The first time Four Quarters showed Loop Hero to the public, it didn’t even work.Įntering the game into 2019’s Ludum Dare, a renowned Russian indie game jam competition, their five-year-old idea was finally ready to share with the world. “ Loop Hero was never meant to be a hit,” he tells Inverse an infectious laugh and a disbelieving shake of the head.īlinch spoke with Inverse about how a botched game jam sparked a global sensation, and how the small team of four friends from Russia known as Four Quarters has handled the game’s massive success. Composer and game designer Aleksandr "Blinch" Goreslavets is as surprised as anyone by the game’s sudden popularity. On the heels of Hades and Valheim, Loop Hero is another unlikely indie game that’s found a massive audience as the real world’s ground to a halt. It may look simple at first glance, but once it clicks, Loop Hero hooks its claws into you and doesn’t go. Each completed circuit brings new monsters and recollections of the old world, allowing you to rebuild your surroundings in increasingly complex ways. You’re a wandering amnesiac protagonist, endlessly journeying across a decaying world. On paper, it’s a mash-up of genres that brings to mind chucking half a decade’s worth of gaming buzzwords into a blender, but the resulting concoction is fiendishly addictive and refreshingly unique. Being trapped in a repetitive loop might not sound like escapism right now.īut for many among its half-a-million strong player base, the indie sensation Loop Herois an all-consuming obsession.