We're Not Just Putting History and Gameplay Together": Gate Zero Director Arve Solli Interview at gamescom 2026

At gamescom 2026, VGTimes got hands-on with Gate Zero, a story-driven action-adventure that takes players from a dystopian future to first-century Israel. During the demo, we spoke with Gate Zero Studio Head Arve Solli about its unusual setting, time travel, historical accuracy, potential reactions from religious audiences, and the freedom players will have when approaching combat, stealth, dialogue, and exploration.

Gate Zero is officially described as a semi-open world action-adventure starring Max, a teenager from the dystopian year 2072 who uses a combination of combat, stealth, dialogue, and abilities to save history and find his way home.

Before we started playing, Arve Solli gave us a quick overview of Gate Zero's premise. In the future, information is controlled by the authoritarian UniFi regime, which erases anything that challenges its version of the truth. Max eventually finds himself in first-century Judea and Galilee and has to deal with the consequences of interference with history.

Solli also warned us that the gamescom demo was only a short slice of the full experience. Several mechanics are introduced in quick succession here, whereas the finished game will have considerably more time to onboard players.

VGTimes: Where did the original idea for Gate Zero come from?

Arve Solli: It came from many places. One of the things we wanted to do was explore a historical period that you don't really see represented in games.

At the same time, we wanted to combine that with really engaging gameplay. A lot of people love time travel, so we wanted to make something fun out of that idea as well.

One of Gate Zero's biggest challenges is combining a real historical period with action, stealth, and science-fiction elements.

VGTimes: How difficult is it to balance historical accuracy with making the game fun?

Arve Solli: Historical accuracy is extremely important to us. We don't think one can really live without the other.

We couldn't just make a historical recreation, because that wouldn't be the game we're making. But we also couldn't just make a fun action game and stop there. That wouldn't be the game we're making either.

We're not simply putting those two things next to each other. We're trying to make a fun game out of that intersection.

To achieve this, the developers distinguish between the more grounded ancient world and Gate Zero's fictional side.

Arve Solli: We have the ancient world, which is much more grounded. You have the Romans, you have stealth, you have skirmishes, and you can fight the Romans.

Then you have the Eon World, where we have more freedom because that's where the government from the future is twisting history, tweaking things, adjusting things, and moving history away from its proper timeline. Your objective is to bring it back.

I think that's how we balance the two.

The gamescom demo did not show much of Gate Zero's full ancient world, so Solli explained how those locations are structured.

Arve Solli: We have several open areas. They're not huge. It might take you a few minutes to get across one, but you can freely roam around.

We have different places around cities, desert locations, and other areas.

There's a lot of tension between the Jews and the Romans, and we want players to live in that particular moment in time. Exploration is also there for its own sake. You don't have to explore everything.

The Eon World has different paths as well. If you have more time, you can go off the main route and explore more freely.

Gate Zero is officially described as a semi-open world experience rather than one enormous seamless open world.

While we were playing, Solli noticed that we were approaching most encounters rather aggressively.

Arve Solli: You seem to be an action player.

VGTimes: Yeah. I really like first-person shooters. I've been playing Escape from Tarkov for more than eight years.

Arve Solli: You can absolutely play the game that way, but you can also go much more stealthy. You have a lot of different tools you can use.

Max is a teenager. He's not some super-powerful hero. But he's from the future, so he has abilities and technology that simply don't exist here.

The choice is not limited to direct combat and stealth.

Arve Solli: We also want to accommodate people who like dialogue. If you don't want to solve everything through combat, you can actually get benefits from talking.

The demo immediately gave us a practical example. Before one of the boss encounters, we were given several dialogue choices. Solli suggested a particular response, and after we selected it, the boss began the subsequent fight with reduced health.

In other words, dialogue choices in Gate Zero can provide direct gameplay advantages rather than simply changing the wording of a conversation.

A little later, we recognized the enemy from the trailer.

VGTimes: I saw that in the trailer. Is that a boss fight?

Arve Solli: Yes.

VGTimes: That's cool.

Solli also emphasized that Gate Zero is intended to be a story-rich game, but the developers do not want every player to engage with its narrative at exactly the same level.

Arve Solli: It's a very story-rich game. But for people who aren't that into story, you don't have to spend a huge amount of time on it if you don't want to.

If you like it, you can dig deeper. If you don't, you can move on.

For example, when you get to a boss, you can engage with the dialogue and the choices, or you can basically pick the obvious option and go, "Just let me fight."

Throughout our conversation, Solli repeatedly stressed that Gate Zero's historical setting is not merely a backdrop. The ancient world is based around first-century Judea and Galilee, with the stories of Jesus forming a central part of the experience.

Arve Solli: We really want people to experience this world, have fun with it, and immerse themselves in it.

What you didn't really see in this demo was the ancient world. In the full game, we'll have several open areas you can freely explore.

We don't just want to show people a place. We want them to feel what it was like to be in that particular moment in time.

We also asked Solli about one of the potentially sensitive aspects of Gate Zero. Since the game directly incorporates biblical history, reactions from different religious audiences were an obvious consideration.

VGTimes: Were you worried about how different religious audiences might react to the game?

Arve Solli: The fact that we're taking the player back to a time when Judea was occupied by the Romans puts us in a very significant period for history, faith, and Christianity.

It's an incredibly important time.

I'm not worried about it. I'm actually proud of it.

VGTimes: Maybe one more question. What do you think will surprise players the most about Gate Zero?

Arve Solli: I think because it's a Bible-based game, people might expect something that's primarily historical. So I think the gameplay and the action side of it might surprise people.

We're trying to make something for action players and stealth players, but we also want to accommodate people who like dialogue.

Ultimately, we really want people to experience this world, have fun with it, and immerse themselves in it.

During our conversation, Solli also talked about the experience behind the development team. That part of the exchange wasn't fully captured in our recording, but his comments are supported by Gate Zero's own development updates.

Arve Solli is listed as Studio Head, and in an official development diary he said the team includes industry veterans with credits on Assassin's Creed, GTA, PUBG, Apex Legends, Red Dead Redemption, Diablo, and other major games.

The studio has also highlighted experienced artists who previously worked on AAA open-world projects including Assassin's Creed and Diablo IV.

By early 2026, the Gate Zero team had grown to more than 30 developers.

VGTimes has been operating since 2011 and over that time has attended dozens of exhibitions and festivals, where our journalists have gathered a wealth of exclusive material. For example, in 2019 we attended a closed showing of Cyberpunk 2077 at gamescom, in 2017 we prepared a photo report from WG Fest, in 2020 we were at the largest gaming event in Central Asia — CAGS, and we have visited IgroMir several times, where we met Hideo Kojima and other famous developers. In 2024 we traveled to the Land of the Rising Sun for TGS 2024, where we were amazed by the scale of the Tokyo event. In 2025 we witnessed one of Asia's premier gaming exhibitions — ChinaJoy in Shanghai. We also made it to the Thai edition of gamescom 2025 in Bangkok, and at the start of this year attended CES 2026 in Las Vegas and later Computex 2026 in Taipei.