In this interview, YouTube personality Vara Dark interviews Benjamin Widdowson of indie game development company SUZAKU on the state of modern gaming, being unsuccessfully cancelled in 2019, and his upcoming game SURANGAMA:
Gamers have increasingly turned to indie games in search of fresh, innovative experiences. These titles are often the product of creators who aren’t constrained by rigid budgets or corporate content mandates, but instead fueled by passion, creativity, and a desire to break new ground.
In 2025, the impact of indie developers is undeniable. REPO was developed by a small team of just 10 people that has surpassed 13 million copies sold. Likewise, Schedule 1 has achieved impressive success with over 8 million units sold.
These milestones highlight a clear trend: players are actively seeking alternatives to the mainstream offerings of industry giants such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, or the Big Three. It’s the dedication and vision of independent developers that continue to breathe new life into the gaming landscape. That’s why I believe it’s essential to spotlight as many of them as possible.
In this interview, I’ll be speaking with Benjamin Widdowson from SUZAKU—a studio founded by a husband-and-wife team I’ve known since their attempted and failed cancellation in 2019.
Their journey and creative approach offer valuable insights into the evolving world of independent game development.
VARA DARK: Tell everyone a bit about yourself. How you got into game development. Founding of your studio.
BENJAMIN WIDDOWSON: My name is Benjamin Widdowson and I am the co-owner of SUZAKU with my wife Kayi. In high school I only had three real hobbies: drawing, video games, and martial arts.
My dream was to move to Japan and work for one of the greats as a character designer. Team Ninja/Tecmo has always been my dream company specifically, but I would have been happy anywhere to be honest.
I would spend pretty much all day during school and at home creating characters in my sketchbook while watching obscure anime I had torrented or DVDs bought on Ebay from definitely not bootleg shops in Hong Kong.
I went to college and because concept art was not a major you could do at SCAD. I tinkered around in film for a year then jumped to illustration to get my degree while hanging out with the game design students. I landed my contractor job in 2013 with a HOPA studio working with Big Fish Games. While there, I had worked on a ton of projects, most of which were released, but in total 18 different titles.
I learned a lot as a concept artist, game designer, and writer there. In 2017 I was let go due to lack of work and was having a hard time finding the next job in the AAA industry. Kayi convinced me to take six months off and make my own game, which eventually turned into SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story. I ended up Kickstarting that game successfully and Kayi became an official partner.
VARA DARK: Passion, persistence, and a little push from your partner make for a great story. Since then, SUZAKU has released three games and has more on the horizon. What have been the major inspirations behind your work and the studio’s creative direction?
BENJAMIN WIDDOWSON: The ethos of the studio from the beginning was the merger of East and West. Kayi is from Hong Kong and with me being American, it means we get to take inspiration from our unique backgrounds and culture.
However, I am also a bit of a japanophile primarily for ancient japanese history and folklore. But I also obviously love anime and games. Hong Kong is also a place where you can’t go 20 feet without anime and nerd/pop culture showing up so we are able to find a lot of common influences and ideas seen through our different lenses.
For me though, beyond Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo’s titles like Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden and of course Fatal Frame, the work and art of Masamune Shirow is my biggest influence by far. Ghost in the Shell is arguably my favorite IP ever created, but I also have a lot of love for Dominion, Orion, and Appleseed in that order.
If Shirow wrote or drew it, I have it on my shelf. Kayi and I actually became much closer due to my other favorite artist of all time Shigeru Mizuki, known for GeGeGe no Kitaro. We even had our honeymoon in Sekai Minato, Tottori. Mizuki’s work and cataloguing of Youkai and his art is probably more important to me than even Shirow. I’ve been studying and researching Japanese folklore for almost 20 years now, all thanks to him.
In an industry so often driven by market research and formulaic success, the idea of building a creative identity rooted in folklore, anime, and personal history feels increasingly rare. Many indie developers are doing what major studios once did: drawing from unique cultural and artistic perspectives rather than striving solely to hit quarterly targets.
VARA DARK: We became acquainted back in 2021 when Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story angered a group of sensitive individuals on the internet.
They were angered by its anime-inspired art style, which they believed perpetuated misogynistic and sexist ideas. The game’s publisher, Top Hat Studios issued a statement rejecting the censorship demands and said they “categorically refused” to force censorship upon SUZAKU Games and said “Our commitment to our audience and to developers is we will never infringe on creative freedom or expression.”
What was your initial reaction? What was that time like for you? Did such backlash ever cause you to reconsider making games?
BENJAMIN WIDDOWSON: Sense hadn’t been out that long, and If I recall it was the holidays so I had taken some time off with Kayi to get away from the internet and build some gunpla. I actually didn’t know about it until I saw I think your video or Yellow Flash’s talking about it.
