Deadly Premonition director Swery retires from Access Games

Game director Hidetaka Suehiro, known to fans as as Swery65, has retired Access Games. Swery made the announcement official via his Twitter on Sunday night. The creator has been battling reactive hypoclycemia for some time, and took a break last year to focus on getting better. He’d hoped to come back to development once he was feeling better, but it seems that despite his improving conditon, that’s not to be the case.

Day 360, Unfortunately I retired from Access Games after all. However Don’t worry, because my health condition is getting be fine. Love you! pic.twitter.com/xBaLRVApqE

— SWERY (Swery65) (@Swery65) October 31, 2016

Swery did say explicitly that he’s retiring form Access Games, not from the industry. It’s possible we’ll see more of him in the future.

With Access Games, Swery has created games like D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die, Spy Fiction, Lord of Arcana and, perhaps most famously, Deadly Premonition. In an industry increasingly devoid of memorable creators with their own sense of style, especially on the Japanese side of development, Swery has been one for a long time, and while he’s still around and rock a dope tattoo, I’m sad when I think that he might not be contributing to gaming anymore. Deadly Premonition is one of my most-loved games, even if it’s a goofy, janky title.

Swery has been and continues to be active on Twitter, corresponding with his many fans, drinking wine and coffee, and being excited about games in general. I hope we get to see his unique take on games again soon. As for the episodic D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die, Swery says you’ll have to ask Access Games.

Here’s Swery’s ink: