Kentucky Route Zero

I really enjoyed Kentucky Route Zero. Although I was expecting more puzzle elements, the story and the atmosphere more than made up for it. What the game does exceptionally well is develop a tense and unique atmosphere. The narrative is made up of compelling characters with warm and enchanting personalities and backstories. However the story surrounding these characters is strange and somewhat menacing that it leaves you with an uncertainty that everything you see isn't right. Combined with a wonderfully dark aesthetic, Kentucky Route Zero is one of the best narratives in gaming this year.

The aesthetic has inspired my environment. The darkness in the game feels like it is completely surrounding and seeping into everything. It makes the overall experience so much more unique as the warm and compelling characters contrast with the dark aesthetic.

Another game I have drawn inspiration from is Teleglitch, a top-down roguelike. In this game, anything the player can't see or is in shadow is completely black. This darkness moves depending on where the player is creating some really interesting gameplay as enemies could be hiding in those areas.

The game also does this really weird effect when you are either hurt or moving into another area. The colours and objects become distorted. It becomes quite unnerving as this effect is related to sinister events of the game and that enemies can hit you hard enough to distort your view. It would be great to include something like this in my environment. Faint distortions of colour in the darkness or the rooms themselves distorting.