GLAAD Gaming Highlight: Kaitlin Tremblay and Sofy Kabachek on Queerness, Honoring the Dead, and Closure in ‘Ambrosia Sky: Act One’

As humanity’s remaining frontier, the countless thriller of area makes it the proper setting for indie studio Soft Rains’ debut recreation, Ambrosia Sky. Act One’s setting in a fungus-choked area colony is ripe for exploration, however the story’s meditations on loss of life, reminiscence, and homecoming – seen by the eyes of its lesbian protagonist Dalia – are what make the story deeply human. Its centering of queer tales earned it not solely a nomination for Outstanding Video Game on the GLAAD Media Awards but additionally a neighborhood of gamers passionate concerning the form of tales that Soft Rains is devoted to telling.

In celebration of Act Two’s August sixth, 2026 launch date reveal on the Story-Rich Showcase, we spoke to narrative director Kaitlin Tremblay and lead recreation designer Sofy Kabachek about creating their queer area clean-’em-up and the facility that smaller groups have to inform impactful LGBTQ tales.

This interview transcript has been edited for size and readability, and comprises spoilers for Ambrosia Sky: Act One. All images courtesy of Soft Rains.

Annabelle Cook: The first query that I at all times put everybody on the spot for is: should you needed to title a recreation that’s nearest and dearest to your coronary heart, what wouldn’t it be?

Kaitlin Tremblay: I knew this was coming as a result of I learn one in every of your different interviews. I assumed, “I gotta prepare for this”, and now my thoughts is clean. 

Sofy Kabachek: Mine is simple as a result of I’ve a tattoo of the Normandy, so it’s a reminder on a regular basis that Mass Effect is close to and pricey to my coronary heart.

Cook: No one’s instructed me Mass Effect but. I don’t understand how!

Tremblay: I’m going to provide you three solutions as a result of I’m dishonest and mine modifications relying on the place I’m at in my life. A decade in the past, I might have mentioned Borderlands 2. Five years in the past, I might have mentioned Life is Strange. But this yr, 2026, I’m going to say it’s 1000xRESIST. The writing is simply so distinctive and so poetic and simply sits so near my coronary heart.

Cook: Genuinely incredible recreation, particularly for the reason that crew was made up of people that didn’t have a background in recreation growth. I like seeing these contemporary eyes on a medium that I do know very effectively.

I at all times begin off with that query as a result of it provides me a little bit of perception into who persons are, however I additionally suppose some gamers neglect that numerous builders love video games identical to they do. I believe this could be a very troublesome business to be in should you don’t deeply love video games. 

Tremblay: I believe builders have a lot ardour for the artwork type that actually creates these tremendous particular experiences that we get in video games. It comes from a lot of that love.

Kabachek: So many tales of builders coming into the business are like, “I loved playing games my entire life, and then finally I figured out that people actually make them, and maybe I could do that as well.”

Cook: And you each actually have achieved recreation dev backgrounds, however one thing distinctive about your experiences is that you just’re each founders of your personal indie studios. Kaitlin, after all, you’re Soft Rains’ co-founder, and Sofy, I noticed not too long ago that you just launched your studio Misfit Theories. So firstly, congratulations with that, but additionally my query to you each is, what drove you to take these steps? Is it this craving for independence, a selected story that you just need to inform, or one thing else fully?

Tremblay: I believe there’s a bunch of causes, proper? One is the flexibility to make issues that we care about on our personal phrases. But I additionally suppose it’s about having the ability to construct a spot with good individuals who have totally different views, totally different backgrounds, and life experiences, and attending to form a studio tradition that informs the sorts of video games we make. For me, it was by no means, “Let’s start a studio and make only one type of game.” No, let’s construct a studio full of individuals the place now we have each similarities and variations, and might use these to form and create distinctive experiences that we might solely do collectively as a crew. It was much less about autonomy and extra about, “We have this opportunity to do this and I really want to see if we can.”

