Hidetaka Suehiro, better known as Swery65, has been on a hiatus from making games after the release of D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die. The Japanese developer also known for the cult classic Deadly Premonition, has been on extended sick leave recovering from reactive hypoglycemia. He hasn’t just been sitting idly by however, but has been hard at work on writing a novel. IGN Japan recently interviewed Swery, where the developer mentioned a few details about what he’s been writing.
Apparently the book is a murder mystery set in Britain told from the perspective of, wait for it, a cat. Swery describes the book as something similar to Deadly Premonition, but the events of the murder case play out from the perspective of the cat.
“In Deadly Premonition, a protagonist from the city comes to a rural town and experiences being a fish out of water. In my novel, with the British countryside town, the people within the town are all very close, but by making the protagonist something other than human, that creates a filter to keep the reader a step removed” Swery told IGN.
The developer remarked on how people have asked him whether his novel will contain “Swereyism.” He believes that it does, even though the process of writing a book has been a struggle for him to figure out, as it’s so different from making a video game. Swery also might have the most heartbreaking reason ever for writing a book,
“The first reason is that I suddenly had time on my hands, but the next reason is that I was saddened by the death of my cat and I wanted to find a form to express my sadness. So I started writing a book that stars a cat.”
Swery does hope that he can return to game development for too long, and he’s currently evaluating when that time may be based on his health. He’s received a ton of fan support through Twitter, and is determined to make his return to gaming a big one. On top of everything else, Swery has also been aiming to get the qualifications to become a Buddhist priest, and as he says become the first Buddhist priest game developer in Japan.
The first draft of Swery’s novel is complete, and he’s currently in the editing process.
What do you think about the concept for Swery’s book, is it something you’d pick up and read? Are you a fan of his past games Deadly Premonition and D4? Let us know by leaving a comment down below.
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