Surgent Studios was founded by actor Abubakar Salim, best known for roles as Bayek in Assassin’s Creed Origins and Alyn of Hull in House of the Dragon. It went on to make Tales of Kenzera: Zau, but times have been tough since the game’s release, and now the studio is taking a temporary hiatus.
“We’ve decided to put the work of the Surgent games division on hiatus while we secure funding for our next project,” the developer says in an X post. “In the meantime, we’ve unfortunately had to put our team on notice for redundancy. Everyone at Surgent worked incredibly hard to create Tales of Kenzera: Zau, a game that truly comes from the heart. Their passion, creativity, and dedication are nothing short of extraordinary.”
A few months ago, in July, the studio laid off “just over a dozen” employees. In an announcement, Surgent Studios explained that “it’s a difficult time in the games industry, but we remain incredibly proud of our entire team’s work on Zau.” So it’s awful to see this studio and talented developers negatively affected once more.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a metroidvania. You play as Zau, a young shaman, on a journey to reclaim his father’s soul. The story is actually inspired by Salim’s own experience of losing his father and his journey to grieve and finally make peace with that. It’s a really interesting game thematically and one that I thoroughly enjoyed playing through, in part thanks to its story but also due to the tricky yet fun fights and platforming, so I’d definitely recommend checking it out.
But it looks like even with the hiatus, Tales of Kenzera: Zau will hopefully not be the studio’s last game. “Our team has created a prototype for a bold new project,” the company says. “It’s darker, edgier, and more visceral than our first game, but it retains all of Zau’s high-octane combat and cultural depth. And we’re looking for a partner.” Surgent Studios ends the post by signposting its contact page, inviting any prospective partners to get in touch.