- Buy Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo on Steam
- Buy Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo on Nintendo Switch
- Buy Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo on Xbox
Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo is a colorful, cozy game about death. Play as Kulebra, a dead snake with glowing eyes, who is gifted with a special power to hold onto memories and help trapped souls move on. A visually-stunning point-and-click puzzle adventure, Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo is well-written, well-paced, and scored with one of the coziest soundtracks I’ve heard in a while.
I got a chance to talk to brothers Pavel Lara (visual artist) and Paulo Lara (programmer), developers of Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo, and ask them some questions about this unique and beautiful narrative-rich experience.
Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo Dev Interview: A Chat with Pavel Lara and Paulo Lara
For those that haven’t heard of it, what’s your elevator pitch for Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo?
A: A snake with a heart of gold does detective work in the afterlife to help souls with unfinished business find peace and escape from a curse that has them repeat the same day over and over!
You are a team of two brothers, I hear. What are the best and worst parts of working with family?
A: The best part is that no matter what, we’ll stick together to the end of the project. We are in sync most of the time, and the times we’re not, we can be honest with our feedback!
Worst part is that we have gotten into the bad habit of not being very organized and don’t keep track of detailed documentation. So when the situation comes that we need to something organized, it becomes a reminder that maybe we should do a little bookkeeping every now and then. It’s not such a bad thing, though.
The visuals of Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo are stunning. Where do you get your artistic inspiration from?
A: There are many resources when it comes to what inspired Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo’s art style.
From the many colors and cultural elements of the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead, to the Carnival of the Dominican Republic and other beauties. All this within my own artistic style to fit a particular set of rules established by our game engine.
Since we wanted to work on a 2.5D game to keep costs effective, we decided to go for iconography inspired by elements of a typical pop-up book. Since it goes very well with the narrative base game we wanted to create. Just as if you would be reading one of these very books through our game!
What made you want to tackle a game about death and the afterlife? What do you hope players take away from their time in Limbo?
A: We hope that players are left with something to remember from the game. An scene they found moving, a lesson from the game’s message, we want players to gain something from this experience.
There’s a strong message with the different aspects of helping other an empathy, and we hope players can connect with it in their own way.
Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo is, at its core, a game about empathy. What made you pick that particular theme?
A: We wanted to create a game that would bring a positive message for the players, just like many of the games we played did for us when we were kids. The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask being one of the many good examples.
And we couldn’t think of any medium that would be more viceral when it comes to delivering a message and an introspective experience than the medium of video games. It’s about opening players to these possibilities and ideas.
What is one thing you wished more people knew about the struggles of building a game as a dev team of two?
A: It’s difficult to pin-point one thing, but something we’ve come to learn from our experience developing Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo is how many aspects of video games we took for granted. Every detail, effect, and behaviour in a game was put together by someone, and when you have to be in the shoes of the person doing so, it really puts into perspective just how many hours of work goes into creating a game.
Is there anything else about Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo you want to tell my audience?
A: We hope that our humble project brings a positive and introspective experience to your lives. In any shape it may come. We’re happy that the game has touched so many hearts, and we couldn’t be more grateful for you all taking the time to read our words.
Final Thoughts
I got a chance to try Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo myself, and it is exactly my type of cozy puzzle game. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Stay cozy, gamers!