As ex-Helldivers 2 devs prepare to launch a Resident Evil-inspired horror game, they reminisce on their past Metroidvania that was too "happy": "'I need to get to blow someone's head off with a shotgun in the next game'"

You might be surprised to learn, if you didn't know already, that happy-go-lucky Metroidvania Yoku's Island Express featured a pair of devs who contributed prominently to Helldivers 2. The pair, Linus Larsson and Mattias Syngg, are now working on something horror-flavored, but they clearly recall just how much they needed some democratic violence after shipping the former.

"So before we worked on Helldivers, Matthias and I did Yoku's Island Express, which is a very cute Metroidvania game," Larsson tells GamesRadar+. "And coming out of that, I remember vividly a conversation going, 'I can't make another game that's this happy. I need to get to blow someone's head off with a shotgun in the next game that I make.'"

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Needless to say, constructing planets full of bloodthirsty bugs and mechanized killmachines provides quite the creative contrast to the pinball-pogoing of Yoku's Island Express. Much as I enjoy that game, I can imagine spending months upon months within that aesthetic would leave you wanting a different kind of challenge.

Now, they're combining the two wavelengths, in a manner of speaking, for Silver Pines, a Metroidvania-type spin on Resident Evil and Silent Hill. It involves making your way through an unnamed small town in America, taking on all manner of terrors while you solve a bizarre mystery.

There are guns, and from the look of the trailers, there'll be a few exploded heads. Larsson's clearly found his lane. Silver Pines comes from Wych Elm, and it's due out at some point this year.

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