With nearly 10,000 Kickstarter backers pledging over 10 times its original funding goal, it's easy to see the appeal of Mariachi Legends. With tight combat reminiscent of Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden, as well as some truly stunning 2D art and animation, one could argue that a successful fundraising campaign was nothing short of a guarantee. 

As explained to us by Mariachi Legends’ composer and creative director, Miguel Hasson, the game is “essentially a pixel art Metroidvania/RPG that plays on a lot of familiar Mexican folkloric elements,” but once you look past the game’s elevator pitch, you’ll find a love letter to Mexican culture, both new and old.

“So, there’s the more well-known bits of folklore that Mexico is famous for, but there’s a lot of history that is not as well-known,” Hasson said. “And we’re using the well-known parts as a gateway to expose players to all these other traditions. And to us, that is part of the importance of the game: That there’s a rich culture behind the known traditions.” 

One of those bits of “gateway” folklore—the Day of the Dead—will no doubt sound familiar (it’s popped up in countless movies and shows, as well as in games like Grim Fandango and Guacamelee!), but the team at Halberd Studios is more excited to put a spotlight on a few figures and legends that you may have never seen before. 

“Here in Mexico, horror stories are called ‘legenda,’” explained Hasson. “And one very well-known legenda across Latin America is La Llorona, which is about this woman who essentially drowned her own children, only to spend her afterlife in perpetual sorrow. She's a wandering spirit that cries at night and looks for other children to kidnap as her own.”

It’s a grim tale, to say the least, and as Hasson pointed out, different regions “have their own version of La Llorona; she’s depicted in several different ways depending on whom you ask.” It’s a fitting inclusion for a game like Mariachi Legends, but thankfully, there are other bits of folklore that are far more lighthearted in nature. 

“There are lesser-known elements, like the chaneques, for example. Here in Mexico, when you’re missing something—let’s say you can’t find your keys—you’d say ‘Oh, a chaneque stole them!’ They’re like little dwarfs or sprites,” Hasson explained while chuckling. “But you can kind of see where we're going, right? There's this folder, this trove [of culture] that's available that not a lot of people know about. And it's really, I think, colorful; it's cool, it's fun.” 

While these elements of Mariachi Legends feel authentic and distinctly Mexican, Hasson was happy to point out that, like many other cultures around the world, Mexico itself has been influenced by cultures from abroad. The same can be said for Halberd Studios as a whole. While a vast majority of the team is based out of Mexico, they are truly a global studio with developers from the United States, Japan, Malaysia, and Spain. This patchwork of cultural influences can be seen not just in the sights and sounds of Mariachi Legends, but in the smells as well, however virtual they might be. 

“Not many people realize it, but Mexico is really diverse in terms of its cultural heritage,” Hasson said. “There's, of course, the Spanish culture that prevailed because of the conquista. But with the Spanish also came the Arabs, the Moors, and you can see a lot of their influence in the music and in the food as well. Look at tacos. Tacos al pastor is something very traditional here, and yet it originally comes from the [doner] kebab. It’s essentially the Mexican version of the kebab.” 
These global influences work their way back into the folklore that forms Mariachi Legends’ central pillar. Pablo Cruz, the game’s leading man, makes a deal with Lady Death herself, Madre Catrina, to gain supernatural powers to fight off the criminals invading his hometown of Santa Mascota. You can also have your fortune told by Madre Catrina herself, but the tarot cards she reads from are just as likely to bestow a nasty fortune as they are to provide a welcome blessing. 

“You can see the influence from the French and Romani Mexicans too,” Hasson said. “Here, you can go to almost any mercado [farmer’s market] and get your fate read through tarot cards; it’s somewhat common here in Mexico. But that also works its way into another thing here in Mexico—the lottery. La lotería is very, very common and somewhat famous because it uses very specific colors. It’s a very well-known tradition, so we are using the lottery colors and its overall presentation and mixing that with tarot. It’s one of those things that’s hard to explain, but if a Mexican player sees the cards, they’ll think, ‘Oh, it’s like la lotería!’ and instantly recognize it.” 

We’ve only scratched the surface of what Mariachi Legends has in store for players, but based on our in-depth talk with Hasson, it’s poised to be just as enlightening as it is action-packed. 

Mariachi Legends is scheduled to launch on Epic Games Store in 2026. 

Disclaimer: Some quotes from our interview with Miguel Hasson are not 1:1 transcriptions, and were edited for clarity and brevity.