Esoteric Ebb er et enormt spil. Det fungerer som en komplet, kortere D&D-kampagne støbt om til et videospil, spækket med alle de valgmuligheder, en rollespiller overhovedet kan drømme om, og kompletteret af et stort persongalleri af unikke, dybe NPC'er. Manuskriptet runder svimlende 600.000 ord, og selvom soloudvikleren Christoffer Bodegård forståeligt nok er pavestolt af sit værk - især ovenpå spillets store succes - var der visse dele af udviklingen, som pressede ham til det yderste.
I et dugfrisk interview med os sætter Bodegård ord på de elementer af Esoteric Ebb, der udfordrede ham mest, både rent teknisk og følelsesmæssigt. Hvad angår det følelsesmæssige aspekt, viste spillets interne, politiske stridigheder sig at være en hård nød at knække.
"I saved them until the end - three months before the game was released. Because I knew that a great deal of the protagonist's political development would be based on precisely these, and I also knew that they would be severely limited by my own political and philosophical knowledge," forklarer Bodegård. em>"I drank loads of tea and sat down in early December 2025 and wrote them all, one by one. And it was here that I really had to examine exactly what my own biased thoughts, fundamental ideological pillars, and feelings were regarding topics such as democracy, men and women, migration, and loneliness."</em>
Processen med at lægge sit inderste sjæleliv frem på skærmen var skræmmende - især fordi Bodegård ikke anede, hvordan omverdenen ville tage imod spillets stærkt politiske temaer. Men hvis der var noget, der frustrerede ham endnu mere, end det skræmte ham, så var det spillets kampsystem.
"That was the only part of the game where I actually enlisted the help of my editor, Phil Jamesson, who had to write drafts for four of the later battles, based on my design,"fortæller Bodegård. "There's just so much unique content that needs to be written for these - imagine, they can be played in so many different orders. There are so many different choices - every round must have unique attacks and actions. And every subsequent round is influenced (and often entirely based on) the choice you made previously. And for there to be tactics and strategy and AGENCY in these, everything has to be properly designed as well. I'm very proud of the final boss fight, though. It's really cool."
Selvom nogle elementer var angstprovokerende og andre frustrerende at skrue sammen, er det færdige resultat af Esoteric Ebb en dybt imponerende bedrift. Og spillet havde unægteligt ikke været det samme uden dets politiske kant og skøre, uforudsigelige sammenstød.