Though Heart Machine’s catalog — from Hyper Light Drifter to Solar Ash — spans multiple genres, the studio preserves a consistent visual identity across its projects. That recognizable aesthetic is deliberate: the team aims for an immediate, signature look regardless of gameplay or format.
Studio founder Alx Preston told Polygon in a video interview that the goal is for any Heart Machine release to be instantly identifiable as such. He and environmental artist Wolf Traenkle discussed how the studio shapes new intellectual property — including the recently released side-scroller Possessor(s) — and how they determine the distinct visual language for their games.
Preston said Heart Machine tries to balance new ideas and original worlds with continuations of familiar motifs from the Hyper Light universe. “We want each release to feel fresh while still bearing our stamp,” he explained, noting that Possessor(s) follows that same philosophy.
Possessor(s) is a 2D Metroidvania that follows Luca, a teenager navigating a ruined, corporation-controlled city haunted by demons and cursed objects. After forming a pact with the entity Rhem, Luca searches for a way out. Preston described the game as a darker evolution of themes the studio has explored previously.
Traenkle said the studio leans into vivid environmental palettes paired with sharply defined enemy silhouettes. She described a “vibrancy” that sits in contrast with a more serious emotional tenor — and for Possessor(s) the team pushed toward a slightly darker, more somber register. Preston added that characters and settings were treated with a simplified, stylized approach to detail so the overall composition reads clearly while still feeling bold.
According to Traenkle, the creative process is collaborative and improvisational — a “jam band” of ideas — where visuals and narrative feed one another. Artists’ explorations of environments and character forms often open up new narrative directions, and the story in turn influences aesthetic choices.
Preston emphasized that those emotional undercurrents are central to Heart Machine’s work. He said the somber atmospheres stem from internal conflicts and personal experiences the team shapes into interactive form — a push and pull between melancholy and beauty that the studio aims to convey.
Though Possessor(s) contains unsettling adversaries — including screeching, airborne books — the team intentionally stopped short of conventional horror. Traenkle described the experience as one of dread more than shock: an atmosphere that unsettles rather than relying on jump scares.
The game’s themes of isolation and ruined urban spaces inevitably echo recent real-world events. Preston noted the pandemic influenced aspects of the story, shaping an origin rooted in solitude and broader societal rupture.
Visually and narratively, the team drew from a wide range of media to achieve the game’s eerie, alluring tone: the empathetic antagonists of Demon Slayer, the liminal mood of Apple TV’s Severance, and the strange, beautiful strangeness of the film adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation all informed how the studio approached atmosphere, form, and color.
All of these influences and deliberate stylistic choices produce a game that feels unmistakably Heart Machine even as it explores new territory. Traenkle relished the challenge of paring back detail while preserving legibility: deciding how much to simplify environments without losing their narrative and spatial clarity is one of the first aesthetic tests on a project like this.
Regrettably, the studio has also weathered difficult business news. Polygon interviewed Preston and Traenkle following reports that Heart Machine halted development on its roguelike Hyper Light Breaker and laid off staff, and the studio later underwent another round of reductions that affected members of the Possessor(s) team. The Breaker-related layoffs were organized separately from the Possessor(s) group, Preston said, but subsequent cuts did impact the project’s team members. (More details: Hyper Light Breaker coverage; follow-up reporting.)
“We felt the timing was right to release Possessor(s) in November and move forward,” Preston said, though he acknowledged what comes next for the studio remains open.
Possessor(s) is available now on PlayStation 5 and Windows PC.
Source: Polygon