I ran to the computer and saw messages and emails about it and my heart sank. While we did not get much hate directly, other than a few nasty messages (I personally hate the term “death threat” because I don’t really care what weird degenerates on the internet say, but they were explicitly wishing and threatening harm).
By that time Tophat had already issued the statement and had yet to get around to informing me because they were so busy dealing with it. My rule of thumb when we got the initial round of hate during the Kickstarter was “Ignore them or professionally respond in the negative to their demands/comments, but if they mess with my ability to do business, hit back hard.”
I had no interest in being involved in the culture war, but I think the statements I’ve publically made in the past along with my friendly relationship with Dankula make it pretty clear where I stand. I felt pretty bad about the guys at Tophat getting the worst of the attacks, and didn’t really know what to do or say about it, especially because it was so out of nowhere. However, when I found out that another developer Tophat was publishing faced a bit of harassment and some threats simply for being published by the same company I was pretty gutted. I can take a fight and plenty of bullying just fine, but no one deserves to deal with that because of something I chose to do.
Kayi and I had talked about this prior to the event even happening, because I’m pretty good at wargaming and I kind of figured out by 2015 where we would be over the following years.
She asked me if I wanted to be a commentator or a game developer and I made my choice. I’d rather just make games that help people escape all that in the same way that games helped me when I was a kid. That’s what I love doing, making an escape. So when I found out that someone else was “hit in the blast radius” It made me recommit to that a bit.
I also had some very personal stuff going on around the time that I wasn’t dealing with very well. So the stress and everything got to me pretty bad and I ended up being effectively paralyzed and developed some pretty nasty social anxiety that took me until late 2023 to finally start pulling out of.
Some may have noticed how bad I was at social media for a few years, and that of course really negatively impacted sales of my next titles and my reach. Funny thing is, because I am a man inching closer to 40 than I’d like, I didn’t actually realize how bad I was doing with all this until I pulled out of it thanks to people at my church and the local farmers market I get food at.
Despite all of that, no matter how many times I wanted to give up and quit, Kayi never gave up on me and never let me quit because she knew that this is the only thing I want to do. Funnily enough, all this stuff did was make me want to reach higher and make better and better games. It’s like 10% spite, but mostly just because I still have so many stories to tell.
VARA DARK: “SUZAKU is a game studio founded on the principle of creating pure escapism and entertainment.” This is a quote straight from your website and a stance gamers believe more companies should embrace. It is a large reason so many people flock to independent studios who do not have to face pressure from large investors or executives. And it is because of executives that so many games end up being rushed to completion.
Do you think the mainstream AAA industry has lost sight of their products being entertaining?
BENJAMIN WIDDOWSON: Yes, absolutely. I’m a gamer myself so I always try to think in terms of the customer. Even when I have to make business decisions that I know aren’t what I would want as a customer, I at least feel bad about it and try to avoid that at all costs. Luckily being a small independent developer, I haven’t had that problem too much. If I’m being careful and professional here, I think it comes down to a few issues.
A: The corporate end is doing their job. They have to make money, more money than the last time they made money. They have shareholders and investors who all have their own ideals and things they want to see done with their money. No one wants a stock to just stay stagnant. I recently spoke to someone about getting an investment and am still weighing the option because it was clearly explained that an investor always wants something, whether it’s ownership of the IP, a change in the direction, etc.
So when you sign that contract you have to be ready to accept the terms, but at the end of the day it’s ALWAYS about making more money than you put in. This is not evil, bad, or criminal. It’s a business, and game development is as much of a business as a restaurant or hardware store.
Corporate people rely on “experts” because the investors are money people, that is their world and their game. They likely have no idea who the customer really is, and they are so many rungs up the ladder they really shouldn’t have to. Games make money, so they should be able to make money off of games. It makes sense.
The problem is the experts and analysts. These people forget that the customer is the key, the actual customer, not the hypothetical one they or some activist group they agree with promises exists if you just do XYZ. We are seeing this proven over and over again lately. Hamburger stands should sell hamburgers to people who like hamburgers.
B: It’s not just executives, I hear this a lot: “those poor artists and coders just want to make fun games!” A chunk of them do and those people keep their head down and do their job as well as possible.
I commend and have respect for them and fully understand why they do. But how often does the person who just wants to do their job well move up the ladder into a leadership position? How well can you truly do your job when you are terrified that the 16 “bosses” in multiple departments might fire you for the most insane reason you can imagine?
The rot is deep. People who want power take power, and those types of people have agendas very often. This has always been the problem with any society since the dawn of time. At some point the people in the industry on a massive scale became deeply ideological, because the ones that weren’t either shut their mouths or were fired or blacklisted.
I can attest personally that this was already the case in 2012 and I was already warning people I knew that this was a problem. Political blacklists have been a thing since then and if you didn’t think it would get worse and lead to where we are today then you were blind. It changes when the normies stand up as a group.
