Chimera CUSTOM XG Interview – Bullet Hell Chaos, Potential Future Updates, and Conspiracy Theory Inspiration

Last Updated on Jun 12, 2026 @ 13:59:24 PM.

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After its recent update, we had the opportunity to sit down and talk to the developer behind the bullet hell side-scroller adventure Chimera CUSTOM XG, as we got the inside scoop on what inspired the developers to create such a unique project, while also talking to them about changes they have made to the game in the past and even potential updates for the future.

For those who are unfamiliar with Chimera CUSTOM XG, it is a project developed by the studio Volok Games that puts the player in control of a gun-toting soldier as they battle various enemies throughout different biomes, from underground ruins and the frozen tundra, and even the most recent pyramids of Egypt, all inspired by alien conspiracy theories, both familiar and not.

At the time of this interview, Chimera CUSTOM XG is currently also taking part in Steam’s Bullet Fest, which is active till the 15th June, with Chimera CUSTOM XG being on sale during this event.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Due to this being a spoken interview, names will be provided to indicate what was said and by whom, while some answers have been edited for clarity/brevity, without removing intent or context.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today. So our readers know, who are you? Can you tell us your name? And can you tell us what your role was in the development of Chimera CUSTOM XG?

Ollie: My name is Ollie. I’m the director at Volok Games and the founder. We’re a really small company, so we wear a lot of hats. Game designer, artist. More on the art side.

Liam: Okay. So, have you worked on the art side of things as well?

Ollie: Yeah, I do a lot of the game design and level design, like the early concept art and stuff like that.

Liam: Okay, perfect. Definitely a man of many hats, then.

Ollie: Yeah. I mean, you know, I work closely with the engineers too. So, I pretty much have my hand in everything.

A lot of people will have this question about Chimera CUSTOM XG, which is what inspired you to create this game, specifically the worlds, the gameplay, and the characters that you meet throughout the game.

Ollie:Oh man. So what inspired me to make a game like Chimera CUSTOM XG was these old side-scrolling bullet hell games like Contra, Metal Slug, and Mega Man, and, you know, basically the couch co-op games I grew up playing as a kid in the 90s. And when it comes to the world and the characters, it’s all based on alien conspiracies. So I just thought it was such a fun world. There are so many, you know, real-life characters, and there are so many stories. It’s like an, you know, infinitely long and deep rabbit hole to go down. So, yeah, just the two really mesh well together.

Liam: Yeah. That’s good. I enjoyed, like, seeing how it all worked out and everything, like playing through the worlds and seeing the different bosses and how they’re now working together in the space and stuff within the game; it’s really interesting to see.

Ollie: What’s really funny is, you know, there’s like this disclosure happening, like the last, I don’t know, a few years in the US with like congressional hearings and stuff. But a couple of weeks ago, they said there are four main alien races that the government knows about. It just so happens they are the four alien races that we have in the game.

Liam: Wow. All right then, I feel like you’ve got insider knowledge we need.

Ollie: I swear we don’t. Or do we?

Liam: Oh, maybe. Put it as a secret in the game, maybe.

So, throughout Chimera CUSTOM XG, with the new update especially, there are quite a few different biomes that the players can explore, each with their own unique enemies and bosses. Can you tell us what encouraged the design of those worlds? I know you’ve mentioned that it’s very inspired by alien conspiracy theories and stuff, but just what may have pushed forward that idea, as well as the design?

Ollie: Those old games, like Mega Man and, you know, Contra and stuff, like, they always had a very, like, wide range of biomes and levels you’d go to, you know? Like Mega Man, there’d be like the ice level, the forest level, and the desert level. So we wanted to have some of that.

Ollie: So, you know, we have kind of like an urban environment; we have Egypt, which is our desert, and then you can go deep underground and find all these hidden ruins. You have the jungles of Peru, and then, you know, we have the Antarctic biome and the snow with all these, like, secret military bases. And those are all inspired by, you know, the quote-unquote “real conspiracy” or occasions; you know, like, you know, if there’s a, you know, military base in the Arctic, but, you know, there’s also the pyramid biomes that we’ve included in the latest update.

