Interview: Ecumene Games, creators of Ecumene Aztec

Ecumene Aztec was never meant to be a part of the culture wars, yet it has managed to trigger members of both the left and the right in the gaming world and beyond. It all started around the summer of last year when developer Ecumene Games initially revealed for Ecumene Aztec.

The premise of the stealth-action game is you play for an Aztec warrior during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. As initially shown in the trailer, you would stealth your way into Spanish bases and kill the colonizers.

This trailer upset many people on the political right, including several of whom were not gamers – such as an alt-right group that responded by buying the unregistered domain to try and troll the game developers.

However, mixed in with the alt-right criticism were complaints over the fact that you can only play for one side in the Spanish invasion. There were a lot of Catholic gamers (separate from the alt-right trolls) who did not relish the idea of slaughtering fellow Catholics while ignoring the atrocities committed by the Aztec priests.

They brought up the fact that the Aztec priests sacrificed babies, rolling them down the sacrificial pyramids, as well as engaged in cannibalism. Both sides committed atrocities, the Catholic gamers maintained, and it was unfair to pretend that the Aztec priests were on the same side as the Aztec people.

Ecumene Games eventually realized the Catholic gamers had a point and announced that they would delay the release of Ecumene Aztec by a year to add a new option: join an Aztec tribe that helps the Spanish liberate the people from the evil priests.

While this ended up pleasing the Catholic gamers, it upset some leftist gamers, who were exasperated that Ecumene Aztec was “bending the knee” to a right-wing cancel mob, while also worrying that the game was going to whitewash the atrocities committed by some of the Spanish – such as Cortez.

However, what critics missed was the fact that Ecumene Games did not bend the knee to the alt-right gamers. The alt-right gamers who bought the domain for Ecumene Games wanted the game to either be canceled or for it to be remade into a game where you play a Spanish soldier who kills all the Aztecs.

It was the Catholic gamers that wanted you to be able to have the Aztecs and Spanish unite, and these were the gamers Ecumene Games listened to. The alt-right hated the new move even more than leftists hated it, because the new move meant reaffirming interracial marriages and friendships between the white Spanish settlers and the indigenous Aztecs. Still, good faith Catholic gamers & good faith leftist gamers (of which there is overlap) agree that there were heroes and villains on both sides.

Ecumene Games vanished for several months. Recently, they resurfaced and agreed to give us the very first interview they’ve ever gotten. Read below for the developers thoughts on the controversy surrounding their game, as well as a discussion on game mechanics and plans for funding:

Niche Gamer: Why did you change your initial premise for Ecumene Aztec? When you first announced the game back in 2023 and released a trailer, you promoted it as a stealth action-RPG where you play as an Aztec warrior fighting against Spanish colonizers. But more recently, you announced that you were re-creating the game from scratch in order to allow players to side with the Spanish. How did that come about?

Ecumene Games: After the publication of the first trailer, viewers let us know that they would like the game to be a bit more in line with historical facts. They simply demand it! This feedback was eye-opening, and it made us rethink our approach. While we initially focused on telling a specific story about resistance and survival from the Aztec perspective, we realized that giving players the ability to explore multiple perspectives would enrich the narrative and add depth to the gameplay experience.

NG: How will letting players choose which side they ultimately support affect the gameplay in each path?

By allowing players to choose sides — whether to fight against the Spanish or join them — we’re giving them the opportunity to explore a broader range of moral and cultural conflicts that defined this historical period. We didn’t decide if it will be in the main game or later on as a DLC – now we are trying to find if it’s a chance to implement it in the main game but if so it will probably be connected somehow in the storyline otherwise we think about such an addition to the main game.

As you said we somehow reset the development lately so it’s too early to be sure about anything. We will have to make some simplifications for the purposes of the game production, but we want players to, at least for a while, fight on the other side of the conflict. We will see if it is possible. Please treat what I’m saying as a kind of thoughts and consideration not already made decisions. What we care the most about is telling a cool story and wrapping it in addictive gameplay.

NG: So, I imagine re-tooling the game from scratch to change the game from scratch will change many of the story elements, but will it also change gameplay mechanics? In the original trailer, we see the player character stealthing around as he takes out Spanish soldiers. But now that you can side with the Spanish, is stealth less important? Will gameplay mechanics change based on which faction you choose?