Kabachek: Leaving AAA and becoming a member of Soft Rains was about having the ability to be extra weak within the artwork type and inform tales that really feel extra private. I used to be struggling to do this earlier than and Soft Rains was an area that opened that up for me. And constructing areas is not only about constructing a single studio, but additionally constructing chains of studios which might be working collectively and sharing sources. So that’s why Misfits is actually tied to Soft Rains and wouldn’t exist with out it – this concept of us collaborating, sharing sources, studying from one another. The root of all of it is individuals getting collectively who actually care about one another and actually care concerning the craft, and I really feel all these several types of methods of working are fascinating to discover within the business.

Tremblay: I believe you hit on one thing that’s actually necessary. Like, constructing supportive communities of those that make various things, however nonetheless having the ability to uplift one another is a type of issues I actually love about recreation dev. You get this sturdy sense of communal help and this, “Let’s all help each other out” perspective.

Cook: I do really feel the indie area has a robust neighborhood community between the studios and between their fan bases. But as you mentioned, Kaitlin, it’s not like all these groups or individuals on the groups all suppose the identical. For each of you, once you’re beginning a crew at a brand new studio or once you’re coming right into a smaller crew, how do you even begin figuring out what kind of recreation, what setting, what story you need to create? Soft Rains has a lot expertise behind the developer crew and I think about one of many hardest elements is managing to wrangle everybody to discover a joint imaginative and prescient.

Tremblay: Yeah, a giant factor that we began at Soft Rains was this concept of mutual respect and belief. And so there was numerous area respect. We will all discuss, share, give suggestions, and collaborate, however strive as finest as we will to defer to the area consultants. Being in a position to champion different individuals’s concepts and belief in collaboration is a giant a part of how we attempt to strategy issues. And it’s like, “Okay, who’s really passionate? What vision kind of aligns with our goals? And how can we all champion it together?”

Kabachek: The crew composition drives numerous that. What form of abilities do now we have, what are we good at, and the way can we understand these abilities within the specific challenge that we picked out? For Misfits, it’s a lot smaller, and we’re nonetheless very, very early – so there’s not a lot I can share there. But I undoubtedly realized so much from going by this with Soft Rains, as a result of I joined the crew fairly early on. They already had Ambrosia Sky going, however there was nonetheless numerous form that it was taking. I obtained to be part of that, and in order that was actually thrilling.

Cook: What did the challenge seem like once you obtained there again then? Was it simply obscure concepts at this level or have been you having to work inside pre-existing parameters?

Kabachek: So many grey packing containers. The base model of Unreal was all over the place. We really made the primary death rituals [in-game cutscenes where a deceased character is remembered and laid to rest] with absolutely the base mannequin that you just get, and we have been in a position to iterate on it and discover an intense emotion there even with none actual belongings. So yeah, there was already a form to the concepts and themes that we needed to discover. It was a chance for me to analyze what recreation mechanics can help these themes and collaborate with everyone to do this.

Tremblay: We began [developing] in-engine and playtesting fairly quickly – like, actually shortly after we based and obtained began up. We had an overview of the story and the characters, however numerous it was about getting it playable as quickly as attainable and beginning to take a look at our concepts and ensuring they labored. When Sofy joined, they have been then in a position to simply get immediately in and take a few of these concepts and show what we have been speaking about. Like, “Will these death rituals actually hit the way we think they will?” Let’s simply show it within the engine and construct. We had a tradition of weekly playtests nearly proper from the beginning. 

Cook: One of the issues I beloved about Ambrosia Sky – and this can be a unusual comparability – is that it jogged my memory of taking part in a FromSoft recreation the place you arrive at a scene after the core occasions have taken place and also you’re left to sift by the items of what different individuals have left behind in a world that actually appears to breathe. And Dalia is there giving some particulars from her previous to Maaz over comms,  and clearly, you’re discovering emails and logs. As you’re creating the general construction of the sport, how do you strategy unraveling these character tales and pacing once you’re going to disclose sure particulars?

Tremblay: I like the FromSoft comparability. I’m very not good at video video games, so FromSoft video games are too arduous for me, however the recreation that really impressed this kind of storytelling was Outer Wilds. I believe they share the identical form of narrative design symmetry. I don’t know if this can be a time period, however I’ve referred to as it archaeological narrative design, the place you’re digging and also you’re sifting, and just like the world is telling you about itself. 