Ollie: Those are more inspired by, like, the ancient alien theories. We have all these ancient structures that, you know, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about, like, how were they constructed or, even, when were they built? There are erosion patterns on the Sphinx that, you know, we don’t know to this day, so I think, you know, we’re filling in the gaps that those questions leave open with, you know, our own really fun, like, wacky alien ideas.

Ollie: So, you know, you get to experience and explore the pyramids, and you get to explore, like, our version, which, you know, they’re used to house, like, ancient secrets and, you know, they hold, like, ancient powers in them. So, yeah, they’re basically like tombs or hibernation chambers for our boss fights. So it’s a lot of fun.

So the next one is when it comes to gameplay within Chimera CUSTOM XG, and obviously, as we mentioned, it’s a bullet hell; it’s quite chaotic in terms of gameplay. What encourages you to make it as challenging as it is? Because I did see you did an update a while ago that was titled “git gud” which is great for me. That’s like my mantra when it comes to games, like, is that like a belief in your studio as well, like to pursue games like that?

Ollie: I mean, I’m a huge fan of challenging games too; I love the Soul series, I love roguelikes, and, you know, they’re really hard. They definitely reward players for learning the game, and what I love about roguelikes is that you kind of have, like, this natural progression where you’re learning the game and you’re actually getting better at it and kind of learning the attack patterns of enemies. At the same time, your character is actually getting stronger; you know, you’re spending points on, like, you know, a better start, or you know, you’re equipped with more tools, or maybe an extra ability. There’s this like natural progression that kind of, you know, breaks the fourth wall. And I really love that. And also like, again, these like retro games that inspired it. Those were really hard to do.

Liam: Yeah, I remember when I was younger playing Contra, and that was a challenge and a half, but I was still a kid when that came out, though.

Ollie: Yeah, I know; I mean, even the old Mario games, those were really hard, and like, you couldn’t save your progress. It was just like, Yeah, let’s see how far we get today.

Liam: I enjoyed that challenge when I was playing through Chimera. As you say, you’ve newly implemented that or fairly newly implemented, the permanent progression, haven’t you? So that’s like, yeah, that’s a new addition that’s helping players get further in the game now, isn’t it?

Ollie: Oh, definitely, yeah, and that’s something we’re looking to expand even more to, but yeah, I mean, it’s funny, like you’re not meant to like reach the final level on your first run. I mean, you only have one health pack. So you need to like play through and kind of like get the gist of the game and learn what you know some of these aliens are doing. Then you have enough points to, like, get your second health pack and go back in, and then, you know, you’ll probably encounter a new enemy once you get farther, and then they’ll kill you.

Ollie: And it’s like, all right, well, oh, now I get like a heavy weapon when I go back in. So, yeah, it’s, it feels pretty good the more you play it. And then, like, you know, the game in, like, the third or fourth biome starts to look and feel a lot different than the very start. It really starts to become a proper bullet hell, let’s put it.

Liam: Well, I’ll be honest, I’ve struggled to even get that far. So that’s gonna be a fun time for me to get there.

Ollie: Yeah. Once you start, like, learning your favorite augments and, like, stacking the right buffs and finding the right weapon, it’s beautiful.

I’ve mentioned in the past that you’ve had the “git gud” update, where you’ve made changes to the game. So obviously, you’ve changed like enemy density and difficulty; you’ve upgraded and downgraded weapons and everything. Can you sort of like explain the challenges you’ve come across in terms of keeping the game balanced while also making it fun?

Ollie: Yeah. It’s really tough; we test the game a lot, you know. I’m trying to think of a good answer.

Liam: If you’d like, we can come back to that one or leave that one because it is a complicated one.

