Interview: Crooked Cats Studio Talks Nightbound, Love at the End of the World, and the Most Casual Critical Injury in Gaming
When a turn-based tactics game about surviving an alien apocalypse turns out to be a love story at heart, you know someone has been thinking very carefully about their priorities.
As part of our coverage of Weird Days: Dark Tales by Warm Light on Steam, we caught up with Sang and Brenna Han of Crooked Cats Studio to talk about Nightbound, a 2D side-scrolling tactics game about two strangers sharing one house at the end of the world. By day they live together. By night they hold the house. And the closer they get, the better they fight.
We spoke about squeezing a Valkyria Chronicles-sized dream into a two-person studio, an alien plant with serious Annihilation energy, and the bug that left a character casually watering plants at death’s door.
Meet Crooked Cats Studio
Crooked Cats Studio is Sang Han, who handles design and development (and serves as designated cat heating pad), and Brenna Han, who handles pixel art and writing (and early morning cat staff duties).
So how did they end up working together?
We’re married.
Simple as that.
Sang left his job to go indie full-time, chasing a dream of making indie games again like he did back in college. About three months and a lot of prototypes in, Nightbound came out of one of them, and he asked Brenna to join him on the project.
They’re based in San Diego and work from home, sat across from each other at the dining table, balancing two kids, game development, and everything else life throws at them.
Which, honestly, sounds like a survival game in its own right.
Quickfire Round
First console/system you ever owned?
Sang started on the NES, while Brenna’s first was the Sega Genesis.
Favourite boss fight of all time?
Sang went with the big skeleton boss in Contra III. Brenna went with Shadow of the Colossus. All of them. Which is arguably cheating, but we’ll allow it.
Go-to snack during crunch?
Fruit and cheese for Sang, cheese and crackers for Brenna. Cheese is clearly doing a lot of the heavy lifting at Crooked Cats.
Pizza topping that must survive the apocalypse?
Sausage. A rare unanimous decision.
One game you’d love to experience again for the first time?
Chrono Trigger for Sang, Katamari Damacy for Brenna.
The weirdest or creepiest game that has stuck with you for years?
Sang picked Ecco the Dolphin, and Brenna picked Majora’s Mask. Anyone who played Ecco as a kid knows exactly why that one made the list.
Valkyria Chronicles, But Make It Two People
Here’s the pitch, straight from the team:
Nightbound is a turn-based tactics game about two strangers who share one house at the end of the world. They spend the days together and hold the house at night, and the closer they get, the better they fight.
The idea came from a love of Valkyria Chronicles and simply wanting more of it. The problem? Crooked Cats is two people.
So the question became how to make something like Valkyria Chronicles at their size. The answer was 2D side-scrolling, one house, and two characters.
Sometimes the limitations are the design.
The Bloom
Every dark tale needs its darkness, and Nightbound’s comes from the Bloom, a strange alien plant organism that hunts everything at night but stays mostly dormant during the day.
Both of them love Annihilation, and it became the inspiration for the Bloom. If you’ve seen the film, you’ll probably feel a shiver of recognition.
But the strangest thing about Nightbound might not be the monster at all.
Maybe the strangest part is that in this bleak, Bloom-ridden world, our game is really a love story.
Visually, the game leans into the ’80s, pulling from Back to the Future and old action films, with Stranger Things playing a huge part in the inspiration and world-building.
Bonds, Bullets, and a Cat Called Leo
The biggest headache during development was interception fire. When can the enemies attack? How much damage can they do? How do you let the player pause the action to think? According to Brenna, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes to make it all work.
The idea that shaped the whole game came from Sang: the bond. How close Jun and Loren get during the day changes how they fight at night, building teamwork and survival right into the mechanics.
Unsurprisingly, it’s also the part he’s proudest of.
Watching Jun and Loren get better at fighting because they actually spent the day together is the thing I’m proudest of.
For Brenna, it’s the backgrounds. It was her first time creating pixel backgrounds, and she had to rethink the way she approaches illustration entirely. Her verdict? She’s really happy with how they look, and judging by the screenshots, she should be.
When it comes to creative disagreements, it’s mostly about what can actually be done and what makes sense. When it’s purely creative, whoever makes the most convincing argument wins.
And the biggest “aha!” moment? That one’s easy.
My favorite “aha!” moment was when Sang made Leo the cat able to attack the enemies. It still makes me laugh.
An attack cat. In a game made by a studio called Crooked Cats. Of course.
The Most Casual Critical Injury in Gaming
Every game has bugs.
Some of them are just rude.
Early in development, Brenna was testing the day phase, where there are no enemies and you can’t take damage. All of a sudden, Jun dropped to the floor, critically injured.
Nothing else changed.
He could still climb ladders. He could still open the weapon upgrades. He could still water the plants. All while kneeling at death’s door.
And Loren?
Loren would walk by, casually say “Hey,” and keep going like nothing was happening. Harsh.
For a game built on the strength of their bond, that’s quite the early relationship wobble.
Secret Codes and Dance Battles
If Nightbound had a secret cheat code, Brenna knows exactly what it would unlock: an extra dance battle mini-game, Jun and Loren vs. the Bloom.
Sang has since been fully converted.
Same. Now I want that Jun and Loren vs. the Bloom breakdance battle too.
We would also like that, please.
Nightbound at Weird Days
For Crooked Cats, being selected for Weird Days is a big deal.
We are so thrilled to be selected for Weird Days! It’s such an honor to be part of such an amazing group of fun, unusual, and delightfully weird games.
During the festival, you can play the Nightbound demo on Steam. It covers the first three days and nights in the house, which is enough to get a real feel for how the days with Jun and Loren carry into the fights at night.
While you’re browsing the festival, the pair are also rooting for fellow selection Recollage, which they describe as unique and whimsical, with mechanics they love.
Before you dive in, Brenna has one piece of advice:
Jun and Loren are a real team. Neither one makes it without the other, so don’t lean on just one of them.
And the feeling they want you to walk away with?
We’re trying to tell a love story at the end of the world. More than anything, we hope you finish the game feeling like you’ve watched two people genuinely fall in love against the odds.
Looking Ahead
Nightbound is aiming for early 2027. Right now, the focus is on finishing the full twelve days and polishing everything based on demo feedback.
The dream collaboration is a fitting one. They’d love to someday meet the team behind Valkyria Chronicles, the game that’s the whole reason Nightbound exists.
As for what comes next, they’re all in on Nightbound for now, and after that, they’d love to keep making games together.
Two people, one dining table, and an attack cat on standby. It seems to be working.
Wishlist Nightbound
As a two-person team, Crooked Cats say every wishlist really matters. If Nightbound sounds like your kind of apocalypse, play the demo, let them know what you think, and add the game to your Steam wishlist.
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4970020/Nightbound/
Demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5260270/Nightbound_Demo/
Website: https://crookedcatsstudio.com/
Press kit: https://crookedcatsstudio.com/press
X / Twitter: https://x.com/Crooked_Cats
Nightbound is shaping up to be that rarest of things: a tactics game where the most important stat might just be how well you get on with your housemate.