We talked with Riot Forge Creative Director Rowan Parker about Song of Nunu

25.09.2023 - 22:17 / destructoid.com

As I recently realized, Song of Nunu is shaping up to be a special game that may not be just the happy and cozy adventure game it looks to be from its trailers.

We recently sat down with the Creative Director at Riot Forge, Rowan Parker. We spoke a bit about the creative design process at Riot Forge, but a majority of our interview was about their upcoming adventure game Song of Nunu. Don’t worry, Rowan was sure to keep the interview spoiler-free.

DESTRUCTOID: In case some readers aren’t familiar with Song of Nunu just yet, can you give us a quick rundown to set the story as well as what to expect gameplay-wise?

ROWAN: Song of Nunu is definitely a different pace of game, both for those who play League of Legends and those who have played previous Riot Forge games. A lot of those games were a little more combat or action-focused whereas Song of Nunu is more heartfelt and warming. A more personal human story, a very touching experience. The studio that we’re working with, Tequila Works, does a really good job of telling intimate and personal stories and narratives like Rime, The Invisible Hours, and The Sexy Brutale. They are very good at this kind of storytelling.

Song of Nunu is going to be the first time fans of League of Legends have encountered this type of story. A warm buddy adventure of a ten-year-old boy and his best friend who happens to be a yeti going on an adventure together. I’m really interested in seeing the LoL audience play Song of Nunu which is a very different tempo. Also, if they are not familiar with Tequila Works games, they are in for a surprise, because their games punch hard on story. If you have played one of their previous games like Rime, you know exactly what’s about to happen. And if you haven’t played Rime, what a delight it will be. Those players aren’t going to know what hit them when they start playing.

DESTRUCTOID: Yeah, for sure. Tequila Works certainly knows how to punch hard. As a follow-up question to that, even though what we’ve seen in the trailers for Song of Nunu has been a happy cozy adventure, I assume that’s not the full story?

ROWAN: Nothing bad could happen right? What could go wrong? They’re going to have a wonderful adventure and they’ll just be happy the whole way through. Nothing bad will happen.

DESTRUCTOID: OK, now I’m even more excited. In the trailers released so far, we’ve really seen the focus on Braum and of course Nunu. Given the setting, will we be running into some other characters from the Freljord? Are you able to share who we can expect to encounter?

ROWAN: The characters we have shown and announced so far are obviously Nunu and Willump, after all it’s their adventure. Braum took us on a tour of the Freljord. Everyone knows Lissandra is