Ollie: Yeah, it is really complicated. You know, it comes from a lot of testing. We push and pull a lot of values on how much damage the weapons do and how much damage the alien attacks do. Being a bullet hell, you definitely want to keep the pressure on the player, and there are so many buffs and augments that change the way your character operates. And there are so many tools too, like we get a lot of feedback that the game is really difficult, and we’re like, oh, well, you know, if you really use all the tools that we’re giving the player, we can get really far.

Ollie: So it’s also like it comes down to how you teach the player how to play the game, you know, how you inform the player what they can do. I think because we have quite a bit of nuance in what initially looks like a very simple control scheme. You know, you have like your melee combo, and you then have like a different aerial melee attack that can stun certain enemies.

Ollie: Your dodge can also be held down if you run for a long enough distance, and if you melee, then you can slide kick, and that can launch smaller enemies up into the air. So there are a lot of little things you can do. You can also aim down sights, which is kind of funny for a side-scroller, like, “What does that do?” Well, it changes the fire rate of your gun, and it’s actually a little different with each gun. But yeah, these are little things that you kind of have to discover as you play. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, the difficulty is really hard to get. The “git gud” update was a really significant update to the balance of the game because it was even harder before that.

Liam: Wow, I rely on the snail’s ability just to make it through the first biome, let alone if it were harder.

Ollie: Yeah, I was just thinking about that yesterday. And I’m like, you know, I think the snail’s too good. I’ve been relying on it too, just for testing. I’m like, “I need to just like, test all this stuff,” and it’s a nice tool to fall back on.

Liam: Yeah. For someone who uses it, I’d say no, leave it like it is. Well, leave it in for a little longer. Let me. Let me complete the game, and then you can alter it.

So in the past, whenever I’ve spoken to other developers who make roguelike games like you. I always try and ask them what their opinion is when it comes to how easy it is for people to make an overpowered build. Do you find it enjoyable to watch someone who can just obliterate the game, or do you like to try and keep the challenge in it as well?

Ollie: I love seeing that. Like, I feel like that’s the whole point of playing a roguelike, and we’ve left, you know, certain paths in there. We fully encourage people to try to break the game. Like when you get to that moment where you’re just, you know, just obliterating everything on screen. It’s just like, oh my God, I’ve done it.

Ollie: Like, the RNG gods have blessed me. This is the run. Yeah, yeah. Like, man, we’ve been playing WindBlown a lot, and we’re always like, one more run. Let’s just see what we get. Let’s see what we start with. If we get something good, we’re like, all right, this is the run. Then it’s over. That’s it. Yeah, I enjoyed that part of it.

Liam: A lot of times, I’ve spoken to roguelike developers like yourself. Like a lot of the time they say things like, well, we enjoy seeing that, but we want to limit it. You know, we don’t want too many options, but we want to make it fairly balanced. But it does depend on just how lucky you get.

Ollie: Yeah, and I think, you know, the balance does come down to wanting to make sure that, like, all of the augments can fit into a build. So, I mean, we’re definitely looking at some of them right now that need buffs and some that may be a little bit too overpowered.

Ollie: But the way that the game scales, because we have infinite looping in the game right now. So it just gets harder and harder. And at a certain point, you know, you’re going to lose. But I mean, I was playing a run for two hours the other night, and it was the most fun I’ve had in, like, the last month, and I think that’s a great thing. Just feeling overpowered is the best thing ever.

Liam: It’s like nothing can stop you till it does.

You mentioned earlier that you had the new update a couple of days ago on Monday, and that brought in all the new pyramids, new bosses, and more weapons. And can you just tell us, like, what it was like to work on that update as a developer? Like, how did it feel to try and get that update out?

Ollie: I mean, it was super fun. It was a lot of fun making the pyramids because, you know, we’ve added more environmental hazards and, you know, they’re kind of like alternate paths you can take during your run that are a little bit harder. So we got to like make bigger designs for the rooms. So the layouts are larger, and the number of enemies that we throw at the player is, you know, a little bit more dense.

Ollie: We have three new boss fights, and we just went crazy with like, their animations and their movesets and particle effects. So, you know, we have, like, the base game feeling like a really strong foundation, and now we just get to kind of crank it to 11. So that part is really fun.