Having been in a position to play Outer Wilds was an enormous inspiration for respiration life into a spot that has all this historical past that we would like the participant to uncover on their very own. We knew fairly early on the place we needed the sport to start out and the place we needed Dalia emotionally to finish up. Having this sturdy idea of the ache I needed to place her by and the place I needed her to go on the finish of it actually helped. Like, “I know I want her to get to this point, so how do I build that up? And what are the elements that get her there? How can the world be something she’s reacting against but is also telling its own story at the same time?” And then clearly it’s simply playtesting. It’s simply watching individuals undergo the degrees and being like, “Interesting, you didn’t go here” or “Most people tend to go this way.” Hard knowledge helped me tempo it out.

Cook: It may simply be as a result of I’ve been primed to search for story in that method, however I discover that form of storytelling very compelling. And after all a giant storytelling mechanic in your recreation are the aforementioned loss of life rituals.

I believe numerous video games attempt to make poignant one thing that gamers are overwhelmingly conversant in. Death occurs in numerous video games, whether or not it’s participant loss of life or scripted character loss of life, however I might say Ambrosia Sky manages to remodel loss of life into one thing new and exquisite. Talk me by how and why the concept of loss of life rituals got here to be.

Tremblay: I get made enjoyable of so much for this due to my thought course of. When we first began fascinated about Ambrosia Sky, we have been fascinated about the job sim angle. Like, cleansing video games are actually enjoyable. I like cleansing video games. We thought a story-driven cleansing recreation can be fascinating, after which my mind simply form of went, “Oh yeah, and you could be cleaning up after dead bodies.” And we have been like, “…That’s the normal way you get to that thought.” But I’m a horror author as effectively. I spend numerous time fascinated about the second of loss of life and what loss of life means.

For Ambrosia Sky particularly, I’m fascinated about the best way video games do and don’t discuss duty and what you possibly can and might’t management. And I believe a part of the best way by which we began approaching the loss of life rituals in Ambrosia Sky is about, what can you do when you possibly can’t do something for any individual? You can’t save everyone, and so how does that form of manifest in a participant’s emotional expertise? 

Kabachek: When I stepped in, there have been already some concepts round what we needed to do. We already knew that Dalia was a selected individual with a selected strategy and thought of loss of life. We needed to characterize her standpoint on approaching these moments, so there’s concepts like actually caring about consent and caring about these those that she’s encountering.

I had some actually nice inspiration from Kait’s recreation A Mortician’s Tale and accounts of oldsters doing the true work on the market round loss of life and caring for the useless. Trying to distill it into gameplay mechanics was an enchanting problem of attempting to determine how a lot interactivity we needed there to be and the way a lot of it simply wanted to unfold to the participant. Our loss of life ritual ranges ended up being fully centered round that one second. The construct up is a part of what makes that second sturdy. I believe I put it that you just needed to have met the individual earlier than because the participant earlier than you get to the purpose the place you’re allowed to expertise their remaining second.

Cook: Death, particularly within the queer neighborhood, is a very sensitive topic. More typically than not, we’re used to LGBTQ characters being the primary on the chopping block – that notorious Bury Your Gays trope. Just contemplating the character of your recreation, sure, there are queer individuals in your recreation which have died or are at risk. My ideas clearly go to Kai, who’s a nonbinary character with a chapter revolving round their loss of life ritual, however I believe it was very respectfully performed. It helps that the loss of life rituals are these very empathetic and reverent memorials, but it surely’s additionally highly effective that the one who is giving energy to their reminiscences is Dalia, a girl who’s queer herself. 

Kabachek: Yeah, thanks a lot. Kai’s loss of life ritual was one which I wrote, and it was the primary time that I really obtained to write down phrases that shipped in a online game. I poured numerous myself into that character as effectively. But it was additionally an enormous collaboration, and it was necessary for all of us to speak a few trans one who will get to reshape their life and their physique into a spot that they love and recognize. So it was actually necessary for us that they’re proud of who they’re and what they’ve performed.

