Crossing over

Arrog breaks down the binaries of art and science, life and death

Arrog’s striking, monochromatic art style is about much more than visual impact: it’s an expression of what art director Mateo Alayza hopes to achieve with this point-andclick experience. After drawing concepts while attending a game jam, the director of Hermanos Magia (one of Peru’s first illustration studios) contacted Leap Game Studios. “For a long time, I’ve looked to do something that is different from what you can find in the medium,” he tells us. “In Latin America there are not many examples, and even less in Peru. From my experience, there’s a strong tendency here for art and science to be divided by social prejudices from both sides. Working with Leap was key, as I felt games were the only space in which this barrier wasn’t so thick.”

The contrast of shades lends nuance to the story of a man accepting his death, Alayza tells us. “The colours are opposing elements that talk to each other constantly. When we talk about life, we make a binary separation with death – white is life, and black is death. So I decided that the art in Arrog was the contrary.” Strange, stark white scenes depict the metaphorical universe, whereas black tableaus signal that we’re in the real world; as time passes, they begin to meld. “The idea is to have two recognisable elements that are integrating, and that they are one in reality, like life and death.” Prepare to see in more than black and white when Arrog comes to Steam and smartphones shortly; it arrives on PS4 and Switch later this year.

Peruvian traditional art such as ‘mates burilados’ inspired Arrog, Alyza says, which depict “the events of a community through simple drawings. The humility takes the weight death usually has in art”