Ollie: That’s what the future is looking like, you know, more enemies and more powers. We actually have a bunch of really, really rare drops that you can get that are super overpowered. Kind of like our version of legendary weapons called XG weapons. So just bigger and better, with more intensity. You know?

So you’ve mentioned you’ve got the three bosses, the three pyramids; each one’s got its own unique style, hasn’t it? So I think I saw one that was like a shadow, one that was a light one, and one that was a fire one. Are you looking to do more of that type of idea in the future, or is it just sticking to that for the pyramids and trying a new concept for future updates?

Ollie: There is one more pyramid that we’re looking at, and we don’t know exactly where we want to go next, but we have one more, like a mega-biome, that’s going to be in 1.0. Whatever we do after that will include some type of hazard or more danger. I think it makes the gameplay a little bit more dynamic, so we definitely want to build off of the pyramids.

Now, I might be mistaken on this because, as I say, I haven’t properly gotten into the game myself because I’m terrible at it. But I saw in the past that the game had a story to it as well. However, from what I could tell, it wasn’t back in yet. Are there hopes to bring it back?

Ollie: You’re right. We’re leaving it really cryptic for now. You get bits and pieces, but that’s something that we’re definitely working on in the next update. The way we’re going to do this is we’re giving the NPCs bigger roles, kind of in that we want to add almost like quests in the form of challenges that will unlock more information and story through those interactions; that’s how we’re going to deliver more of the story. So, that’s the plan. If the plan goes to plan, it’s a different story.

Liam: Yeah, that’s how I live my life day by day. I’ve got a plan, but whether it works is a different story altogether.

Another question we often ask is, as a developer, especially one who wears many hats, is there any advice you would give someone looking to move into video game development that would help them get an early start on it?

Ollie: I would say just be curious about everything. If you’re an artist, be curious about how the art is going to be integrated into the game, and be curious about the engineering side and how things piece together. If you’re an engineer and you know you want to code games, you should be curious about how an animator animates, and you know how a 3D artist thinks about making and sculpting a character or sculpting an environment.

Ollie: I mean, I think everyone benefits so much from having this broad view, and I think at least when I went to school, I learned everyone was encouraged to be highly specialized and try everything. I’ve just had such a benefit knowing, like, a little bit of everything, at least, and it’s just so much fun working with other people who share that too, and it definitely helps working with a small team, we’re like under ten people.

Liam: Yeah, I’d say that’s really great advice, encouraging people to try everything, and really impressive for a small team, so that’s perfect advice.

A question we always ask is, “What is one misconception that just the general outside world has regarding video game development that annoys and irritates you?”

Ollie: Oh, man. I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is bugs. Just like, why wouldn’t they fix this, you know? It would be so easy if they’d just make it so, like, you know, your boss never freezes or, like, I don’t know, you fix one thing and something completely unrelated breaks. It makes no sense. Like we don’t touch something for, like, two months, and it’s working fine. And then we make a build, and it’s like, “Oh, hey, this boss just isn’t working. He’s just not throwing out attacks.” Like, what? How?

Liam: You fix the kitchen sink, and the toilet breaks.

Ollie: Yeah, exactly.

If you were to start development from the beginning again, what is something that you would change from what you have now if you had the opportunity to do so? Or are you quite happy with how everything is in the game?

Ollie: I’m really happy with the game as it is. I don’t think I would change anything about the game. We’ve been working on it for a long time, and it’s gone through many iterations. If I could start again, you know, I would like to just start on the iteration we’re on right now.

Ollie: But it’s all been this road that led us to what the game is now. So I don’t know how much I would change, but because we’ve been working on this game for a long time, we’re using an older version of Unity. So I think that’s the one thing. If there were a magic button, it would be to update to the most recent version of Unity without having to deal with all of the bugs.

So Chimera is currently on Steam, and it’s still in its early access stages, but are there any plans to bring it to consoles at all?

