Abubakar Salim Interview - Tales of Kenzera: ZAU

Surgent Studios' is a fantastic-feeling Metroidvania that wears its heart on its sleeve. Much of that is due to the studio's (and the game's) lead, Abubakar Salim, who players may recognize as Bayek from He's also become quite a prolific actor, from working on episodes of to starring in and Ridley Scott's This year, he'll be appearing as Alyn of Hull in season 2.

When not on screen, however, Salim has been hard at work as the game director for Recently, Screen Rant got the opportunity to meet with Salim ahead of the worldwide launch of on April 23, 2024, and spoke for roughly 25 minutes about the inspiration behind the game's heavy themes (the death of his father), how being open and honest with who you are as a person is integral to creativity, and why sometimes a good takeaway pizza is all you need.

...this game, at its core, this is about grief.

Screen Rant: First of all, I wanted to say I played the demo for back when it came out during Steam Next Fest, and instantly fell in love with the game. It was just so much fun, and I love how quick the combat is. Now, obviously you've been very open [about the game's influences], and I've also lost my father, about five years ago. And that was, as you know, a very difficult thing to have to go through. And so, the first thing I wanted to ask is, when looking at the game as a whole, which part of it do you feel is most influenced by your father?

Abubakar Salim: Oh, man, we've laced this whole game with it. First of all, I just want to say thank you very much for playing the demo. I'm so grateful that you enjoyed it. I'm really thankful for that. Something that I've been saying a lot is, you know, we're a studio of 30. So every decision counts, and we've tried to lace as much of the elements of mechanics of the story, even to the degree of the music, to that journey of grief.

One thing I'd say is very pure is the reflection moment, you don't really get that in the demo, but you'll get that in the full game, where it's