Developed by NDEV GAMES and published by Com2us Holdings, Fatal Claw is a Metroidvania which originally launched on August 26th, 2026 for PC.
After having been given the opportunity to review the game for our site, NDev Games were kind enough to let me interview them regarding Fatal Claw. While I very much enjoyed it, I was left with several questions, even after completing the game.
Here is what they shared with me:
Hello there! My name is Sagi, and I'm one of the co-founders of Netto’s Game Room. To start things off, could you introduce your development team to our readers?
We are a development studio founded by a team of people who wanted to create games in the genre we love the most and enjoy playing ourselves. Our team members have over 10 years of experience developing action games in Korea, including Elsword and KurtzPel.
Without going too deep into spoilers, Fatal Claw makes some really interesting use of time manipulation. Stories like these can be notoriously difficult to execute well, so I was impressed by how effectively you handled it. What inspired you to pursue this direction?
One of the things we really wanted to explore when we first started developing Fatal Claw was allowing players to experience firsthand the world after the ending.
After playing various games, including Metroidvanias, I would often find myself wondering what happened after the protagonist's journey ended. How were the NPCs we had met along the way living their lives? How has the world changed as a result of the protagonist's choices and actions?
With Fatal Claw, we wanted players to be able to see those changes for themselves, even after reaching the ending, and enjoy that experience as something meaningful in its own right.
Another goal was to give a narrative explanation to something we often take for granted in games: the idea that a character can die, come back to life, and continue exploring.
Rather than having the character simply respawn because it's a game, we wanted players to understand naturally within the game's world why Kisha can come back to life.
This led us to create the concept of the Immortal Stone, an object capable of recording and restoring not only objects, knowledge, and life, but even time itself.
As we expanded on this idea, more questions naturally followed. If time itself could be recorded and restored, what would the people of this world try to do with that power? Conversely, what would they fear or forbid? And what would they want to bring back using such power?
As we explored these questions one by one, time became more than just a plot device. It became deeply intertwined with the world of Fatal Claw and the stories of its characters.
Ultimately, the gameplay experience we wanted to create from the beginning and the worldbuilding gradually came together to form the story we have today.
Are there any plans to expand the story of Fatal Claw? And, without spoiling anything in the published review, might it be possible to save Kisha’s mother? Is there also a possibility of adding other playable characters, such as Cain or Ortlinde?
We would also love to be able to save Kisha’s mother. However, the current version of the game does not directly address that possibility.
Instead, we designed one of the endings so that Kisha’s choice could also be interpreted as a decision to start everything over again in order to save everyone she loved. We hoped that players would watch that ending and imagine the possibilities that might follow in their own ways.
As for playable characters, we originally had ideas for making Cain and Ortlinde playable. We also considered allowing players to control an infected version of Kisha in one of the endings. Unfortunately, we were unable to implement these ideas as actual content during development.
That said, we haven't completely abandoned these ideas. If we get the opportunity to expand the story and characters of Fatal Claw, they are things we would love to revisit someday.
I really love Kisha’s design, but I have to ask: does Kisha have four arms? It looks as though he has two regular arms and two additional ones coming out of his hood.
Kisha has two arms. The two large arms that appear to emerge from his hood are actually part of his outfit, not his body.
Kisha is still young and has not yet fully matured physically. The cloak, which was made in Jaima’s workshop, features these large arms as a way to support him.
However, when designing the character, we intentionally made the arms blend naturally into Kisha’s body so that people seeing him for the first time might wonder, “Wait, does he have four arms?”
In the actual game, these arms help Kisha move and perform various actions. Rather than being merely decorative, they are pieces of equipment that contribute to his unique characteristics.
What made you decide to make a cat the main character?
The reason was actually very simple. One day, I happened to see a cat effortlessly leap over a wall while walking down the street, and I thought, “Ah! Cats are naturally curious and adventurous.”
Since we believe that the core of a Metroidvania is the joy of exploration, we decided to make the protagonist a cat.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while developing the game?
Since we are a small team, one of our biggest challenges was that everyone had to take on multiple roles.
One day, someone might be working on art and then switch to game design. The next day, they might be working on sound. Everyone had to be a multitasker, which was both an enjoyable and a challenging part of the development process.
Is there anything about the game you wish you could change?
If we were to develop the game again today, one of the things we would most want to change is the early portion of the game.
During development, we placed a lot of importance on giving players the experience of gradually expanding their exploration and combat options as they acquired new abilities. As a result, we designed the game so that players would encounter Fatal Claw’s distinctive systems one by one after making some progress.
However, after seeing how people played the game and reading their feedback following its release, we came to feel that we could have introduced the features and gameplay elements unique to Fatal Claw much earlier.
In particular, we think players could have understood what makes Fatal Claw special more quickly if we had gradually introduced elements that become more enjoyable later in the game, such as combining movement, combat, and skills, from the very beginning.
Even after release, we have continued to improve the early-game progression, item acquisition, controls, and other aspects. If we were to start development from scratch, we would design these parts quite differently.
Many characters in Fatal Claw talk about wanting revenge against the Black Cats, but the game never fully explains what the Black Cats actually did wrong. The same applies to what happened during the previous king’s reign. Do you plan to explore these events in greater detail in the future?
