Duet Night Abyss: An Interview with Producer Deca Bear

German version here

Firstly, thank you for your Global Release Announcement Stream. It must have lifted a heavy weight from your shoulders, right?

Deca Bear: Yes, it definitely felt like a relief. Our team had been preparing for this stream for a long time, and receiving the attention and feedback from both players and media made us feel that all the effort was worthwhile. Moving forward, we’ll continue to work hard on all the content that was mentioned during the stream and more.

Gamescom 2025 has just come to an end. What kind of feedback have you received so far?

Deca Bear: Overall, we’ve received a lot of positive feedback, and we’re very grateful for that. Players were drawn to our combat system, dual-protagonist narrative, and character designs, while also providing constructive suggestions, such as optimizing battle visuals and attack targeting.  All feedback, positive and negative, helps us in the development process. 

In the release date announcement stream, there was a lot of support for the decision not to introduce banners for characters or weapons. How did this decision come about?

Deca Bear: This was a decision we made after careful consideration. We want players to focus on the game experience itself, enjoying the gameplay with greater freedom rather than being restricted by gacha mechanics. By removing character and weapon banners, players can acquire the characters and weapons they want more freely with different combinations. This better reflects our vision of creating a thrilling action RPG experience that focuses on delivering player freedom.

Speaking of characters, Gacha games are often very male-centric, leaving female gamers somewhat overlooked. How will DNA address this issue? Can female players expect a larger number of male characters, even at a later stage?

Deca Bear: Rather than focusing on which audience DNA is targeted at, our priority is ensuring that Duet Night Abyss consistently meets the quality we aim for. Where the story calls for it, corresponding male or female characters will naturally appear. For every new character, we are committed to delivering a high level of quality in both design and development, so that players can fully enjoy. 

For new players who have not yet reached later areas, will it still be possible to obtain all materials for new characters and weapons, for example, through a simulation system, or only within the respective areas?

Deca Bear: Yes, absolutely. After the adjustments we announced and made, there’s no longer a concept of „limited“ character banners. New characters added in the following versions will always be obtainable for free through in-game systems, and the same goes for weapons. This system will not be removed even with future updates, so players will always have the opportunity to obtain particular weapons or characters..

In many gacha games, players must pull characters multiple times to unlock their full potential – sometimes even because they are intentionally restricted, with duplicates required to remove those limitations. How are you approaching this? Can characters be acquired multiple times via shards, and if so, how often?

Deca Bear: We do have progression systems, but as I mentioned earlier, all characters can be obtained for free through gameplay, so unlocking a character’s potential in the game comes with no paywalls. Character shards can be acquired through a system called „Covert Commissions“, where players have a chance to win large amounts of shards for a single character. This means the pace of acquiring and upgrading characters is largely tied to the amount of time you spend playing. The longer you play, the stronger your characters become, and the faster you unlock new ones—a positive growth cycle.

AI has become an integral part of the gaming industry. How is Pan Studio/Hero Games approaching this topic, and what role does AI play in your development or creativity process?

Deca Bear: Our team of developers handles our core creativity and gameplay design, and we’re proud of the effort our team puts into the design of our characters. As a studio, we believe it would be unfair to players if we used AI to replace content creation. So, like many other studios, we are keeping a close eye on the technology as it develops to see how it could potentially assist our team in non-creative areas.

Gacha games often feature region-specific differences. Will Duel Night Abyss have any regional variations, and if so, what can players expect?

Deca Bear: Duet Night Abyss will launch with a unified global version, meaning all players can enjoy everything the game has to offer, no matter where they play. We plan to release special content, such as skins, to celebrate certain holidays and festivals, and we are excited to reveal more about this soon.

Since the weapons are not tied to specific characters or classes, it was already a lot of fun in the Gamescom demo. How much can players customize their characters in terms of abilities and play style?

Deca Bear: As players will have experienced at Gamescom, characters are completely free from weapon restrictions, and melee and ranged weapons can also be mixed freely. This allows players to try out different weapon combinations for each character without sacrificing flexibility in combat. Our signature Demon Wedges system means that both the characters and the weapons they wield can be boosted to further the potential for customization. For appearances, multiple parts of both character skins and weapons support custom dyeing, allowing players to express their personal style. On top of that, the gameplay itself is diverse. Beyond commissions, there’s also a roguelike mode, fishing, and other mini-games, so players can freely choose what they enjoy the most.

How about the paid skins: can players customize the colors there as well, or are they locked?

Deca Bear: As mentioned earlier, character skins support custom coloring, with multiple parts available for dyeing. This gives players even more freedom to personalize character appearances.

When can we expect a console version?

Deca Bear: We’re very eager to bring the game to consoles, and this is something we are actively planning for. We’ll share more news on this when ready, so please keep an eye out on our social media channels.

Last but not least: Your favourite character to play as, and your favourite character design?

Deca Bear: That’s a really tough question, because every character comes from the team’s joint effort. Moving forward, we’ll continue to create a wide variety of characters for players to enjoy. We hope everyone will find their own favorite. Thank you.

Thank you for your time! And we’ll see you soon … in Atlasia!