Voivod: The nuclear warrior brings the heavy metal video game back,

The largest rock bands of the 80s and 90s – including Journey, Queen, Mötley Crüe, Aerosmith and Metallica – achieved a specific cultural meaning that goes beyond their music, videos and their tours. Some of these arena rockers built video games around them, often to mixed results, in a way that no longer really happens. Now big musicians appear Fortnite or Whip Or in mobile games that are around their brands.

But an indie developer tries to bring back the video game inspired by Rock Band. Nicola Piovesan, head of the Chaosmonger studio, transforms his longstanding fascination for the band Voivod into a game. Voivod: The nuclear warrior.

If you have not yet heard of Voivod, you have clearly not been chosen in the Canadian Thrash and Speed ​​Metal scene in the past 40 years. This is understandable in all seriousness; Voivod has never seen the global commercial success of a metallica or an Aerosmith. However, the group based in Quebec is a venerable, influential gang in several metal genres, and like other remarkable metal files (Megadth, Iron Maiden), it has a specific artistic aesthetics and a mascot, the voivod.

Voivod, the character, is the creation of Michel “Away” Langevin, drummer for the band Voivod. The star of Langevin's post-nuclear fiction, which is conveyed by album art and other illustrations, comes from a desolate science fiction fantasy world, which is known as Morgoth. Langevin is responsible for almost all works of art by Voivod, and his independent illustrative and musical style has long influenced Piovesan.

“I've listened to the band since my teenager,” said Piovesan in an interview with Polygon. “Back then I was more like a metalhead. Now I hear almost all kinds of genre, but Voivod is one of these bands that I have heard over the years again and again. They are very versatile and their sound is very original and despite the changes they had in the line -up.”

Langevin has been the only consistent member of Voivod since it was founded in 1982. He is responsible for the visual aesthetics of the band, which is full of dark science fi images, which are normally rendered in ink, markers and color. The Voivod figure appears on many album covers, including the band's debut, War and pain.

Piovesan plans to adapt the world of Morgoth, the character Voivod and the many strange strangers that Langvin has created in a pixelated form in the past four decades Voivod: The nuclear warriorA run-and-gun narrative game in Metroidvania style.

During his earlier career as a filmmaker, Piovesan headed an animated video for Voivod's song “Target Earth”. He had had the idea of ​​a Voivod game “for a long time,” said Piovesan. “And in the meantime I shifted my career from the film industry to the game industry. I have published a few games in the meantime and thought I thought: Ok, now is the right time to play a voivod gameSo I mentioned that during a concert in Prague a few years ago. “

“I was slowly working on it last year,” said Piovesan and he turned to the band with a pitch to officially do it. “They were also very happy because they knew me from the music video that I made for them. I shared [a few screenshots and the concept of the game] With Michel, and they were immediately on board with the idea. “

Piovesan said that his Voivod playground was “a little retro in the style”, the “Type of Retro Pixel graphic, inspired by the late 80s, early 90s games that the Golden era of Voivod is” when the group released its most popular albums. (Piovesan grew up on Amiga games-in one thing the Motörhead Beat-'m-up, in which she plays as Lemmy Kilmister-and this influence is shown in the visual style of the voivod game.)

Voivod: The nuclear warrior I will follow the stories of the band's concept albums, said Piovesan, although it was slightly changed to achieve a “more standard player count”. Voivod will change in Metroidvania style in the course of the game and earn new strength.

“The idea is that [the Voivod’s] In this kind of nightmare, he has to restore fragments of his mind, “said Piovesan.” So every stage will basically have a different fragment. So there will be exploring, fighting and narrative – also dialogue with NPCs to understand more about history.

Piovesan finances his Voivod passion project through Kickstarter. His fundraising campaign for collecting Voivod: The nuclear warrior Is already successful, even though he has a handful of stretch goals. Piovesan takes care of game design and coding himself and works with a small team of artists and musicians to adapt Voivod's works of art and music in retro game form.

He also works closely with the band. Langevin contributes to the visual design and work of art of the game, while guitarist Daniel Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain monitors the musical adaptation. Singer Denis “Snake” Bélanger will provide the protagonist's voice; And bassist Dominic “Rocky” Laroche Playests and offers gameplay feedback.

Voivod: The nuclear warrior is still in development early; Piovesan's Kickstarter campaign lists a publication date in November 2026, but it sounds more like it is a kind of “if it is ready”. “When people ask me when the game will be ready, it is always difficult to answer because I don't do it for money,” he said. “I am a fan of the band, and for me it is important to play a good game first and pay tribute to the Voivod universe. So I am really interested in making it a good game.

“I learned that they need two years to do 90% of the game for games, and they need two years more to make the last 10%,” he said. “In the case of VoivodI hope it won't be a four -year thing. “