„The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.“ -H.P.Lovecraft
This virtual installation aimed to create an interactive experience dealing with themes of loss, grieving, dissatisfaction and death. Partly based on the Kübler-Ross Grief and Death Cycle Model “Of Downward Hills” conveys its desolate story through the means of atmosphere, narration as well as gameplay. All while assuming the role of the reclusive Arriver, revisiting his once beloved home of Abbey Road.
When designing "Of Downward Hills" it was essential to forego the issue of ludonarrative dissonance at any given point, which clearly influenced all gameplay decisions from there on. The game spans across 2 overworld-like levels with multiple houses to explore and audio-recordings to find in each one. This clean cut between 2 worlds marks not only a turning point in the story of the Arriver but also the point of manipulating the paths the player can take, the control he obtained in order to make the delivery of story as direct as possible and test the determination of the Arriver and the player alike.
“Of Downward Hills” was created using Unity, Maya and Adobe Photoshop.