C: People outside of the development end with an undue amount of influence and power were the only people that the power players in the studios were listening to. This is changing thanks to YouTube and alternative/social media.
The investors and executives aren’t stupid, they just have their focus on their businesses, so when some part of the company is losing money and you have 30 people lying to you about why, who are you going to believe? The random people on twitter saying gamer words or the 30 people you are paying to give you answers?
Where are those 30 dishonest and very motivated people with a strong agenda getting their information from (or giving information to)? The executives and investors have obviously figured out that they were losing too much money for too long and started asking the right questions.”
There’s a growing disconnect between what publishers think gamers want and what players are actually asking for. While executives chase cinematic universes and media tie-ins, fans are craving strong mechanics, personality and fun, something that used to define AAA gaming but is now often found in the indie scene instead.
What SUZAKU game scared you most? 😱 Are you Ready For SURANGAMA’s Hungry Ghosts? Get Ready for SURANGAMA’s #Kickstarter! #IndieGame #GameDev pic.twitter.com/d33RDyvhB4
— SUZAKU (@SUZAKU_Games) May 15, 2025
VARA DARK: Do you think with enough fan feedback they can ever reverse course?
BENJAMIN WIDDOWSON: I’m sorry to say I am very blackpilled about this. I do believe it will revert a little bit because money doesn’t just talk, but a certain cartoon fox woman is probably banging the right drum.
I would love to see EA, Activision, Ubisoft and all these western companies return to their roots and get back to making fun games that are GAMES and not weird Hollywood bait. Instead of spending $400 million on the next Call of Duty, do what From Software just did and reuse assets to make 10 $40 million dollar games set in the CoD universe with different gameplay types, stories, characters, etc.
Why can’t whoever owns the IP now take stuff from whatever military game they made recently and make Army of Two again? What if, instead of giving a below-mid ginger peach fuzz on her ear lobes in the post apocalypse for an extra $75 million you have 30 of your employees make four small games over the course of four years using the assets from the game you spent a quarter of a billion on?
And don’t tell me it’s because “the gamer demands bigger and more cinematic games” or “we have to push the industry forward.” You are pushing the industry into a hole like you have Goodbye Horses on repeat. The only thing the gamer demands is a good and fun game, Rule of Cool Rules all. Invest in indie studios and create studios with the ethos of indie dev. Look at Sandfall Interactive who made Expedition 33, what do you notice? That is your way out of the hole. My email is public.
VARA DARK: There is a small yet vocal group of individuals on social media who believe that the “oversexualization” of characters in video games are harmful.
Your creations have even been accused of being inappropriate in the past. But there have been many games to release in the 2020’s with a refocus on attractive character designs that have been extremely popular such as Stellar Blade, The First Descendant, AI Limit, the upcoming Wuchang Fallen Feathers game is topping the Steam Wishlists. That must be exciting to see, that by making what you feel passionate about, that gamers will support you and games that are similar to your own.
Eve in Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
BENJAMIN WIDDOWSON: I have mixed feelings about it actually. I loved Stellar Blade (been a HTK fan since High school 20 years ago, sorry to make him feel old if he sees this), I have Wuchang on preorder (yes preordering is fun, fight me) and my Christmas present this year was the new Dead or Alive Xtreme game for PS5.
I will never forgive the people who took Senran Kagura away from me. I am so happy to see fun, sexy, games making a comeback, as if they ever had to go away. At the same time I am slightly butthurt about how much crap I got over making stuff like this since day one haha, especially since nothing I’ve made is anywhere near as “aggressive” as Stellar Blade or The First Descendant.
Now that it is deemed “safe” and cool, I think you will see more sexy content in games across the board again. My butthurt is completely petty and fueled by jealousy, but thanks to these bigger teams with bigger names I do hope it makes it easier to find investors and funding to be able to bring my games to the next level.
Budget and manpower is always the hang up. Sense 1 was made by myself and one coder with Kayi doing the 3D assets. Kayi and I made Midnight with one coder in about 20 months, not counting the post launch update. With Good Night Pan Pan, Kayi and I made it by ourselves in 90 days. I coded the whole game myself and she and I made everything except the animations and a handful of purchased assets. It’s currently my highest rated game.
Death Harvest is deep in progress but it’s a bigger project thanks to me expanding the narrative scope and wanting to achieve something with it that would require significant funding. So that leads to SURANGAMA.
What was/is considered “problematic” by a small yet vocal minority is now driving pre-orders and topping wishlists. It speaks volumes about how disconnected some parts of the critical discourse are from the actual gaming audience. Games with attractive character design aren’t just “allowed” again, they’re thriving.
VARA DARK: You’ve already posted a teaser on your X that states July 15th you’ll be launching a Kickstarter project for your newest game. I’d like to get any information you feel comfortable with sharing about it to get people as interested as possible. No specific questions to ask, just whatever you feel inclined to write up about it.
