“I listen to you on the radio and I keep hearing your voice in my head!”

Not a typical opening to a creative partnership, but that is how Greg Strangis introduced himself to me 16 months ago, when he asked me to come to his garage in the middle of nowhere and have a look at a game he was making called Black Tides Draga’s Wake.

If this sounds dodgy, remember that when I was 21 years old, a posh bloke asked me to come to a random church in the East End of London and talk saucy in front of him and a couple of other posh blokes. This turned out to be my audition for GamesMaster.

So, I go to Greg’s garage. He has a giant yet well groomed beard, eyes that flash with intensity underneath one of those Peaky Blinders caps and talks faster than other humans. He’s basically a hipster Rasputin. He is also a character artist who has worked for Rockstar, Naughty Dog and Guillermo del Toro. He ticks all the genius boxes for me.

And then I see the actual game.…