SPINE Q&A: Game Director Answers Your Top Questions

You asked. We answered. Over 500 questions came in during Full Contact Week. Game Director Dmitry Pimenov went through them and answered the most popular ones personally. Here's all of it.

When is the release date?

Hey Gun Fu gang, Fair question, and I'll be honest about where we are. We announced SPINE earlier than we probably should have - back then we wanted to develop in dialog with you and potential partners rather than in silence, and I still think that was the right call, even if it's made the wait longer. We're not going to announce a date until we're certain about the game. The team is heads-down on the final stretch right now, and when we do commit, it'll be to a date when we'll be sure that everything is done right. Thank you for the patience - it means more than I can put into a post. The good news is, a real update is coming in the next few months!

Will there be a demo?

Right now, we have a Steam demo in our plans. We know how important it is to try the game before its launch!

How far along is development, in percentage?

Percentage doesn't really work in game development - you can be "90% done" for a year or even more. What we can tell you is that we'll keep showing you progress through the devblogs and socials and tell you more about our timelines soon enough.

Will there be voice acting in other languages?

At launch, SPINE will have only full English voice acting. The reason for this is that we work closely with voice actors, do facial motion capture, and because of our studio's DNA (animations are really important to us). Because we're focused on true action movie experience, it's really important for us to have perfect animations of everything in-game.

How long is the main story?

We're targeting 8-12 hours of dense, engaging gameplay with a story that pulls you through from start to finish. We think players are tired of open worlds with endless grind. We wanted to make something that feels like a great action movie: you sit down, you're hooked, and by the end you feel like you actually experienced something. In our team, we call it a "Gun Fu Rollercoaster". We're also thinking about game modes which would extend the playtime, but that's the topic for another talk.

Is the game linear? Do choices affect the story?

SPINE is a linear, mission-based game, and that's a deliberate choice correlating with our game design approach and focus on action movie feeling. Redline's journey has a specific shape, a specific tension, and a specific ending.

Post-launch content / DLC?

We love honing our universes, so we're investing into the world of Tensor City and its surroundings. For example, we've partnered with Story Kitchen on film and TV adaptations. We want to keep expanding - the game, the story, all of it. Also I feel that good and successful games need at least one post-launch update which would add and fine-tune features asked by the community.

What's the price?

A fair one. We're not announcing the exact number yet, but we're not pricing it like a AAA game. The quality, the scale, the content - it'll match.

How deep is the customization?

Yep, customization is confirmed. We already revealed the first skin - Redline in a red dress (thank you for warm reception of it), and the next reveal is not far off.

Will there be a photo mode at launch?

Yes, photo mode is planned for launch and we already had an internal photo-contest with our team. We're really looking forward to seeing what virtual photographers do with SPINE. We put a lot of care into the city, the lighting, the motion, and the details, so there should be plenty to capture.

Additional game modes?

For me, freeflow combat is about setting up challenges for yourself - and my goal with SPINE's system is that the animations pull you in and keep you in that flow. That smoothness was the thing players responded to most in our earlier games, and it's where a lot of our focus has gone. Which is why I wanted to mention a few things: a lot of you have asked for an Arena mode, and it's in our plans. Hardcore mode we already showed in one of our trailers. And we're looking at whether we can fit New Game+ in too.

Difficulty settings?

At launch we'll have a single difficulty setting, with a hardcore mode toggle on top. The game is designed to ease you in and ramp up gradually - we want SPINE to be a way into the genre for people who haven't played much of it before, not a wall, while still offering a real challenge to more hardcore fans.

What's the connection between Vector and SPINE?

Vector and SPINE are set in the same universe - we confirmed that during Full Contact Week. If you're a Vector fan, or just someone who's been with Nekki for a while, there are easter eggs and nods for you throughout the game. Some of you already spotted the Vector and Shadow Fight arcade machines tucked into the corner of one of the mission locations. Our webtoon Bullet Dancer is a prequel to SPINE, and if you've read it you'll catch some familiar Vector faces showing up there too. We don't forget where we came from.

Easter eggs / references to other Nekki games?

Tensor City has more than a few secrets for people who've been with Nekki for a while.

FSR / DLSS / XeSS support?

DLSS is already supported in our builds, and we're working closely with NVIDIA on bringing more of their graphics tech into the game.

DualSense haptics?

We'll try to fit this into our plans - it's one of my favorite controllers for exactly that feature (the Xbox Elite being the other personal favourite).

Will the custom gamepads be sold?

