Redemption, faith, and devotion are some of the most ambitious topics a creator can explore in their work, but solo developer Federico Breser is taking it all in his stride with his upcoming adventure game Bogdan’s Cross.

The game is set in the bloody history of the Crusades, and at the center of this historical and social upheaval is Bogdan himself, a Templar knight tasked with delivering a sealed message that could change the course of history. Set against the dramatic backdrop of, as Breser puts it, the “relic-obsessed piety and ruthless politics of the early 14th century,” it grapples with one knight’s devotion to his faith and obedience to his order. 

“His faith is not simple devotion but a lived anxious conversation, prayers whispered in catacombs, desperate pleas in the night, moments of quiet mercy that both sustain and accuse him,” Breser says. “The game’s core question—'Is he worthy?'—isn’t answered by birth or title, but by the choices he makes under guilt and pressure, whether he will own what he helped unleash, turn repentance into action, and let faith shape courage. In the end, Bogdan’s journey asks the player to judge worthiness not as a status but as becoming earned, imperfect, and dangerous.”

Breser’s passion for the medieval period was his north star for creating Bogdan’s Cross. As a kid, he was interested in the mysticism of relics like the Holy Grail and Christ’s Crown of Thorns, and later in life, gravitated toward learning of the historical events that shaped the course of the era, with a specific interest in the Templars.

“Without a doubt, one of the pillars that attracts me most about the Templars is the relationship of those warrior monks with their faith and everything that entails,” Breser says. “The narrative line of Bogdan’s Cross is built around a key historical moment, which is the persecution, capture and—in a way —extermination of the Templar order. An order that for 200 years had been built and consolidated with great power and that overnight was buried.”
 

Myths and legends

Faith and redemption are two big themes in Bogdan’s Cross, and the way Breser has interpreted those two topics into the game’s overarching story and mechanics is fascinating.

“The game treats redemption and faith as two sides of the same coin,” Breser says. “Faith is the force that drives Bogdan, and redemption is the painful route he must travel to transform guilt into action. The game does not present redemption as an automatic prize nor faith as an optimizing mechanic. These are practical and emotional experiences. Praying is exposing yourself, forgiving is choosing, and purifying demands paying a price. Through a mix of tactical decisions, cards and inventory, moral acts like saving, abandoning, protecting, or betraying—and moments of surrender such as prayer and rituals, the player walks with Bogdan a path where faith is practiced, and redemption is earned, sometimes paid for with loss.”

Inspired by the sword and shield fighting of the period, combat has all the hallmarks of close combat melee. There are light and heavy attacks, dodge, block, parry, and moments to counterattack, plus a card system where you can equip cards to Bogdan to add abilities and modifiers. But the most interesting aspect of the game’s design is the faith/doubt system Breser has created, represented visually at the top left of the screen. This point system will fluctuate throughout your adventure, determined by the choices you make in story events and missions, and it will impact gameplay in different ways.

“If [Bogdan] is dominated by fear or doubt, for example, by seeing a mutilated body of a Templar brother frozen in the snow, this will impact how [he] fights if surprised by enemies,” Breser says. “Instead of fighting with steadiness and control, our attacks will be more erratic, less powerful and wrapped in a frenzy. By contrast, if we are in faith and a combat situation occurs, our fighting will feel more controlled to the point of even having an opportunity window to purify an enemy instead of delivering a mortal stab.”

Having points in faith will grant Bogdan sacred attacks that are brutal against corrupted enemies, but high doubt will leave him weakened and open to attacks. “Enemies telegraph their attacks and each type demands a different response,” Breser says. “Boss fights are multi-phase and integrate environmental puzzles or the use of relics. Progression improves weapons, cards, and abilities, encouraging choices between direct power or faith-based resources.

“Another example is when we are in combat: If our Faith state is high, we can choose how to finish our enemies. One option is brutal, and another can be purifying, leaving the enemy stunned and spared. All this feeds the construction of that moral value which will continue to affect the game experience as it progresses.” 
 

Saints and sinners

For a game so embedded in medieval history, it’s curious why Breser decided to use animal characters in the game. “In my head, [Bogdan] was always a bear. I honestly do not remember ever thinking of him as a man,” Breser explains. "I have always liked stories with anthropomorphic animals. I love seeing our world translated into an animal universe. From works like Blacksad, Zootopia, Lackadaisy, and many others, I have always been attracted to that kind of representation."

When it comes to video games, Breser gravitates to more narrative-driven experiences, naming Gris, Journey, Hollow Knight, Death Stranding, The Last of Us, and many more. “But what interests me most is the visual component,” Breser says. “I am a big consumer of art books for films and games, I love design processes, and the search and exploration of a look."

This passion comes from Breser’s background as a film graduate, which fed into his work in commercials and short films, and subsequently his gravitation towards the visual arts. “Specifically animation,” Breser says. “Bogdan is my first game. Even though I wanted to make games since I was a kid, I always respected them and felt they were a bit out of my reach since I never had training or any intention of learning programming, and for that reason, I kind of created a self-imposed limitation. Still, working in animation and playing a lot of games, I was always circling the idea."  

Bogdan’s Cross has, as Breser puts it, mutated and evolved into having more mature and elaborate ideas. Ultimately, though, the vision and heart of the game haven’t changed in the two years he’s been working on it. A big incentive for Breser is allowing himself to tell Bogdan’s story in a way that’s totally independent, where he can artistically express his voice and style freely. 

With this freedom being the core of his design philosophy, Breser decided to use an incredibly unique tool in his development journey: the VR illustration tool Quill. It’s a piece of software specifically used to make VR creations, complete with VR goggles and two handheld controllers for digital drawing and sculpting.

“I create almost everything in Quill and then export to Unreal Engine, where I work on mechanics and programming logic to build the game itself,” Breser says. “Quill is a fabulous tool I incorporated into my pipeline about eight years ago, and it never ceases to surprise me with how powerful it is. The software is incredibly simple and limited in options and tools, but given the nature of VR and how intuitive and expressive you can be with it, it really is a radical change in the way of working.” 

The result is a game so cinematic that it looks like the work of an entire animation studio, let alone one individual. There’s a dramatic moment in the trailer that really emphasizes this, where a giant crow creature looms over Bogdan and screams in his face—colors, feathers, and scribbled brush strokes burst and thrash on screen. It’s awesome and feels like a moment taken straight from a scene of a LAIKA movie.

If your medieval history is lacking, playing Bogdan’s Cross will make you feel like a true historian. It has the depth and understanding of the setting that makes it feel like a history lesson, only with animals in armor. 

Bogdan’s Cross is coming soon to the Epic Games Store.