Notes from the Labyrinth | Devlog #2: The Silent Catacombs and Facing the Hollow

As we push further into development, we want to peel back the curtain on the ever-shifting nightmare you’ll be exploring.

The Silent Catacombs

Welcome to The Silent Catacombs! Deep beneath the Labyrinth lies a sprawling network of tombs and burial chambers. The area is suffocating; the air is thick with dust and decay, and the walls are built with the calcified remains of long dead bodies. The deafening silence here is broken only by the shuffling of the undead guardians and the distant, mournful wails of lost souls.

The deeper Ayana descends into this biome, the more the boundaries between life and death blur, giving way to twisted, gothic architecture inspired by the real-world ossuaries of Paris and Rome, mixed with the claustrophobic dread of classic survival horror.

Gwyneth, The Hollow Choir

Waiting at the heart of the Labyrinth lies Gwyneth. Once a devout songstress whose hymns were believed to calm restless souls, Gwyneth's gift ultimately became her undoing. As corruption spread into her world, it drove her to sing unceasingly, desperately believing that her voice could stop the spread. But as the Labyrinth claimed her and the Catacombs, it twisted her once sacred songs into wails of despair.

Denizens of the Dust

You'll find more than just a corrupted songstress haunting the halls of the Catacombs.

• Husked Monk: The staple guardians of the tombs. These mummified zealots shoot out fast-moving fireballs and will attempt to corner Ayana with quick, aggressive swipes.

• Resonance Wraith: Former members of Gwenneth's choir. As they sing their corrupted hymns, they summon floating, dismembered heads to swarm the player.

• Volatile Acolyte: Suicidal wraiths, utterly maddened by the choir's dirge, who will rush Ayana and violently explode upon getting too close.

• Clotwalker: A grotesque, quadrupedal beast formed entirely of writhing bloodworms. Left unchecked, it spawns larger, aggressive worm-clusters called the “Clotcrawlers”. (Trivia: The name is quite literal -- it is a walking clot of infected blood, designed to make the player feel physically uncomfortable).

• Jiangshi: The classic hopping undead from folklore. These cursed corpses are relentless, rapidly closing the distance to Ayana with their signature, stiff-limbed leaps.

• Rotters: The lowest rung of the undead. These are the reanimated, decaying husks of the recently entombed who will shamble mindlessly toward the living.

• The Ossuary: A massive, hulking amalgamation of human remains fused together by the labyrinth's magic. (Trivia: An "ossuary" is a real-world term for a chest, box, or building that serves as the final resting place for human skeletal remains; making it the perfect name for a walking mass of bones).

In the meantime, we're working on a Definitive Demo - with upgraded visuals, a new tutorial system, cutscenes, and a new menu. Keep a look out for this coming your way soon!