A new showcase for Death Relives is here to give us a better look at the god hunting us in the mix of Death Relives
The AI and other gameplay bit have been in the works for Death Relives as we see Xipe Totec hunting us down in the game. This is the god we will need to survive as the Aztec god has it out for us and Nyctophile Studios is bringing it all to life. That is all of the basics, but now it is time to know why the god is after us, how we can keep reliving, and maybe how we can stop the loop from happening. As well as get a solid look at how the character is going to look when Death Relives lands on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC when it is all ready. Let us take in the latest showcase for the game and see just how this god will be helping us and then restart with all of our living out there. A fun little twist…
Oddly enough, Xipe Totec is a god of fertility, associated with death and plants and that will all be in the works for Death Relives. All in a way that we will need to keep the cycle of rebirth going with Xipe Totec as his life and ours will be tied to a cursed plant. One that needs to be fed the blood of other fallen warriors out there so the rest of us can stay alive. Sadly, it looks like Xipe Totec will be a bit too powerful and we will need to weaken that god with the weapon of Tlaloc so we can banish them to a limbo state out there. This, in turn, causes the loop for Death Relives as the longer Xipe Totec is banished, the faster the plant dies. If the plant dies, we also die. So, it looks like we need to find that proper balance. All while surviving all the other beings out there and trying to understand Xipe Totec as the character will be speaking the native Nahuatl for extra authenticity.
Death Relives — Xipe Totec Showcase
Nyctophile Studios is incredibly excited to finally introduce Xipe Totec, the Aztec god they’ve spent nearly a year designing for their game, Death Relives. Bringing this extraordinary and lesser-known character to life has been a true honor.
Xipe Totec is a god of fertility, associated with death and plants. His skin is flayed, and with each renewal, he represents the arrival of spring. In a way, it’s a cycle of prosperity. The skins of the sacrificial victims offered to him were worn by priests as a form of worship. Xipe Totec is also a shapeshifter, and they’ve embraced these traits while portraying him in the game. The team even had him speak in Nahuatl, the language once spoken by the Aztecs.
The game is not just a horror experience; it carries a deep story and cultural narrative. This artistic and cultural depth is one of the elements that sets Death Relives apart from other games.
The team also incorporated a mechanical loop into the design. In most games, neutralizing an enemy means eliminating or killing them. But things work differently in Death Relives.
To harm Xipe Totec, players must first activate a weapon that belongs to Tlaloc, the god of rain and lightning. Only with Tlaloc’s weapon can Xipe Totec be temporarily subdued.
However, subduing him doesn’t mean killing him. Instead, we banish him to the Aztec underworld, known as Mictlan. While the god remains trapped in this limbo, a cursed plant in the real world begins to wither. This is because the plant is directly linked to the god. If the god is absent, the plant begins to die. And if the plant dies completely, so do we.
To prevent this, we must kill minor enemies that appear while the god is in limbo and channel their blood into the plant. This blood ritual triggers the god’s return to the world. When Xipe Totec returns, the seed revives, and we survive.
This system forms the core loop of the game. The plant’s lifespan — its health bar — represents the dynamically shifting safe time. To extend this time and remain safe, we must deliver enough blood before the plant completely withers. This constantly pushes the player to make strategic decisions and manage resources wisely.
Is this what you were expecting the loop for Death Relives to actually be or did you think the game would go the traditional path of find the weapon and kill the god? How many times will we need to activate the weapon in the game and will there be a true ending to it all if we need to keep the plant alive in the mix while banishing the god? Will we be given subtitles for the entire game for the other language or will that be a learned thing as the game carries forward out there? Head on down to the comment section to discuss all of this and everything else that we have to offer up for the game. We keep on seeing more for Death Relives and we will keep on passing it along to you in the cycle. Please keep on checking back here for those updates and the many others still to come.