Ollie: We would love to bring it to console. That’s one of the hurdles that we are trying to overcome right now. Making that jump from PC to console is pretty significant. So it is; in the future, it is a potential. It’s the dream. You know, the game is really meant to be played with the controller, and it’s inspired by these couch co-op games. So I would love to play it on console.

Because I found out about Chimera CUSTOM XG through ENDIX back last month, this question is just about how that experience helped you showcase the game to the world, like how has that helped you guys bring attention to Chimera? As well as Chimera being a part of Steam Bullet Fest

Ollie: You know, it was really cool to get out there and get people’s reactions and hang out in the booth. We’ve met some creators and, you know, met some streamers too, and, you know, it’s our first real push publicly to get the game out there. What was the rest of the question?

Liam: As well as being in ENDIX, like, how’s it feel being a part of Steam Bullet Fest?

Ollie: It’s awesome, man. You know, it’s cool to be finding like an event that we really feel a part of. We’re just, you know, we’re excited to be part of it, and we’re excited for the other games too. You know, the game is better than ever, and we’re having the most fun playing it. So we really feel good about other people playing it. You know, we’re in a place where it’s difficult not to be a perfectionist, and you know it’s not finished yet. So we’re trying not to let being perfect get in the way of good.

Ollie: I mean, we just love playing the game. We’ve been playing it for years, and the fact that we’re still having fun playing it is something. So we’re like, all right, it’s time to get out there. We really want the feedback and see if, you know, people share the same feelings.

Ollie: Well, yeah, I mean, it’s hopefully going to help get a lot more attention for the game. I’m excited to see you guys at Steam Bullet Fest and ENDIX as well, because I am enjoying it. I’m hoping that a lot of people enjoy it as well, and the bullet hell community is quite vast, so there are quite a lot of people who enjoy those types of games. So let’s say it’s great that it’s got its own event in a sense and everything as well. Yeah, I mean, we’re in the same event as Ball Pit. That’s pretty cool. Have you played Ball Pit?

Liam: I haven’t had the chance. No, I’ve been too busy with other things, but I want to, man.

Ollie: My lead engineer. He’s a good friend of mine. He was playing it when it came out, and it’s all he would talk about. And like, I’m going to play it eventually when I have time. So I started playing it last month, and it’s beautiful. It’s amazing. I can’t believe it did not win Indie Game of the Year. It definitely could have.

Liam: Well, I’ll petition for you guys to win it next year.

Ollie: Yeah, I mean, dude, it’s a bullet hell roguelike, and it’s just in its purest form. It’s amazing.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Thank you for creating a great game. Is there anything that we haven’t talked about or we might have missed that you just like people to know about?

Ollie: Let me see, the game is on sale during Bullet Fest, and don’t quote me on this. I think so; I think for the rest of the month, too. But either way, we have a lot of updates planned. 1.0 is coming out at the end of summer, and at the moment, in the future, before the end of the year. We just have a lot of plans and, you know, things we want to add to the game in the future. We want to support it after 1.0 as well.

Ollie: Oh, one last thing. Yes, we didn’t mention co-op at all, but yes, the game does support four-player co-op, and it is so much fun in co-op, and it will help with the difficulty as well.

Liam: So does it crank up the difficulty when you’ve got more people, or does it stay the same?

Ollie: It does scale up. But it’s just more fun.

Liam: Yeah, I could see that. I feel like that’d be quite chaotic, just screaming at each other, while being blown up.

Ollie: Well, yeah, that’s the fun of it, man. It’s fun, like being the last standing, you know, when your friend dies, and everyone’s screaming, and you’re dodging bullets.

Liam: Does everyone have their own individual permanent abilities? Even though they’re playing co-op, does that carry over, or is that set like to the leader’s abilities?

Ollie: You still have all of your permanent progression. So you’re still progressing your own game, your own character.

Liam: Perfect, well, thank you for taking the time, Ollie, and good luck for the future.

For more Thumb Wars Gaming coverage, check out our article talking about Techland addressing its update coming to Dying Light 2, or check out our article talking about Medieval Dynasty’s new free update.