There are several tribes in the world of Fatal Claw. Among them, the Black Cats and the Yellow Cats were two prominent tribes that once fought over royal power. Examu and Odds are also representative figures of the Black Cats.
The Yellow Cats survived for a long time by using the Immortal Stone and life sacrifices to record and restore their own lives. Examu drove them out and imprisoned them, then made the very act of sacrificing lives to record other lives in the Immortal Stone taboo.
Within the game's story, Examu's actions are portrayed relatively positively. However, he was not a hero to everyone. From the Yellow Cats' perspective, he was the person responsible for their downfall. Cain, as a descendant who does not fully understand what happened in the past, could also come to view him in that way.
Odds is similar. He became someone others resented because of two major decisions he made.
The first occurred 10,000 years ago, when a volcanic eruption threatened to destroy the entire Kingdom of Ellard. With no way to save everyone, Odds broke the taboo and chose to sacrifice half the population to record the lives of the other half in the Immortal Stone.
Although his decision was made to save lives, it could hardly have seemed honorable or just to those who had to sacrifice their own families or companions to survive.
The second event was an outbreak of infection approximately 100 years before the present-day setting of the game. To prevent the contamination from spreading to the surface, Odds sealed the door leading above ground and attempted to resolve the crisis himself.
However, he ultimately failed, leaving the people behind trapped underground. Once again, he made this decision to prevent even greater harm, but those who had to bear the consequences had ample reason to resent him.
Through these stories, we wanted to show that the Black Cats and their kings are not simply good or evil. A decision made to save one person can be unforgivable to someone else.
That is why different characters in the game can have conflicting opinions about the very same person.
At present, we reveal only parts of these past events through records and the accounts of various characters. We would love to explore in greater detail what actually happened and why each character felt compelled to make the choices they did.
Unfortunately, however, we do not currently have any concrete plans to expand these stories into separate content.
How would you describe the overall reception to Fatal Claw?
Overall, we are truly grateful that more people than we expected have enjoyed playing Fatal Claw and given it positive reviews.
We are especially happy when players tell us they enjoyed the aspects we prioritized during development, such as combat, boss battles, platforming action, and exploration.
We were also impressed by players who examined the worldbuilding and character stories much more deeply than we anticipated and shared their own interpretations.
On the other hand, we have received many comments comparing the game to works such as Hollow Knight and Nine Sols. We had anticipated this to some extent, since we were heavily influenced by many excellent games in the Metroidvania genre.
However, seeing these comparisons also made us realize that we could have highlighted Fatal Claw's unique features more clearly from the beginning.
As players progress, their movement and combat options expand, skill combinations become more prominent, and the game's distinctive systems begin to play a larger role. Before reaching that point, though, players may feel that the game is similar to existing Metroidvanias.
Conversely, some players have told us that the game turned out to be different from what they initially expected or that they discovered what makes Fatal Claw enjoyable after completing it. Hearing those reactions has been incredibly rewarding for our development team.
Of course, we have also received plenty of criticism and feedback about areas that could be improved. Many players have pointed out common issues involving controls, the difficulty of certain sections, the early-game experience, and quality-of-life features.
We have continued to review this feedback and make adjustments and improvements since the game's release.
We are genuinely grateful for the positive reviews, but we also learn a great deal from players who explain specifically what disappointed them. This feedback will help us improve Fatal Claw and will also be valuable as we develop future games.
Is there anything else you would like our readers to know that I haven't asked about?
As I briefly mentioned earlier, we designed Fatal Claw with the goal of creating a game that people could comfortably start playing even if they were new to the Metroidvania genre.
We understand that some people are interested in Metroidvanias but hesitate to try them because navigating the world can be difficult or the combat can be too challenging.
With Fatal Claw, we wanted to preserve the genre's distinctive appeal—the feeling of gradually opening up the world by acquiring new abilities and discovering places that were previously inaccessible—while making the experience as approachable as possible.
At the same time, we wanted to create a game that experienced Metroidvania fans could enjoy in their own ways through combat, boss battles, platforming action, skill combinations, and exploration.
We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has already played Fatal Claw. We continue to review the various comments and feedback we receive after release and use them to improve the game.
We are currently preparing console versions in addition to the Steam version so that more people can experience Fatal Claw. We would greatly appreciate your continued support.
In particular, if you have been interested in Metroidvanias but have not tried one because the genre seemed too difficult, we hope you will give Fatal Claw a chance.
It would make us incredibly happy as developers if Fatal Claw could serve as someone's first introduction to the Metroidvania genre and inspire them to enjoy even more Metroidvania games afterward.
Finally, let's end with a lighter question. If you could use one of Kisha's power-ups in real life, which ability would you want, and how would you use it?
I would want Lyani's Claws, the ability that allows you to climb walls freely.
Several members of our team love rock climbing. If I had this ability, I would love to show off by effortlessly climbing a wall in front of them and acting a little smug about it. :)
For more, you can visit the Steam Page to play the game today, and for more exclusive interviews like this, feel free to visit our Interview Page!
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