DREAD IT - narrative

In DREAD IT, you play as Peggy Caine, an old, jaded detective from Portland. Various reports of mysterious cases surrounding the Cult of the Pillar have been appearing over the last few years, and recently, it seems to have affected the lives of Peggy's husband, Markus,  and her assistant, Caleb. The narrative tries to make the player feel as if they are dealing with something far larger than themselves, larger than life itself, and how their little life may stand up to such a thing.

This is the first game with a progressive narrative that I worked on. Over the course of the game, more information about Peggy, Caleb, Markus, and the Pillar are revealed through gameplay hints and research. The reward for completing each level is furthering the story of the game instead of more tangible, extrinsic rewards.

The narrative of this game was left alone for much of this game's development, only starting to pick up around halfway through the project's development time. The Pillar itself was actually originally a joke among the team, but I helped to create a lore and world out of the running joke that we had named our team after.

At the end of the game, the player must choose between two options that affect the ending of the game. Over the course of the story, they receive more information from about the cult of the Pillar from Peggy's research. The decision of whether or not to exorcize the final shade is left to the player.