After several years of development – Esoteric Ebb now released on Steam

Christoffer Bodegård has long had a clear ambition to create his own games. His journey led him to the University of Skövde, where he studied Game Writing and graduated in 2017 with plans to start a game studio together with a few friends from the program. When their first game project did not make it all the way, Christoffer instead spent a few years working as a freelancer.

However, a new idea had already begun to take shape in 2018. Christoffer developed a prototype for a role-playing adventure that would eventually grow into something bigger. When he began showcasing the project online in early 2022, it received strong and positive feedback. Later that year, he decided to start a new company called Sudden Snail. This time he was running the company on his own, but with support from Science Park Skövde’s startup program for game developers, Sweden Game Startup, he was able to fully focus on the political role-playing adventure Esoteric Ebb.

“I love role-playing games and challenges. I came up with a game idea that I worked on for a few years. When I realised there was interest in the game, I applied to the startup programme again. From my first round, I already knew what kind of support I could get, especially the network and the opportunities to pitch and receive feedback. Without the startup programme, this would not have been possible,” says Christoffer Bodegård, founder of Sudden Snail.

In 2023, a demo of the game was released, and in the spring of 2024 Esoteric Ebb was featured by the magazine PC Gamer. The article resulted in the game’s Steam wishlist growing from 8,000 to 25,000 players in just one week. This in turn led to the Swedish company Raw Fury joining the project as publisher. In early March 2026, Esoteric Ebb was released for PC on Steam.

“It has taken a few years, but it feels fantastic that the game is finally out. It already has more than 2,000 reviews that are overwhelmingly positive. At the same time, I have not done everything myself. I have had great help from Anders Bach with the music and Oscar Westerberg with the illustrations. They are incredibly talented people who helped bring the game to life,” says Christoffer Bodegård, and continues:

“In addition to that, I have received a lot of support from Science Park’s game development community, especially the studios Gibbet Games and Speldosa Interactive. Thanks to them, the game is as technically stable and visually polished as it is. Their help has been invaluable.”

Today, Christoffer Bodegård is part of Sweden Game Startup, but he plans to exit the program in the future.

“Being part of the community and having a place to go to is fantastic for new game developers. If you dream of developing games, apply to the startup program. It is also important to validate your game during development. Pitch it and get feedback. Try to determine early whether it is commercially viable. Those are my main tips for anyone who wants to enter the games industry.”

Esoteric Ebb will continue to evolve with new updates and, depending on how the game performs commercially, it may also be released on additional consoles and in more languages. At the same time, Christoffer Bodegård has developed a strong passion for game development and is already planning his next project. He is now considering starting pre-production on a new game.

“It’s not entirely decided what it will be yet, but I’m very excited about it,” concludes Christoffer Bodegård.