Ecumene Games: Not at all! We want all main mechanics shown in the trailer to stay in the game. The core stealth mechanics that were central to the original premise will remain just as important. Possibility to change a side will be a part of the story but you won’t lose your abilities because of that. Whether you play as an Aztec warrior or a member of a tribe allied with the Spanish, stealth will still play a crucial role, although your objectives might change.

We’re focusing on expanding the existing mechanics to fit both paths, ensuring that the gameplay remains engaging and challenging no matter which side you choose if we decide to have it for sure in the main game. If we decide to have it in DLC maybe we consider adding some new mechanic. But this is a song of the future. For now we’re trying to deliver most of the mechanics from the trailer.

NG: If you choose to have your Aztec warrior join the Spanish, will you be able to romance Spanish women? This would be realistic, considering that the Aztecs who sided with the Spanish in real life intermarried with them and their descendants are the Mexicans of today.

Ecumene Games: Yes, we know about the intermarriages between the Spaniards and the local inhabitants, and this is undoubtedly a fantastic idea, but it depends on the story we are still working on. We are trying to focus on gameplay first, so the story is still progressing. Ecumene Aztec is an action game, first and foremost. However, the possibility of developing relationships, including romantic ones, is something we are exploring as we refine the narrative.

NG: How are you building a narrative around the Spanish conquest of the Americas? Do you have internal writers or historians working on the game?

We are hiring writers who have some experience with Aztecs and have already written stories or even books about them, but we don’t want to reveal too much yet because gameplay comes first. The game is planned as an AA or A+ scale title, not a AAA blockbuster like Assassin’s Creed. While our scope is more in line with Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice or A Plague Tale, we are fully committed to delivering gameplay that is just as engaging and immersive as what you’d expect from larger titles, but without the same level of complexity.

We believe there’s a need for shorter experiences that will be captivating for players. We’re measuring our strengths against our intentions and focusing on delivering an interesting gameplay experience, with the story being a key part of that. Our goal is to create a story where every decision feels meaningful and true to the historical context.

NG: Your game has been attacked by both sides of the culture war due to first your initial premise and then the change. What message do you have to critics who were skeptical of your initial premise? My bet would be that you just want to make a fun game that conservatives, leftists, and apolitical people can enjoy?

Ecumene Games: That’s exactly the point! The last thing we want is to get involved in righties vs. lefties and lefties vs. righties kind of war. The world is more complicated – not just black and white neither are the stories we want to tell. Our primary goal with Ecumene Aztec has always been to create an engaging, thought-provoking game that immerses players in a rich historical setting. We understand that history is complex and can evoke strong feelings, but our intention is not to push a political agenda. Instead, we want to explore the human stories within this tumultuous period—stories of survival, conflict, alliance, and cultural exchange.

We love games and we want to make games we want to play ourselves. The subject of the Aztecs and the conquest is fascinating, engaging, and not very exploited in video games and we believe it has the potential to engage players in meaningful ways. We still think so – it’s a great topic for a fresh videogame. Of course, we will listen to the voice of the players and we want to create the game with the community but, at the same time, we want to be in harmony with ourselves.

We want Ecumene Aztec to have a universal premise that can resonate with both sides and encourage players to think about humanity in a broader sense and to be a game that will provoke some discussion. At its core, it’s about delivering an enjoyable experience that brings people together not divides them. Our primary focus is on crafting an interesting story and engaging gameplay. Games should unite, not divide, and that’s the philosophy we’re embracing.

NG: Will you be coming to Kickstarter to finance the game, or is everything good as far as funding goes?

Ecumene Games: It is possible but at this stage, we’re exploring multiple opportunities to secure the necessary funding for our project. While Kickstarter could provide valuable support, it may not be sufficient on its own to fully fund the project.

Kickstarter has always been a great platform for engaging with the community and gauging interest in a project, so we’re keeping that option open as a way to not only secure additional funding but also to build a strong, supportive player base right from the start. We want to make sure we have the flexibility to deliver on our vision without compromising on quality, and involving our community through Kickstarter could be an excellent way to achieve that.

For now, the narrative team is working hard on the story of our nameless (yet) Aztec warrior and we can’t wait to show you our new demo hopefully in the first half of next year! So, fingers crossed for us.

NG: Thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk with us, and we look forward to seeing what happens in the future with Ecumene Aztec!