Tequila Works (Dissertation project)

Tequila Works is a video game development company from Madrid, Spain.
They specialise in puzzle and adventure games, mostly surrounding the thriller genre.

Their oldest game is Deadlight. My personal favourite is The Sexy Brutale. And their newest is Gylt.

Deadlight is a platformer that is mostly known for it's stunning visuals (like most of Tequila Works' games.) This game follows a man trying to find his family in Seattle during the end of the world - fighting zombies throughout the platformer. Throughout the game, there is lots of interaction with the stylised background, which can  be often left out of platformers. Like in a lot of Tequila Works games, the best detail on the characters is when you zoom in to them (which does happen fairly often in this game). But like in every game, the stylistic background holds it's own very strongly. I think this is one of the games where movement in the characters is the most advanced and fluid (in comparison to Sexy Brutale with each character having a few set in stone actions, and their walk cycle) 

The Sexy Brutale is a mystery room game that involves you solving several murders in one day, inside a large casino. The game is inspired by groundhog day, with a clock that resets after 9 minutes of playing time. The characters don't seem very detailed with the 3D panned out angle of the game, however all of the high graphic animations used in the trailers and show reels for tequila are actually zoomed in versions of video game footage - showing they put a lot of detail in to everything. The Sexy Brutale was created using Maya.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/l5aXe

Gylt is a 3D open world exploration which uses lighting to create a path for the reader to follow. I think this game has the most detail out of the 9 under their belt - with hidden messages surrounding their backdrop. Without playing it, I think that the trailer shows a clear connection to the title and these words, showing the main characters inner guilt. I think the darkness and fire is the girls own destruction towards herself. Tequila works describe this plot as "nightmares become reality". 3rd person view, following the character. Adventure/puzzle - completing certain actions to move on to the next stage. The game was exclusive to Stadia and so the reviews weren't the best. The game is based around bullying. Guillermo used his own experiences to create this. The girl Sally is named after his cousin. Third person shows helplessness and isolation like in bullying. Highly inspired by Stephen King. Made so that people who wouldn't consider themselves to be good at gaming could easily play it - part of the introduction to google stadia service which is unpopular. 

google stadia is a streaming service that runs 4K at 60 frames per second. The game aims to look like a horror or thriller but is not actually very scary. Game play aims to slowly unveil places and the plot, like Sexy Brutale. The main objective is searching for Sally's cousin, Emily. Bullying never has "an easy solution" so the fact that this game mostly reflects on hiding and puzzle solving over the violence aspects of the game, shows the mentality of a sufferer of bullying. They 

want the game to allow younger viewers to have an understanding of their own bullying through the game, making it as easy to understand as possible. The main tool in the game is a torch - using light to get rid of the dark creatures. Positivity vs Gylt and day vs night, as shown in the concept art. From the looks pf footage from their documentary blogs - they used Maya on the characters like in Sexy Brutale, and then 3DS MAX to plan out the backgrounds.