BENJAMIN WIDDOWSON: Yes! I am working my butt off on SURANGAMA, my next game that I can finish in a short timeframe with minimal budget. I am focusing on a smaller in scope but polished and refined experience kind of like Good Night Pan Pan was.
HOWEVER, because I am who God made me, I have also written and designed a larger version of the game that would require a bit of funding. So we are planning and preparing a Kickstarter campaign for the game that will launch with a demo build you will be able to play and give feedback on.
July is looking less likely by the day due to how much I am trying to achieve with our demo build, but we are burning as hard as possible. Luckily, I was able to bring a more experienced Unreal Engine developer named Reynaldo (ReKG) on board to help and we are working very well together which is a huge deal and big help.
This is the hardest I’ve ever pushed on a project and I think you will all see that. So let me give you the pitch.
An image from SURANGAMA – SUZAKU Games
SURANGAMA is a survival horror and character action mashup heavily inspired by Onimusha and Fatal Frame, but you will also see some Ninja Gaiden and Silent Hill influence as well. I’m trying to craft something unique with familiar parts.
An image from SURANGAMA – SUZAKU Games
Punishing, visceral and fast paced combat that pairs with the exploration and puzzle solving. This is not a Souls-like, it is a somewhat linear and level based game that does not have leveling up or experience points. Growth will come from unlocking abilities, finding weapons, and mastering combat.
An image from SURANGAMA – SUZAKU Games
Solve puzzles, fight enemies, navigate the winding maze-like corridors of the Tao Buddhist version of Hell, called Diyu, styled after Kowloon Walled City. Right now we have nearly completed the forest leading to the gates of hell which is where the demo begins. The gate of Hell is an important location I will be able to show soon and will be the focus of the demo.
An image from SURANGAMA – SUZAKU Games
You play as Tse Li-Li, a young security guard who gets physically dragged into hell by a vengeful spirit. You must find out how and why you are stuck there as a living person and find a way home. Based on the ideals of the Surangama Sutras, known as the Heroic March in buddhism, as well as the traditional cantonese lore of the afterlife SURANGAMA will take you on a deep and meaningful struggle through a vision of Hell that the West has yet to see.
An image from SURANGAMA – SUZAKU Games
“I don’t want to show this off just yet, but the only things I would say are inspired by Souls games are the bosses. I am working hard on the strongest designs I’ve ever made to give The Guards and Rulers of Diyu their proper due. Expect epic Boss enemies that tell their story in every movement and detail, but be warned they are Hell’s jailers for a reason. Other bosses will need to be characters capable of standing toe to toe with those Jailers, so I hope I am setting your expectations high enough.
An image from SURANGAMA – SUZAKU Games
I would love to be able to reach as close to the level of something like Stellar Blade in terms of content volume if we can get the game funded to a solid degree, but do have a shorter and more concise version that will work very well on it’s own at lower to 0 funding. I’ve already shared a few unlockable costumes I plan to have made, and will be including the 3 that were in Good Night Pan Pan, updated for our new character model which is being made right now.
An image from SURANGAMA – SUZAKU Games
The crowdfunding space remains one of the last true frontiers for unfiltered creative freedom in gaming. As platforms and publishers become more risk-averse, projects like SURANGAMA offer a direct line between the developer’s vision and the player’s support. If you’re tired of safe, soulless titles, this is where new ideas are born.
An image from SURANGAMA – SUZAKU Games
On top of the years of more casual learning about the subjects, I have put months of heavy research and study into understanding the beliefs, lore, and folklore of the Taoist and Buddhist depictions of Hell and the afterlife in order to bring this story to life with care and respect, while also showing a vision that only SUZAKU can bring.
Again, I am trying to get it ready as soon as possible, but may need a little more time for polish. The plan right now is that the demo will launch with the steam page and the Kickstarter, either with them or soon after. I just want to make sure I have something very VERY polished to show off.
My goal is for this demo to be the best thing I have ever made, so please follow my twitter/X @SUZAKU_Games to follow along where I will be announcing everything and showing progress updates.
VARA DARK: Is there anything you would like to say to players who loved your experiences?
BENJAMIN WIDDOWSON: I cannot thank each and every one of you enough for your support over these last SEVEN years. I am so grateful that I’ve gotten to go on this journey and have the opportunity to try again and again to prove myself. I want to keep reaching higher, and thanks to you I feel like I can finally hit the next level. If you keep following, or if you aren’t yet, if you start following I promise to take you on a one of a kind escape.
I’ve played every SUZAKU game that has been released so far, and have thoroughly enjoyed each experience. I highly recommend you give them a follow on social media and stay up to date on their latest game launches!
Website: https://www.suzakugamestudio.com/
Twitter / X: https://x.com/SUZAKU_Games
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/suzaku_games
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