Mage concern

Silva says the idea of the Mage hunt was conceived before

Salt And Sanctuary’s

release, back when he envisaged the first game featuring procedurally generated towers where these enemies would reside, before shifting tack to handcrafted levels. Sacrifice

is also hand-designed, “but it definitely goes back to just wanting to tell that story of the Mage hunt.” The story has evolved, he says. “Originally, it was way too wholesome, which just didn’t fit the grimdark [mood].” The challenge was ensuring the narrative details of both games lined up. “It’s like the George RR Martin problem, where having to match all the lore with the previous books became an exponentially more difficult problem for him,” Silva laughs.