Tremblay: I believe a giant factor too is respecting individuals in loss of life. Something I actually grappled with whereas writing A Mortician’s Tale was that individuals actually don’t at all times respect individuals’s identities or lives after they’ve died. Having that second within the recreation to specific consent round what occurs to your physique issues. Respect to who the individual is even in loss of life is of utmost significance. I actually love Kai’s loss of life ritual, and I believe Sofy did a beautiful job with it. It respects who they’re as an individual, each after they have been dwelling and the way they’re now.

Cook: I really wrote down just a few traces that I appreciated throughout Kai’s loss of life ritual: “It took a bit of effort to make this body feel like home. I don’t want to leave it behind anymore. It deserves to live on.” At instances, even media that intends to be supportive typically portrays trans and nonbinary individuals as inherently self-negative, so I simply need to say that giving them that final say about themself and listening to them prolong that empathy and acceptance in the direction of themself is one thing that you just so not often see.

Kabachek: Yes, thanks. Our character artist as effectively had such an enormous hand in constructing out Kai, like, representing them as effectively. So yeah, it was a terrific collaboration.

Cook: And speaking about characters like Kai, I need to acknowledge that you just’re making a recreation the place many characters, together with the playable character, are queer characters. Some of them – Dalia, Maeve – are queer girls of coloration. We are in a time the place many of those video games are focused by individuals who don’t perceive the worth of various storytelling. It’s necessary to me to acknowledge how unapologetic Ambrosia Sky is with its queer characters. They’re not hidden away.

Tremblay: We needed to inform the tales that we needed to inform. I’m conscious of the world we stay in, and that’s why it issues to inform these tales and to have our crew have the ability to inform tales that matter to them. Those are our tales to inform. The neighborhood and the individuals who love this recreation have outweighed any potential no matter else might have been directed at us, and it’s good having people validate that individuals need to hear the tales that we needed to inform.

Kabachek: It was undoubtedly additionally an inner query in our crew to be like, “No, we’re not tucking this away. This is going to be really evident that these are who these characters are.”

Cook: My query for you, then, is why Dalia? Was somebody like, “I’ve been creating this character and maybe she would work as the protagonist,” or was she a personality that the crew deliberately needed to create, like, “Hey, we want to tell specifically a story about a queer woman?”

Tremblay: I don’t suppose I’ve ever written a straight character. I’m simply considering I don’t suppose I’ve ever written a straight individual.

Kabachek: I believe that is Kait’s default.

Tremblay: Dalia has been part of Ambrosia Sky for the reason that very first second. Even the title… She’s simply at all times been who she is.

Kabachek: Dalia was a part of the dialog once I was interviewing to affix the crew. And a part of the rationale why I needed to affix the crew is as a result of I needed to inform a narrative a few messy queer lady.

Tremblay: Yeah, and I need to additionally shout out Bailey Wolfe, who’s our voice actor for Dalia. Bailey introduced such a heat, depth, and honesty to Dalia’s feelings that simply clicked all the things collectively for her as a personality. And the second I heard Bailey’s work, I used to be like, “Oh, yeah. Of course.”

Annabelle Cook: I like that Ambrosia Sky doesn’t really feel empty, however can also be restricted when it comes to voice appearing, so the primary method that gamers are consuming the story is thru Dalia’s transient commentary. From assembly the crew and studying Soft Rains’ blog, I’ve seen how a lot thought you place into your world constructing. And once you play the sport, there are lore drops concerning the Clusterlung, the management dynamics with Hale, the worshipping of the Leviathan. I’ve to think about there’s a lot on the reducing room flooring that gamers may by no means see. How do you pare down a recreation with a lot story and character into the slick three to seven hour playtime that Act One is?

Tremblay: A variety of that’s pacing and participant cognitive load. How a lot are we asking the participant to consider and have interaction with at any given time, what’s their emotional playthrough of an area, and the place can we really inform a narrative in there? Identifying these pockets and locations the place you’ll be able to ship a narrative helps set the parameters for a way a lot you possibly can floor and what you are able to do. 

Kabachek: Going again to the FromSoft reference, it’s typically about deliberately leaving issues obscure for the participant to fill a few of that out. Where can we not must spell it out? There’s sufficient for the participant to construct out a imaginative and prescient of their head.

