From developer Rubycone comes Hektor, a first-person psychological game that visually calls to mind titles like Penumbra and Amnesia but features a quite unique little gameplay twist: as players explore the world, the world itself changes dynamically around them.

We have seen plenty of procedurally-generated games over the last few years but few-to-none which feature a system that shifts so dramatically during play, rather than during loading screens, between scenes, or after in-game deaths.

The members of Rubycone sat down for a phone interview all the way from GDC to discuss the particulars of Hektor just before its slated March 13 release.

The Jigsaw System

The idea came about when Project Lead Felix Nordanåker and Programmer Michael Notarnicola met on Reddit and began working together on a game idea, which eventually hit a snag and fizzled. The collaboration was re-sparked by a message a few months later, when Nordanåker told Notarnicola about the Hektor project and asked if he could design a system that could rearrange geometry and shift rooms around the player, a prospect that intrigued Notarnicola.

What they came up with is something they call the Jigsaw System, and it is the mechanic at the heart of Hektor. Notarnicola said, “It really is the core building block to the rest of the experience. We like to think of it kind of like the AI Director from Left 4 Dead.”

The Jigsaw System keeps a constant tally on players, as they make their way through the game, and the effect is intensified as players become uncertain or lost or afraid. It actually increases the level of insanity as players come into contact with monsters or other in-game effects.

Notarnicola said, “This insanity value that we are keeping track of over the course of your playthrough is essential, really, to all of the systems that branch off of it, such as the the dynamic music system that Shaun and Felix worked on.”

Players who get lost and lean toward insanity might experience darker, more foreboding environments — basements and so forth — as opposed to more sterile, well-lighted office spaces until they find their emotional footing again. It is sort of a cyclical system: players who get lost act more irrationally, which then drives the player increasingly insane.

It seems like an interesting way to keep players on their toes without relying on scripted jump scares, which only really work once. And for those worried about encountering a Shining-style maze moment, do not fret: the game constantly assesses the player’s location and can nudge the player in the right direction to keep the experience moving forward.

The Story

The story is sort of BioShock-ian in nature, since players are trapped in an abandoned, sort of dystopian underground facility in Greenland, and though the narrative came later, after the development of the in-game systems, it fits perfectly with a horror-themed game.

“Felix [Nordanåker] had the core idea of being trapped in this defunct mind control facility in Greenland,” Notarnicola said. “Once we kind of had that idea — we had done some research on it — but we knew from that point that that’s kind of a cool direction that we wanted to head in.” He later added, “At a later point, we did fit other aesthetics — a timeline, a story — that kind of melded into it somewhat naturally after we started with the core concept.”

One of the more compelling bits of pre-release footage was stock footage rendered as a documentary about the underground station where the game takes place, and Composer and SFX Designer Shaun Chasin put the game into perspective by discussing it: “Hektor is a very dystopian world, sort of the worst of the worst it could be, and so with that video, we almost thought about it as if it were a propaganda film, where the government puts it out and they’re like, ‘Look how grand everything is. Like, even the dog is helping out…but then it’s this terrible, terrible thing.’”

In addition to the creepy, ever-changing world in Hektor the game features a monster that will trail, menace, and attack you, but the developers are keeping mum about that particular aspect of the game. “When it comes to the details that haven’t been announced, we’ve kind of kept that under wraps. We don’t want to reveal too much. We want the first experience for every player to have a certain…finesse to it.”

One of those “core set[s] of things” as yet unreleased involves a monster deemed “The Predator.” Notarnicola said, “We’ve been really hesitant to release a lot of information regarding him, because we really are anticipating that first, initial reaction that players will have to seeing it.”

It is apparent, even without the revelation of what, exactly, this monster is, that combat is not in the cards for the protagonist of Hektor. And even though players can run, they are, for obvious reasons, encouraged to avoid any contact whatsoever.

The Music

The music, too, is dynamic, as is explained by Composer Shaun Chasin. They used a 40 piece string orchestra to give the soundscape some depth, but they also knew they needed to be able to construct an aural experience as varied as the visual one.

“We created this score that is able to change itself based on your actions and your behavior, as well as your progress into the game and specific events, [like] your insanity level,” said Chasin.

Additionally, each element of the game, including the monsters, possesses an original leitmotif or theme that accompanies an appearance in the game. If a monster looms nearby, its theme might be introduced and blended into the current musical score, and as players proceed into or recede from an encounter, the music changes to fit that experience, too.

To compound the feeling of paranoia within the game, the sound design is also meant to toy with the player’s sense of reality. Chasin said, “We’ve edited the audio in such a way and placed [hallucinations] in the game that you’re unsure, often, if it’s coming from your own mind or if you’re actually hearing that girl crying from behind the door or if you’re just imagining it altogether.”

He added, “You might go looking for a sound, and it gets closer as you get closer to the door, but then it sort of dissipates and some of them are quiet enough that you’re like, ‘Did I hear that at all? Am I actually going crazy while playing this game, or is it just the game?’”

Horror games have traditionally preyed upon the idea of messing with the player’s sense of sanity as a game construct, but until recently, those experiences had to be scripted and choreographed in a cinematic way to create tension. With games like Hektor, the scares will hopefully prove to be more organic and driven by player experience, rather than wrought manipulation.

Hektor is produced by Meridian 4 and will be available on Windows and Mac via Steam next week. You can find the developers online at meridian4.com.