Blacksad: Under the Skin

Blacksad: Under the Skin is an adventure game that takes place in a three-dimensional game world. Its gameplay has been compared to the work of Telltale Games,[1] as well as Team Bondi's L.A. Noire and Frogwares' Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter.[2][1] Blacksad does not feature an inventory,[3] and, unlike in Pendulo Studios' past games, it forgoes a point-and-click interface in favor of direct character control.[4] Gameplay is choice-based and the player's actions alter the player character's alignment with other characters in the world.[1] The direction of the story changes based on the player's decisions. Blacksad features quick-time events,[3] timed conversation sequences and scenes where the player must search for clues in the environment.[1]

During investigations, John Blacksad's heightened feline senses allow the player to slow down time and perceive visual clues in their surroundings, which are then added to the player's clue index. From here, the player may combine clues to form conclusions,[5] both to progress the main story and to solve optional side-quests.[6]

Blacksad: Under the Skin is set in New York City during the 1950s,[7] and takes place chronologically between Blacksad: Arctic Nation and Red Soul.[6][5] Its story begins when protagonist John Blacksad is approached by Sonia Dunn, daughter of boxing club owner Joe Dunn who has died suspiciously. She asks Blacksad to investigate the situation and locate the club's star fighter Booby Yale, who has been missing since Dunn's death. According to Pendulo Studios, the game contains 30 unique characters and five previously from the Blacksad comic series: John Blacksad, Commissioner Smirnov, Jake Ostiombe, Paulie and Weekly.[7] The game contains six possible endings.[8]

Blacksad: Under the Skin was developed by the Spanish company Pendulo Studios,[9] the country's longest-running game developer by 2019.[8] It had previously been responsible for games such as the Runaway and Hollywood Monsters franchises.[10] YS Interactive initially assisted the team on Blacksad.[4][11] According to Pendulo, the idea of adapting the Blacksad comic series into a game was first proposed by Pendulo's publisher Microïds, directly after the two companies had completed Yesterday Origins in November 2016. Microïds was owned by the same media conglomerate as Blacksad publisher Dargaud.[4] Although Pendulo had never worked with a license before,[3] the developer's Josué Monchán noted that the team had "been Blacksad fans for a long time" and agreed to the idea immediately.[7] The team then storyboarded a pitch and submitted it to Dargaud and Blacksad's authors, who approved it.[12] The project was unexpectedly announced in June 2017 and was initially scheduled for a late 2018 release.[13] Giada Zavarise of Rock, Paper, Shotgun wrote of the announcement, "In the world of games, the news was received with a shrug. But in the comics scene, people were screaming incoherently."[14] Gameblog's Vincent Elmer-Haerrig called the plan a "gamble" for Pendulo, as Under the Skin is aimed at "a fringe of players who are both comic-philes and video game lovers."[15]

Blacksad writer Juan Díaz Canales (left) and artist Juanjo Guarnido served as consultants on Blacksad: Under the Skin, and offered feedback on the visuals, story, voice direction and other aspects of the production.

Pendulo collaborated with Blacksad creators Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido on Under the Skin.[4][16] The developer described the pair as consultants,[4] while Canales said that Pendulo "ask[ed] us about the plot and the visuals concepts."[16] According to Monchán, adapting Guarnido's visual style was the team's "biggest challenge" during production.[7] Guarnido expressed his desire for accuracy to the Blacksad comic's aesthetic,[12] and Monchán called his help and approval "fundamental" to the team's efforts.[7] The authors reviewed each stage of the 2D concept art and 3D visuals.[6] Pendulo hoped to balance faithfulness to the comics' art with realism regarding budget and scheduling, as Monchán noted that it was impossible to perfectly recreate the comics' style given the restrictions of game development.[7] Blacksad's authors also offered input on the game's voice direction.[6] Canales requested a deep voice for John Blacksad because of the character's heavy smoking; the team hired Barry Johnson of Detroit: Become Human for the English version, and Gabriel Jiménez—voice of Hugh Jackman in Spanish film dubs—for the Spanish version.[17]

With help from the comic's authors, Pendulo opted to create an original story not based on any particular Blacksad installment, but which still takes influence and inspiration from the existing series.[4] Guarnido said that "the narrative is strong and we took care that it does not interfere with the stories of the comic series".[12] The game's story is officially considered non-canonical.[1] Its focus on sports-related corruption and the impact of television on sports in the 1950s came, according to Monchán, because Pendulo "wanted to address a topic that Guarnido and Canales have not yet touched".[7] Pendulo's Felipe Gómez Pinilla said that the theme of corruption emerged from the team's research into the era. It became a central theme in the game; according to GameSpot's Jordan Ramée, the team intended player decisions to hinge on their interaction with corruption in society, either through acceptance or rejection.[6]

Blacksad was Pendulo's first game to use fully 3D visuals. Lead animator Carlos Hernández told Mundo Deportivo that the game's production was "a great difficulty" for the team, particularly because of Pendulo's small size. The company numbered 17 members by 2019.[3] Pendulo was similarly challenged by the game design: Pinilla noted that the team sought to recreate the feeling of the Blacksad comics in an interactive form, and to "find the mechanics that make you feel like [you are] investigating something" rather than simply observing an investigation. John Blacksad's heightened feline senses were an attempt to make Under the Skin's detective work unique to the Blacksad universe. Easter eggs that reference the Blacksad books were included as well.[5] The game's direct control scheme replaced traditional point-and-click controls because the team wanted Under the Skin to suit game consoles, a concern that started during the creation of Yesterday Origins.[17]

Under the Skin's first teaser trailer was revealed in August 2018,[18] around the time of its showing at Gamescom.[19] It proceeded to appear at the 3D Wire festival in Spain that October.[20] By February 2019, the game had been in production for over two years.[4] In April of that year, Blacksad was given a release date of September 26, 2019.[21] Mundo Deportivo reported at the time that Blacksad was "in the final phase of development".[3] However, in July, the game was delayed to November 5, 2019.[22] Microïds attributed the delay to a desire for increased polish in the final product.[23] Although the game received a subsequent delay to November 14, its European Xbox Marketplace and PlayStation Store versions nevertheless appeared due to a technical error on November 5.[24] Microïds advised buyers not to play the game before the release of its planned "day-one patch", set to coincide with Under the Skin's wider release on November 14. According to Microïds, the patch will add more sound effects to the game, fix "major bugs" and heavily increase the frame rate, among other improvements.[25] Discussing the situation at the time, Destructoid's Chris Moyse wrote, "You have to feel for the developers in what must be a very stressful and unfortunate situation."[26] While the game met its planned November 14 release date, Jorge Cano of Vandal characterized Under the Skin's overall rollout as "simply disastrous" and as "an example of how to do things wrong when it comes to putting a game on sale". Patches soon followed to fix some of the game's bugs and instabilities at launch.[27]

• Official website