Spanish developer MercurySteam is a rather unique studio. While most European teams work with western publishers, the San Sebastian de Los Reyes-based studio has three Castlevania games for Konami and the recent Metroid: Samus Returns for Nintendo under its belt.

Yet, the story of the studio isn't all glory and fanfare. About a decade ago, it was very close to shutting down, and a rather unique chain of events not only saved the company but also ended up sparking its relationship with large Japanese publishers.

It all started with a last-ditch attent at recreating a scene from William Friedkin's popular horror film The Exorcist. From that small 3D scene in which the studio poured all of its technological expertise, came about a new beginning that gradually brought them where they are now.

Earlier this week, DualShockers visited MercurySteam at its HQ near Madrid, and Studio head Enric Álvarez gave us insight on many interesting topics on top of the story mentioned above. Those include how it is to work with Nintendo and Japanese companies in general, being a game developer in Spain, and the future of the team between self-publishing games like Spacelords, and working for publishers.

You can check out the interview below. If you want to see more, you can enjoy our other interview specifically about Spacelords, and the relevant news about the relaunch of the game that was previously titled Raiders of the Broken Planet.