Christoffer Bodegård, the creator of the critically acclaimed RPG Esoteric Ebb, revealed that his work is heavily inspired by classics like Deus Ex, and that he harbors ambitions to develop a first-person game in the future. Bodegård's journey into game development began with early PC titles, but it was Dragon Age: Origins that solidified his love for the RPG genre. Further exploration led him to Planescape: Torment, which he describes as raising the bar for the genre.
His own creation, Esoteric Ebb, was developed over eight years with the goal of replicating the unpredictability of tabletop RPGs. The game tasks players with solving a mystery in a fantasy realm on the brink of its first election, centering on an exploding tea shop. Upon its release in March, Esoteric Ebb garnered positive reviews and commercial success.
Bodegård is currently exploring concepts for his next project, which will leverage the technology developed for Esoteric Ebb, though it is not necessarily a direct sequel. He also shared his current gaming habits, including a deep engagement with Paradox Interactive's grand strategy titles. He is a self-proclaimed superfan of Victoria 3, despite admitting to having only around 400 hours and considering himself poor at the game. He finds simulating the economic and political aspects of the era to be particularly engaging.
"I think it's a masterpiece in the making," Bodegård stated regarding Victoria 3. "It's so close to being absolutely amazing. You can just see all the things that [need improving]. Obviously, the developers are also aware of [those], they need a couple of years to work on it." He appreciates the developer's commitment to refining the game.
Another recent gaming experience for Bodegård was Abiotic Factor, which he described as akin to "Half-Life with the boys." He noted that the game offered a welcome opportunity to play with friends, a pastime that he had previously forgone to focus on the development of Esoteric Ebb. The game's sale price also contributed to his decision to jump in. He also mentioned Final Fantasy XIV as a game his friends play, but one he deliberately avoided to concentrate on his own project.
Reflecting on his oldest installed game, Bodegård identified Heroes of Might and Magic 3 as the earliest, released in February of 1999. This title, along with King of Dragon Pass, Deus Ex, and Diablo 2, represent his foundational favorites. Heroes 3, in particular, was deeply influential, praised for its randomized maps, engaging AI, strategic depth, strong fantasy setting, music, and aesthetics. The 'End Turn' jingle is even cited as inspiration for sound design in Esoteric Ebb.
While Esoteric Ebb technically has the highest number of hours logged on Steam for Bodegård due to development work, his most played game outside of his own projects is Europa Universalis IV. He described an intense period of addiction to the game before reaching a point where he felt he had "finished the game, and I'm done in a spiritual sense." He continues to play, often with the "Anbennar" mod, which he lauded for its intricate D&D-inspired fantasy worldbuilding within the EU IV framework. The mod's ability to twist and reimagine core mechanics, such as applying tribal mechanics to dwarf gameplay, impressed him.
Deus Ex remains a permanent fixture on his PC. Bodegård cited it as a core inspiration for Esoteric Ebb's design, particularly its emphasis on environmental and non-dialogue choices. He expressed a desire to create his own first-person game, drawing parallels to Ultima Underworld and even joking about creating an "Elder Scrolls killer" in his own style.
Beyond gaming, Bodegård highlighted Notepad++ as an indispensable non-gaming software. He has heavily customized his version to work efficiently with Ink, the scripting language he uses for game narrative. He values its lightweight nature and flexibility, which allows for rapid iteration when adding choices to his games. "If the writer feels like it's slightly annoying to add another choice option, and it takes a little bit longer to click and add that bubble and structure it, they are going to be infinitely more likely to not add more choices," he explained, emphasizing the importance of a streamlined writing process for fostering player choice.
Bodegård also touched on desktop tidiness, mentioning a past habit of saving images directly to his desktop, which he has since curtailed in favor of using Windows+Shift+S for screenshots and immediate sharing.