This summer has been a really exciting time for us at Gate Zero!
It marked the beginning of a fresh chapter as we reintroduced the game after two years of refining and evolving the gameplay experience—with a brand-new gameplay system, exciting new mechanics, a refreshed art style, and an overall boost in quality in every aspect. With an updated marketing strategy to match, we’re excited to finally share more of what we’ve been working on!
Here were two of our biggest marketing beats this summer, in case you missed them.
New Trailer: Unexpected Revolution
In July, we released a new trailer showing off a brand new location in the game created with our elevated art standard—Capernaum.
Together with the trailer, we also announced that Gate Zero will be coming to consoles—specifically, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S!
Read the full press release here.
20 Minutes of Early Gameplay Revealed!
All the different elements we’ve been developing lately have culminated in our new vertical slice, which we’ve been working hard to complete. The vertical slice showcases Main Mission 4, one of eight main missions we’re planning to include in Gate Zero’s first release.
In August, we brought a shortened version of the main mission to Gamescom in Germany, the world’s largest gaming event.
The video above captures what we showed to press at Gamescom! It includes 20 minutes of gameplay, together with exclusive behind-the-scenes insights from our director, Arve Solli.
See also our refreshed Steam page.
And here are some screenshots from the demo:
Gamescom 2025
The weeks leading up to Gamescom were intense, as our whole team focused on polishing up the demo that would be put in front of press for the first time.
We had a booth in the B2B section, where press with booked timeslots could visit to view the game behind closed doors. This was the first time we were showing Gate Zero to enthusiastic gaming press, and we were curious what they would think.
The result was overwhelmingly positive!
Notable press quotes:
Whether you’re a believer, curious, or passionate about historical narratives, Gate Zero deserves your attention. Not only does it dare to explore territory rarely explored by the industry, but it could well pave the way for a new way of telling humanity’s great stories in video games. –Game.Guide
Overall, however, the demonstration of Gate Zero convinced me so much that it was in retrospect the most promising title I was allowed to deal with at Gamescom. –Newseule
Get the full Gamescom report and links to press coverage here
Additional Coverage
In addition to receiving coverage from the press that were at Gamescom, our trailer and gameplay preview videos were picked up by many other outlets around the world—from Europe to the Americas to Asia! In fact, several of the top outlets that featured Gate Zero came from Chinese-speaking countries. In total, we received nearly 100 pieces of press from July to September, something very exciting for our little studio!
What’s next?
The positive reception at Gamescom and corresponding press coverage this summer have been strong indicators that our efforts to refine the game’s core mechanics and overall experience are paying off, confirming we’re headed in the right direction.
Now, we are working hard on completing the remaining elements of the vertical slice and will soon move into full-fledged production. Our art team has already started designing two new locations that will be included in the game release—Cana and the Judean wilderness.
New Locations
A lot of work has gone into analyzing the gospels and mapping out which stories and locations will be included in each of our four planned game releases. Since the stories will be told in a chronological order in our game, the locations of Cana—where Jesus performed His first recorded miracle, and the Judean wilderness—where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, will naturally be included in our first release.
Here are some early shots from our concept artist developing these locations:
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The gameplay preview video featured earlier in this article offers the best look at our progress this past quarter, but here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the individual elements that brought it all together!
Art
Capernaum Set Dressing
What’s changed in our art since two years ago?
A lot has evolved! We completely revised the technical approach in building our open world. Our new modular system lets us reuse geometry and textures like Lego pieces—walls become buildings, and buildings become neighborhoods. This not only cuts down on workload but also boosts performance and gives us tighter control over the game’s overall look and feel.
Art and design now go hand in hand from the start, so level designers have a more predictable and cohesive environment to work with. On top of that, several experienced artists from AAA open-world projects such as the Assassin’s Creed franchise and Diablo IV have joined the team, while our less experienced members have grown quickly in mastering open-world asset creation.
Visually, we’ve also refined our style with more defined color palettes, stronger direction, and the introduction of the Eon theme—shaping both the environments and creatures with a distinct, unified identity.
Eon World
You may have spotted something mysterious in the latest Gate Zero gameplay preview—a completely new world existing alongside the ancient one you already know.
This is the Eon World—a realm suspended between time and reality, where history itself can be held hostage. In Gate Zero, the past can’t be erased, but it can be rewritten when people or objects of significance are trapped within the Eon World. That’s exactly what the faceless regime known as UniFi is after, using this strange dimension to twist the truth and reshape the biblical narrative to fit their own agenda.
We created the Eon World to bring a thrilling new layer to Gate Zero’s story. It deepens the mystery, heightens the sense of time travel, and provides a striking new arena for exploration and action—all while revealing just how far UniFi will go to control history itself.
Plenty more mysteries await in the Eon World—but here’s a little glimpse for now!
Max’s Gear
As a stranger in a strange land, Max has to rely on more than just his knowledge from the future. His futuristic gear are components he cobbled together from his broken time machine. These allow him to more easily exist in a harsh world, and are also a link back to the future, to Hector who is trying to guide him to understanding the world he’s found himself in.
Each piece of gear has a purpose: it lets Max translate dead languages in real time, scan and record near everything such as writings, events, flora & fauna, and detect corruption of time—usually confirming the presence of UniFi and their attempts to alter something that doesn’t support their historical narrative. Together, these tools make Max a kind of temporal archaeologist, uncovering the truth piece by piece.
Lighting
Much work was put into the final cutscene of our latest gameplay preview, not least in the form of lighting a rather unique scene—where the light of sunset could be seen streaming in from a hole in the roof in an otherwise dimly lit 1st century house.
This is what our concept artist, Andy, had to say about lighting the scene:
The main inspiration came from the cinematic lighting in Ridley Scott’s films—he has a unique way of capturing atmosphere through light. I tried to blend that influence with modern gaming lighting scenarios, bending realism a little in favor of artistic style and storytelling. In the cutscenes, I wanted to emphasize the characters and their emotions, using color and contrast not just for realism but to shape the mood. This approach makes the visuals feel more pleasant, vibrant, and expressive, while still carrying the intended message.
Characters
Textures
Level Design
Here’s a look at how one of the Eon World levels began in blockout form before evolving into the version you see in our latest gameplay demo.
Our level designer, Gabriel Fuentes, shares some insight into the process:
The Altered Well level went through multiple iterations before reaching the version you see in the gameplay demo. At first, it was more linear, with some action and exploration sequences. But after some playtesting, we shifted to a more open, wagon-wheel design.
We wanted players to explore at their own pace, with full freedom to visit locations in any order. Encounters can even be avoided using stealth, and this gives players a stronger sense of agency. The central well acts as the main landmark, so players always know where to return after completing objectives, while the tendrils or vines placed around the well serve as subtle leading lines to guide them toward each Eon Crystal.
And here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how we built ancient Capernaum from the ground up—one block at a time. Our level designer Gabriel Fuentes shares a bit about the process:
Narrative
Our narrative designers and scriptwriters have crafted a one-page summary for each Main Mission—a guide that highlights the message, key themes, and biblical references driving each mission. It’s an essential tool that keeps the whole team on the same page and makes it easy to understand at a glance the main themes for each mission.
Here’s a sneak peek of the one-pager for Main Mission 4, the mission featured in our early gameplay preview video:
Playtesting
Multiple rounds of playtesting were underway as we prepared our demo for the press at Gamescom. Here are a couple shots from a session in the summer!
Community Memes
And finally, we’re ending this update with some fun memes from our Discord community. Enjoy, and until next time!
