![Golem Close Production]()
Last week, we explored the surreal art of the iconic video game franchise Zeno Clash, created by the mad geniuses at ACE Team. This week, we probe further into the depths of madness by delving into the artistic influences behind the design of the game and its unique characters.
In gaming, in storytelling, in art, in life – characters are everything. Given that the design and characters of many modern video games tend to look similar, ACE Team’s decision to create a completely twisted and unusual aesthetic was brilliant and inspired.
Click to Order your own Limited Edition Golem Figurine
Play Zeno Clash
From art history to character design, here’s a tour of Zeno Clash’s artistic roots.
John Blanche
One of ACE Team’s artistic inspirations is John Blanche, a legendary fantasy artist. Blanche hails from merry old England and has contributed memorable works of art to such notable publications, books and games as White Dwarf, Dungeons & Dragons, and Fighting Fantasy. It was his work for The Crown of Kings series that caught the eye of ACE Team and inspired them to push the limits of art design in Zeno Clash.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Some of Blanche’s influences include Rembrandt, Albrecht Dürer and Hieronymous Bosch. Per his interview with The Black Library, Blanche recounts, “History is fascinating. I constantly find that real life is far more bizarre, far weirder, than what you can conjure up with your own mind. In fact, the resonance isn’t just history, or the history of Western Europe, but it echoes through our past, right back to Paleolithic times. It’s a very Northern European thing. Skulls crop up all the time, for instance, in Northern European art.”
![]( "Skeleton Horde by John Blanche")
Skeleton Horde by John Blanche
The design of the game’s mysterious antagonist, Father-Mother, seems to draw on a few themes from Blanches’ art to create one of the most strangely original and bizarre villains in gaming history.
![]()
Father-Mother is an entity that steals babies from their families and raises them as his own children. Over the years, he has ‘spawned’ a powerful clan, consisting of children of various races. When his favorite son, Ghat, discovered his dark secret, Father-Mother engaged him in mortal combat only to be defeated…but not broken.
![]()
Deadra also sports a few traces of the John Blanche flair. Deadra is Ghat’s female companion in his travels across Zenozoik. From fighting the beasts of Zenozoik to exploring the edge of the world, Deadra always has Ghat’s back. Skilled with a crossbow and musket, she can perform simple melee attacks if an enemy gets too close to her.
Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch, a Dutch painter who lived and created in the 15th and 16th centuries, is another artist who ACE Team drew inspiration from. Fittingly, Bosch is a chief influence on the work John Blanche. Bosch’s work is filled with fantastical imagery with religious undertones. One of his most famous triptychs is The Garden of Earthly Delights.
![]()
A triptych is a panel painting divided into three parts. In this case, the three parts of the triptych seem to depict humanity’s gradual descent into sin and damnation. If you look closely, you can see all manner of strange and horrible creatures running about. Religious overtones aside, the sin and damnation look like the greatest damn parties ever thrown. The Garden of Earthly Delights is painted in oil on oak and is thought to have been painted sometime between 1490 and 1510. Even cooler, this triptych’s wings close to reveal beautifully painted outer panels…
![]()
The Garden of Earthly Delights is currently housed at Museo del Prado in Madrid.
The Corwid of the Free feel like the demonic spiritual descendants of some of the beasts in The Garden of Earthly Delights...but even more freakish and extreme.
![]()
The Corwid of the Free are beings who live in the forests of Zenozoik. They are colloquially addressed as Corwids by civilians of Halstedom. Most of them are insane and avoid civilization.
The Dark Crystal
![]()
In his interview with bit-tech, ACE Team member Andres Bordeu comments, “Another great source of inspiration was The Dark Crystal film from Jim Henson & Frank Oz. The world and the characters featured in that film are absolutely marvellous. Not even the rocks and the plants are real. They were designed to convey the idea that the characters were in a world nothing like our own.”
![]()
“But that world also has mountains, woods, deserts and the animals that live there. We wanted to do the same; build a world where everything was immersed in a particular art style.”
The biggest impact of Dark Crystal on Zeno Clash lies in the painstaking detail of the world-building, specifically just how uniquely alien the characters and world look and feel. Zenozoik is pure creation of the highest caliber.
![]()
Despite Zeno Clash’s artistic influences, the characters and world of Zeno Clash pulse with a distinct style in and of its own thanks to the talents of ACE Team. Andre relates, “The direction of the final art style was developed by Edmundo Bordeu, our art director. Edmundo had his own style to add to the mixture. The end result is something we’re very proud of. We’re definitely happy with the surreal art style and we’ll definitely continue to look at sources of inspiration that are not traditionally seen in video games.”
![]()
Recently, ShouldBee and ACE Team collaborated to create a Premium Limited Edition figurine of the character Golem, a godlike inhabitant of The Endworld who aids Ghat and Deadra on their quest. Over several weeks, we transformed Golem from a 3D model into a hand-crafted and hand-painted resin figurine.
Click to learn how we brought this mysterious and powerful entity to life.
![Golem Comparison Main 3]()
You can own an exclusive piece of Zeno Clash by ordering a Golem today.
![]()
![]()
Deadra also sports a few traces of the John Blanche flair. Deadra is Ghat’s female companion in his travels across Zenozoik. From fighting the beasts of Zenozoik to exploring the edge of the world, Deadra always has Ghat’s back. Skilled with a crossbow and musket, she can perform simple melee attacks if an enemy gets too close to her.
