Tørnquist: Both! It’s hard to separate the two. What drove the decision to present that world and culture being explored from the perspective of an outsider? Is Draugen Graavik’s story, or is it Edward and Lissie’s story? PSLS: Graavik is a remote area in Norway, while Edward and Lissie are Americans. Rather than removing anything from the game, we took these missing pieces and brought them to life in a different medium. The game was originally intended to begin with a scene aboard the ship, but we changed that because it didn’t serve the story. The same goes for some of the scenes aboard the ocean liner. In an earlier iteration of the game, you actually went back to Edward’s childhood and played some of those memories - in dream sequences - but we ultimately felt that this detracted from the main story. Personally, I just wanted to dig deeper into the lives of Edward and Lissie and flesh out their relationship. Instead, there was so much history and backstory that’s referenced in the game that we wanted to explore…and instead of saving some of that for potential sequels, we decided to do something different. It wasn’t really a question of taking anything from the game and putting it in the comic book. Having said that, reading the comic first might actually bring a different perspective to the game - although you would need a friend to play through the game for you! Which is why we unlock the comic book only after you’ve completed the game. Tørnquist: It’s important to say that the prequel comic is not required reading to understand the story, and also that reading it before playing the game will “ruin” a number of narrative twists. What created the decision to separate these story beats out to the comic and flesh them out there? PSLS: After completing the game, Draugen offers players the opportunity to read a short comic to add context to the story. All cuts were made before we created the final art, however, so there’s nothing hidden in the game or deleted scenes we can share with players. We had ideas for locations that made it into earlier iterations of the game, but that were ultimately cut because they didn’t serve the story, or because the game changed along the way. Tørnquist: Sure, that’s always the case with game development. PSLS: Were there any deleted scenes, segments, or areas that were ultimately removed from the game? Why were those portions removed if so? So, yeah, these two stories were always one story. We don’t spell it out, but there’s something there that pulled him to western Norway perhaps Graavik needed Edward, and vice versa.
Without spoiling too much - although anyone reading this who hasn’t played the game yet: go play the game first! - there’s the lingering question of why Edward came to Graavik. They’re parallel and intertwined stories about isolation and desolation, both physical and metaphysical. Ragnar Tørnquist: Oh, they were always connected. Did you formulate those two stories separately and then work to intertwine them, or were they always connected in some way? PSLS: In Draugen, there are really two stories being told: one of Edward and one of Graavik. Here’s a picture of Lissie, staring down at all the spoilers waiting just below the boat. If you haven’t yet played Draugen, or you want to remain spoiler-free, I recommend taking a few hours to run through it before coming back to this interview. Be warned, this interview does contain spoilers as I wanted to ask Ragnar about some of the choices behind critical parts of Draugen’s story.
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