Midautumn's roguelike reflection deals with power, damage, and experiences of the Asian diaspora
Not mysterious as the dark side of the moon.
Action roguelike Midautumn is named after the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important events of the calendar for many countries in Asia. It's a celebration of the full moon, usually falling in September or October, though traditions vary between countries. For me, it's a time of year I'll always associate with the mooncakes my grandma shares with us. For Midautumn developer Sherveen Uduwana, it brings back memories of attending these festivals as a child, and the comfort of lanterns and fireworks floating in the dark night sky.
Available in demo form during LudoNarraCon last month, Midautumn's blend of thematic storytelling and action mechanics immediately caught my eye - as well as its name. Still, Uduwana is aware Midautumn's title - and the experiences within Asian diaspora communities that inspired him - won't immediately feel familiar to many others. "I think a lot of folks I was pitching it to were like, why is it called Midautumn?" Uduwana tells me, adding that he settled on the name very early on. "There's a specific type of person who, when they find out the game is called Midautumn, gets very excited."
Uduwana tried pitching the game in a traditional way to secure funding, but the culture gap - and then, more significantly, the pandemic and the wave of anti-Asian sentiment surrounding it - caused him to opt for a more indie development approach instead. "That galvanised me to just be like, I'm just gonna message people and we'll try and make it," he says. "I was tired of having to explain why people would relate to it, or why it would be something that would be exciting for folks. A lot of people in those positions of power are just not really tuned into those specific communities."
Midautumn draws on many personal inspirations and interests. The game's setting, Nambo Quay, is a utopian town filled with inhabitants from Asian communities across the entire continent, which has its roots in Uduwana's childhood. Uduwana grew up while moving around within Asia, he tells me, and was always struck by the ability of diaspora communities to relate to each other, despite differences in their situations and histories.
Uduwana recognises some people will be drawn to Midautumn as it focuses on a particular type of experience, and not because they're big fans of action roguelikes. "Lots of people are going to play it because they like the characters or the setting or the story, so we wanted to make a combat system that leaned into that in a lot of ways," Uduwana says.
This led the team to centre combat on lunar blood, which acts as ammo, and is collected from and then reflected back to enemies. The amount of blood you can be holding at once is limited, and if you hold on to it for longer than five seconds or get damaged, it turns into lunar rot. Rot can still be used to attack, but in doing so you'll take damage.
On a mechanical level, this means you don't take damage right away when an enemy hits you, something I found a fascinating choice. Many playtesters "visibly relaxed" once they realised they could delay taking damage, Uduwana tells me, and the mechanic helps make Midautumn more accessible to those who don't play action games regularly.
On a thematic level, the feeling this creates can be interpreted in different ways. The act of reflecting ammo ties into the game's lunar imagery, evoking the effect of the moon's reflection of light from Sun - something seen at the full moon of the Mid-Autumn festival. Personally, I really like the idea of harvesting energy from your spiritual demons, whatever they may be, and using it to defeat them, but keeping it to yourself for too long will only hurt you further down the line.
To me, that interpretation made combat feel even more satisfying and powerful because it was something I could draw on from my own experiences. Uduwana is keen for players to draw their own parallels from the narrative, too. "That's what games and art in general does for you, it makes you feel seen," he says. For him, Midautumn is a product of resilience when faced with resistance, a wish to capture the nostalgic feeling of returning home to those night-time festivals.
I can't wait to find out what journey the game's narrative will take me on when it's fully released. Currently, the first chapter is playable through Early Access. Uduwana hopes launch Midautumn in late 2023, which means it could potentially arrive during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and I can't think of a more appropriate time.