Extra Synthesis

A surrealistic analog horror experiment aimed to make the player uncomfortable. Your uncle asked you to do house-sitting... but why is the plant so important?

This game was an HKU group project and an experiment for 'uncanny horror'

Narrative Design

• The goal was to make an 'uncanny' horror game, so I tried to stay away from jumpscares and wanted to focus on unnerving situations and sound design.

• Using stories from Junji Ito and H.P. Lovecraft as inspirations, the story revolves around a creeping obsession around a particular houseplant.

• The main theme is 'anxiety'. The (sentient, Eldritch) houseplant projects its fears of bugs and dehydration onto its environment and bystanders.

• The player experiences this while performing tasks for the uncle on the phone:

  • Doing seemingly compulsive chores, like putting a box in a very specific spot

  • Checking for bugs

  • Having to feed the plant exactly 3 times, no more or less

  • A TV in the background plays old footage, always about water in one way or another

  • The 'monster' that appears in day 2 is a humanoid figure made of a cloud of dark particles, resembling both a swarm of flies and TV static.