Gay Cowboys, Hardcore, Brawling, and Time Travel: This is the Game Reproach by White Wolfy | Mundo Indie

A story of gay cowboys, time travel, and street fights. A series from a famous streaming service? No. This is none other than Reproach, a game by the Brazilian studio White Wolfy, which will soon appear on computer screens across the country.

We spoke with Thiago Kong, the director of Reproach. He talked about his history with the studio, the game's creative process, his relationship with the team, and representation and diversity in games.

About Thiago and White Wolfy

Thiago Kong's story with games is a bit different. It begins with the studio "creating" Thiago, not the other way around. It all started when Kong left his job in the hospitality industry due to burnout to dedicate himself to Cinema.

In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the cultural scene was severely affected, and during the isolation, he decided to focus on studying Screenwriting. By the end of the pandemic, with some projects ready, he discovered the Marieta Project, a collaborative cultural center based in S?o Paulo, that promotes development groups, exhibitions, workshops, courses, seminars, and other activities. Among all this, there are calls for numerous works within Marieta, including game projects.

At the Marieta Project, Thiago met Sofia Wickerhauser of the White Wolfy studio. She works as an Executive Producer and was introduced to his game project. Together, they applied to one of the many calls for cultural projects and were approved.

From there, a partnership was formed. Thiago Kong became a part of White Wolfy and they started the development of Reproach. Today, besides Kong, who serves as director, narrative designer, and game designer, and Wickerhauser as producer, the studio has 2 other developers, 1 artist, and 1 sound designer.

Regarding the team, Kong told us that they work with the following dynamic:

"I always want the team to create with me. I've always left everything open because it's a collaborative project, not Thiago's project. So everyone has a lot of say in the creation process," he says.

He adds: "What I learned while studying screenwriting is that your creation is more of a guide. A script is a living document, and when it comes to games, there's also the GDD (game design document), which is also a living document. So everything in it can be changed; it always has to be revisited.

The Universe of Reproach

The protagonist of Reproach is Stout. However, he was created before the game, in a curious way. During the 2017 Geek City event in Curitiba, Kong wanted to participate in the cosplay contest but didn't have a specific character he wanted to portray. Thus, the character was created, gaining charisma and, eventually, his own story within Reproach.

"When you write, you heal yourself. You have no idea how much Stout healed me while I was writing his story."

Reproach is a beat’em up game, initially developed in 2.5D but is currently being modified to 3D to better fit the presented narrative. Stout is a detective who needs to investigate time travel and close temporal rifts, along with his friends, members of a hardcore band called Potus Flotus: Melissa, Greg, and Leo.

Even though it is predominantly a beat’em up game, we can also count on stealth elements, where the player decides whether to go through the environment silently or with brawling. Additionally, there will be 10 stages, each requiring the defeat of a boss to progress to the next.

Much more than just a cowboy game, Reproach brings representation and inclusion.

Cowboys outside the Popular Stereotype

White Wolfy is a studio that stands out for its focus on the LGBTQIA+ community. The focus of the stories is always within this universe, presenting stories in an authentic, fun and cliché-free way, prioritizing naturalness and not following specific trends.

The choice of a gay character in a beat'em up game was intentional:

"All the beat 'em up games I know, when they include LGBTQIA+ characters, it's always in a mocking position. I have the example of Poison from Final Fight. She was a trans woman in the 90s, and when she went to Street Fighter IV, she became a cis woman... why? I wanted to remove this LGBTQIA+ stereotype within the beat'em up genre and bring protagonism to it. Our protagonist is gay, but it's not explicitly stated that he's gay. That will be revealed when he meets the love of his life in another timeline where his boyfriend has formed a colony of gay cowboys.

Kong adds: "I want my characters to be homosexual just because that's my experience, that's how I was born, that's what I know. If I create a character that is very different from who I am, I won't be able to completely avoid some stereotypes that may not be true, but it's what I know of that profile.

In theory, portraying a gay or straight character makes no difference in the gameplay itself. When asked about the gratuitous hate that comes with representation and inclusion in games, Kong provokes:

"Homosexuality has always existed. The big difference is that now we are telling our own stories, no one else is doing it for us. We have a voice. Deal with it."

Reception and Launch

Up to the publication of this text, the most recent events that White Wolfy participated in were Gamescom and Gamescom Latam. The public reception was incredible and left the team very excited:

"People were very curious about the combination of stealth, hardcore band, gay cowboys, and brawling," says Kong.

Regarding the launch of Reproach, due to the change in the GDD (which includes changes in mechanics, art, gameplay, etc.), there is no official release date yet, with the closest projection being the second half of 2025. However, later this year, the material will need to be delivered for the call, so there is a possibility it will turn into a demo and be available for download on Steam.

Until then, you can follow White Wolfy and Reproach on their official social media channels.

Add the game to your Steam wishlist here;

Follow the studio on Instagram.

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Author: Ana Lins