5: Hi William! First of all, we want to know more about the study. Who are Lienzo and how were they formed?
Guillermo: It’s been a while since Lienzo was formally created in 2012. The goal was to be a kind of ‘oasis’ for creative minds in Chihuahua, northern Mexico, which is a region better known for agriculture and manufacturing. It started with fun projects for companies, governments, museums, etc. It was from 2016 that we decided to follow our dream of making a more traditional video game and dedicate ourselves 100% to entertainment.
Mulakathe previous set of Canvas, and Aztech They are games very inspired by pre-Columbian cultures. Why did you decide not to make one, but two games inspired by it?
It was as a result of receiving Mulaka. It was the project that we always had in the oven and that motivated us to become independent. We got so deep into the world of pre-Columbian cultures that the studio fell in love with these stories. Mexico exports a lot of culture, but it almost always falls into stereotypes like mariachis and the day of the dead. Almost nothing is said about these myths and legends of the country.
We start with the Tarahumara culture in Mulaka
In addition to being inspired by the Aztec culture, it is a futuristic science fiction game that is reminiscent of what the Afrofuturist movement does. Where does this combination come from?
The idea comes from Daniel Gutierrez, the game’s art director. It is a uchrony, an alternative history if there had been no colonialism. The original concept was to mix the legends of Atlantis and the style of Blade Runner with a mythology inspired by Destiny. Obviously we investigated Wakanda to do something even more futuristic, but based on Aztec geopolitical structures, legends and iconography.
How important was the ‘anime’ when looking for influences? Apart from references to Dragon Ballthe influence of Japanese animation in Aztech Forgotten Gods.
Very much! The anime was central above all when creating the narrative. I wanted to Aztech felt like a saturday morning cartoon. we grew up with Dragon Ball and Knights of the Zodiac. Alexa, the other writer, and I are ‘superfans’ of these series. When we worked on the story, we were halfway through the Tournament of Power arc. Dragon Ball Super and we translated his style into a western story.
Alexa Ray Corriea, the game’s other writer, recently worked on Call of Duty: Vanguard. What was it like working with her and what did she bring to the game?
I was fortunate to meet Alexa through a mutual friend at E3 2019 and we immediately ‘clicked’ due to a mutual love for Dragon Ball. She showed interest in the story and characters we had created for Aztech and worked with us in a fairly active role until the end of 2020, when the story was complete.
In addition to telling a plot about futuristic gods, Aztech Forgotten Gods it is also a story of trauma, grief and post-traumatic stress. Do you want to talk about it?
We can write a whole book on this narrative layer of the game. The attraction of Achtli, the protagonist, is that she is a character full of failures, traumas and pains that originated in Alexa and me. We take advantage of the game to talk about many things that we are experiencing. The story was written during a pandemic of global pain and crisis. It became a canvas to put these thoughts on.
The characters talk about how long it takes to stop grieving. It’s an amalgamation of very human and real emotions because we put a little bit of ourselves into the character. We also wanted to reflect people who suffer from anxiety, fear of responsibility and to feel the evolution of the character through it.
One of the most striking aspects of the game are the huge gods that we face. Where do your designs come from?
Daniel, who had the vision, and our conceptual artist, Adriano Hernandez, transformed the vision of the gods from the codices and used Shadow of the Colossus as inspiration. There was a change from our original vision, which was a more “robotic” pantheon, and it became more fantastical. We take inspiration from what exists in his mythology—like Tlaloc with his mask and Mictlan with his crown—and take it further. We hope that the result will be memorable.
Tell us a bit about another characteristic element of the game: the movement based on flying and gaining speed.
That peculiar movement is the basis of the game. It was the idea of the animator in 2018, when we were just thinking about the next game. The original concept was “to be a cannonball”, but it eventually changed to offer more control. We did the most complex aerial move to turn Achtli into Iron Man or Baku, from My Hero Academia.
¿What elements would they have liked to include in the game that they couldn’t?
The first problem of a project is always to cut the “dreams” that we have to turn it into something realistic. It is always better to go from more to less. There was a bigger city with more life, more bosses, side quests, and more enemies. The voices were a recurring theme that we asked for a lot, but technical problems, lack of experience in the area, location and budget did not allow it. Perhaps in a future project the voices will not be out of the scope of Canvas. We have to find a compromise between what we wanted and what we could do.
Do you plan to return to the world of Aztech Forgotten Gods in the future?
We are at that point, thinking about what is coming. I can’t say it’s a certainty. It is a world that fascinates us, but there is nothing official to announce. We will continue to develop that universe outside of the games. We are working on the possibility of bringing the game’s story to the cinema.
How is the video game development scene in Mexico, especially in terms of independent studios?
We are in the infancy of the scene indie in Mexico, but at least we are no longer in diapers. We are a very consuming market, but not known for developing. do you know Kerbal Space Program? This game is Mexican and since its launch in 2012 there has been an explosion of studio births. It is an industry that is developing thanks to engines like Unreal and Unity. We support each other. We want to think that in five years we will be able to compete with countries like Brazil.
Aztech was revealed at an Indie World presentation alongside other indie titles for Switch. How did that affect the visibility of the game and what expectations did it create?
Putting the game in those spotlights was the hard work of just over a year, showing the game to potential partners. The goal was to have an “explosive” ad without much waiting time before launch. But plans changed when we “clicked” with Nintendo.
We did want to have that level of exposure and the truth is that bringing the project to more eyes opened more doors. The response of the people exceeded our expectations.
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*This interview was edited for clarity.