These controllers are genuinely beautiful - they're handmade by a special artist, but they're custom-made for special events only. If there's enough hype around the game after release, we'll see what we can do!

What was the hardest part of moving from mobile to PC/console?

Honestly, it's having to re-establish yourself as a developer from scratch. On mobile, people knew us - on PC and console, we were starting over. New audience, new partners, new expectations, and you can't really lean on what you've built before.

How did the Le Castle Vania collaboration happen?

We were genuinely blown away when Le Castle Vania reached out to us first. He'd seen our trailer, and said he wanted to do something with us. The composer behind some of John Wick's most iconic moments wanting to work on our Gun Fu game - that's just a perfect collab. And what came out of it is an absolute banger. Super proud of this one.

What was the starting point for the game?

Honestly, the Gun Fu came first - there aren't many good ones out there, and it's an incredible fit for the kind of animation-driven combat we're best at. The SPINE universe, its connection to Vector, and its look all came in once we started asking what world this kind of fighting belongs in - and Tensor City grew out of that.

Is SPINE a complete story, or does it need a sequel?

The core of SPINE is a complete story about Redline - she's trying to save her brother and gets pulled into something much bigger, something that affects the whole of Tensor City and the world around it. That story has a real ending. But this universe is bigger than one game, and finishing her story doesn't close any doors on coming back to it.

Are there plans for a cinematic universe?

SPINE was planned as a homage to the action movies we love, so yes - we absolutely love the idea of a movie or show adaptation. We're in talks with our partner Story Kitchen on this right now. Fingers crossed!

What themes does the story explore?

We started building this game before a lot of the themes we're exploring became as loud as they are now. And looking at it today - it hits different. There are a few directions we're going deep on. First, control and power - Tensor City runs on social rating, your score decides everything, and there's a very clear line between those who benefit from the system and those it crushes. Second, the relationship between human and technology - Redline has an AI-combat implant on her back, and that bond raises real questions about where the machine ends and the person begins, whether something built to serve can start to feel or not. And underneath all of it - what does it take to break free from a system that was designed to make you believe you can't?

Branching choices / multiple endings?

We decided not to go with branching story choices - we had to allocate our budget carefully, and we chose to put it all into a strong story, characters, atmosphere, and combat instead.

Can you play as other characters?

No, SPINE is Redline's story. The whole game is built around her perspective, her fight, her journey.

Enemies seem too passive — will you improve their behavior?

Enemy behavior is something we're still actively working on, so what you've seen is not the final version of combat.

Will there be zones where Spine gets jammed?

It's not going to be zones - it's going to be characters. Some of them have their own Spine implants, their own abilities, and yeah, some of those abilities can interfere with Redline's.

Does it run on Linux / SteamOS?

The game runs on Steam Deck - I playtest SPINE on mine from time to time. My personal computer runs Linux too, and the game runs there without issues. Big thanks to the team at Valve for making that possible.

Is it coming to Epic Games Store?

Yes, and by the way - go wishlist us on Epic

Mobile platforms?

Right now, our focus is fully on PC and current-generation consoles. SPINE is built around delivering a highly cinematic action experience, and that's where all our attention is going.

Any Black Lagoon influence?

Every mission in SPINE was built around different references, and anime is a big part of that. We leaned into cyberpunk titles specifically - and if you're a Ghost in the Shell fan, you'll definitely notice one location that pulls a lot from it. Psycho-Pass as well!

When will media get to go hands-on?

Media have already played parts of the game and put out early previews - but those weren't full story missions, just slices of them. Hands-on with the full game will happen closer to release, once we've announced the date.

Has community feedback shaped development?

We launched our socials early, and community feedback genuinely shaped some aspects of the game. One major example: combat animations are noticeably faster now than they used to be. Slower animations were tempting early on because they look more realistic, but the community kept pushing for more speed, and we ended up finding a sweet spot between the two. The game feels much better for it.

What's next for Nekki after SPINE?

Hopefully celebrating - and getting to work on the next game. We want to keep making action and animation-driven games that would look and feel even better than SPINE, thanks to everything we've learned along the way!

How does the AI theme land given the current climate around AI?

This is a really interesting topic to navigate. When we wrote the first version of the story, the whole AI hype hadn't really kicked off yet. But as development went on, we revised the story a few times, and each pass made working on the AI–human relationship side of it more interesting, not less. There's so much to dig into - the Chinese Room thought experiment, AGI vs ASI vs ANI, the Coffee Test, and so on and on. It's genuinely a goldmine of philosophical problems, and it's one of the most relevant topics of our moment. P.S. Still have questions? Drop them in the comments.