Michal is part of the marketing department and the community manager for Way of the Hunter. Michal's primary mission is to ensure our players' voices are heard and valued. He's the friendly face you'll find engaging with our community on forums, social media, and Discord, making sure players know someone from our development team is genuinely listening to their thoughts and suggestions, whether they're positive or negative. After all, many of these suggestions have turned into real in-game changes, thanks to Michal's work.

What has been your biggest accomplishment while working at Nine Rocks Games for you?

Ironically (or maybe exactly for that reason), it was one of the things that isn’t even in my job description. Before Way of the Hunter was released, we were working on the Animals of Transylvania trailer but we were running out of time and needed an extra pair of hands. I volunteered to help, fired up the Unreal Editor for the first time, did a bit of learning, and I ended up producing about a third of those scenes and I edited the whole thing. I haven’t done anything like that since and I don’t really have the desire to, either, but they were a very fun couple of weeks, I’m happy to have left an imprint in this small way, I learned a lot, and I proved to myself that I can take things on that I’m not fully qualified for - within reason.

What are some of your hobbies?

Is trying to be a good dog dad and a partner a hobby? :D
I also love hiking, camping, rock climbing, and generally being outdoors. Whenever my girlfriend and I manage to carve out time to take our dog for a long walk in the forest, or even better, to take a weekend camping trip in the mountains, it totally recharges me. Other than that, I honestly just really like video games. In my downtime, if I’m not playing them, or reading about them, or listening to a podcast, or watching videos, I’m thinking about them. It’s constant. Oh, and I love to cook. With a podcast playing in the background, ideally.

Here are a few facts about Michal that may not be essential but are certainly delightful to know:

If you could have any life motto, what that would be?

If it takes less than 30 seconds to do, do it immediately. Alternatively - if you don’t feel like doing it, do it anyway. I try to keep in mind that motivation comes after action, and not the other way around.

What's your favorite "guilty pleasure" game that you secretly love to play, even though it might not be cool or popular?

I don’t really believe in guilty pleasures, I think that everyone should just enjoy whatever games they want to enjoy and not feel bad about it. But one massive pet peeve of mine is when people dismiss the original Tomb Raider games and say that they aged poorly or that they have bad controls. It’s one of my favorite series since I was a kid so I’m a bit biased, but I also replayed them recently and I’m telling you - they hold up great. I’d go as far as to say that nothing even came close to them in the action/adventure/platforming genre in the last twenty years. Those first four games should not be respected as relics or stepping stones, but as genuinely great games. I think that counts as an unpopular opinion.

What's one thing most people in our office don't know about you?

Despite joining the team over a year and a half ago, I had actually sent my CV to Nine Rocks Games two years earlier, the day after the studio opening was announced in a press release back in 2020. I had just read in the news that THQ Nordic was opening a studio in Bratislava and from that point on, I made it my mission to get in. At the time, I was thinking about joining the industry but if I’m being honest, I was dragging my feet and not really doing much to make it happen for myself. When this studio was basically served to me on a silver platter, in my town, literally across the street from where I lived, I took it as a sign that I should get serious about working towards my goals, no excuses.

Follow us on social media:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/THQNordic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/THQNordic
Facebook: https://facebook.com/WayOfTheHunterGame
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wayofthehunter
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thqnordic
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/thqnordic
Discord: https://discord.gg/wayofthehunter