Cook: Whatever you’re doing is working as a result of, from what I’ve seen from the neighborhood that has rallied round this recreation, it appears very optimistic. One of my favourite issues are the Steam evaluations that you just’ve cultivated, as a result of half of them are like, “This game is like if you took Dead Space, Metroid Prime, PowerWash Simulator, System Shock…” – I believe I noticed somebody even in contrast it to Super Mario Sunshine –, “but make it sad and gay.” It’s uncommon that you just get any video games in these genres which have LGBTQ characters, so I personally simply suppose it’s so enjoyable that you just’re the crew that will get to fill these gaps.

Tremblay: Thank you. I like individuals who present up for our recreation as a result of they get it. Making artwork and writing for me is all about connection. I actually need to use my writing to attach with different individuals, and it’s so cool when that occurs.

Kabachek: And there was an article that any individual wrote the place they talked about all of the totally different immersive sim mechanics and the way they have been making totally different selections and all of the horrible issues that you are able to do to Spitters in our recreation. Just considering, “These are little toys that I put in this game and this person is playing with them and finding expression through them,” was actually, very nice.

Cook: I didn’t know that I wanted an immersive sim that was each unhappy and homosexual, not that I might ever say no. But talking of issues which might be unhappy and homosexual, the tip of Act One exhibits Maeve for the primary time, who’s alive however sick. It’s a great way to arrange Act Two with larger stakes, but additionally now now we have to attend till Act Two to search out out whether or not my unhappy and homosexual recreation may also finish in doomed lesbians! Come on!

Tremblay: Oh, you will discover out.

Cook: I do know that Act Two is popping out quickly, so congratulations on that. But I’m curious, simply fascinated about the event cycle concerning the staggered launch for Act One and Act Two… What was form of the thought course of in splitting up Act One and Act Two moderately than releasing them multi function go?

Tremblay: Episodic storytelling in video games is one thing that I’m actually fascinated about – having the ability to have one thing that’s on the market after which you possibly can see what people are reacting to. Game growth cycles are additionally so lengthy, so having that validation and suggestions can actually assist buoy you thru so much. The construction enabled us to ensure that we’re growing in a method that’s sustainable for the crew so we will put out high quality work that we’re happy with, but additionally have interaction with the neighborhood on the similar time.

Kabachek: We actually felt we had polished expertise, and even when it had a cliffhanger, it nonetheless had a narrative arc that made sense, that stood effectively by itself. And we knew we might ship on that cliffhanger as effectively.

Cook: What did work seem like for Act Two? Did you may have all the things plotted out and it was full pace forward to shine it up, or was it versatile when it comes to which path you’d go, perhaps based mostly on viewers response?

Tremblay: There was so much we already knew we needed to do. We’ve identified the place the story was going since kind of the second we began on this recreation. And so from the story facet, it was simply, “I know what I’m writing next, let’s get going.” Then the neighborhood suggestions was useful for the issues they needed to see as effectively, and these are issues we care about from gameplay. A variety of it got here down to only validating what we needed to do. 

Kabachek: We needed to deepen the programs, however having the sport on the market and getting that suggestions helped information us in the direction of how particularly we needed to deepen these programs. Like, what sort of decisions can we make that we all know are empowering gamers in the best way that they’re taking part in the sport?

Cook: I do know most particulars for Act Two are nonetheless below wraps, however I used to be curious: should you needed to describe your guiding rules or themes – both for story or gameplay – for Act Two, what would they be? What can gamers anticipate to really feel or be invested in?

Kabachek: For gameplay, I might say participant self-expression. What mechanics could be launched so gamers can discover their very own method of taking part in the sport?

Tremblay: Yeah, Act Two is the conclusion of Dalia’s story, and so for that, I believe one of many huge guiding rules for me was self-forgiveness. Closure, acceptance – how can we get Dalia to a spot the place she forgives herself for having left her residence? Whether or not she is ready to settle for the choices she’s made in her previous, who she is now, and all that form of stuff. Thematically, she’s going to undergo it. There’s nonetheless some issues she has to reconcile.

Purchase Ambrosia Sky: Act One and obtain Act Two as a free replace on August sixth, 2026. For updates on Soft Rains and Ambrosia Sky, take a look at their website and Bluesky.

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