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Monokel

Games & Interactive
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Founded
2015
Employees
1-10
Offices
1

About Monokel

Monokel is an independent game development and interactive narrative studio based in Cologne, Germany. Founded in 2015, it creates games, virtual reality experiences and transmedia projects with an emphasis on experimental gameplay and stories that encourage critical thinking. Its work explores social inequality, the distribution of power and societal polarization through interactive experiences.

The studio’s debut full-length game, White Shadows, was released in December 2021. This cinematic 2.5D puzzle-platformer follows a journey through an oppressive dystopian metropolis populated by animals. Its monochromatic visual design and narrative approach combine environmental storytelling with platforming and puzzles. Thunderful Publishing and Mixtvision published the game for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Before its standalone game debut, Monokel worked across digital art, cultural installations and museum experiences. For The Congo Tribunal, it contributed web, game and VR components to an investigative art project. It also developed game design and an initial programmed prototype for Neanderthal: Memories, an inclusive mobile game associated with the Neanderthal Museum. These projects connect its narrative development work with documentary, cultural and accessible interactive formats.

Development approach

Monokel’s capabilities span full-cycle game development, narrative design, prototyping, VR and transmedia production, and creative consulting. Its portfolio combines authored stories with experimental mechanics, extending from cinematic platforming to interactive installations and accessible mobile experiences.

The supplied research identifies several projects in development: an unannounced metroidvania-style action platformer exploring dynamic living ecosystems, a cooperative physics puppet brawler, and Demon Defense. The latter is an isometric 2D base-defense roguelite combining demonic defense mechanics with narrative-driven resource management. Together, these projects show the studio continuing to explore different game structures while retaining its focus on interactive storytelling.

More about Monokel

Founders and leadership

  • Daniel Wagner and Timo Maier founded the studio. Wagner is its creative director and sole managing director as of the supplied research.
  • Maier's departure as managing director was registered on November 9, 2023. The report describes his subsequent work in independent agile consulting and teaching at the Internationale Filmschule Köln.

Working practices

Monokel describes its organization as social and value-driven, emphasizing self-organization, flat structures, inclusive workplaces and individual voices. Its hiring profile describes a deliberate approach to slow, organic growth; these are company-described practices.

Recognition and development support

  • White Shadows received Best Debut at the German Computer Game Awards 2022. The award notice names the game and credits Monokel / Mixtvision Mediengesellschaft.
  • In November 2025, the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW awarded €23,671.50 in prototype development funding to MONOKEL Studio GmbH for Demon Defense.

Cultural collaborations

The Neanderthal: Memories project involved collaboration with the Neanderthal Museum and the Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Nordrhein e.V., connecting game prototyping with accessibility work. Monokel's contribution to The Congo Tribunal was made in partnership with Fruitmarket Arts & Media and Milo Rau's IIPM.

Notable credits

4 credits
  • White Shadows (2021)
  • The Congo Tribunal (2017)
  • Neanderthal: Memories / NMsee
  • Demon Defense (in development)

Offices

Where Monokel is based

1 location

  • Cologne offices

    Headquarters
    Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
    About this office

    **Monokel Studio / Creative Headquarters** Status: active Headquarters Address: Lichtstraße 46–50, 50825 Köln Creative production studio, development office and team workspace in Cologne-Ehrenfeld. This premises represents the operational headquarters associated with the saved broad Cologne record. --- **Monokel Registered Statutory Seat** Status: active Address: Merheimer Str. 179, 50733 Köln Registered legal seat and statutory address in Cologne-Nippes, distinct from the creative production workspace.

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