Broken Spectre

Broken Spectre is a VR horror game centered on a woman investigating her father’s decades-old disappearance on a cursed mountain in Northern Canada. The narrative explores themes of generational trauma, obsession, and cosmic horror, weaving a compelling mystery about familial cycles and existential dread. Working with Games By Stitch, I wrote the story for Broken Spectre, and was the Game Co-Director along with the principle executives. Working with my Co-Director, I was responsible for high-level game concepts and integration with story.

My contributions included directing the team on execution of the core game concepts, the inclusion of unique genres into the VR gameplay, and a focus on player experience. In particular, I navigated the project through a pivot to hand-gesture controls, and implemented a unique opportunity to lean into the medium in service of the body horror genre.

Story, Context, and Expectations

The game was developed with atmospheric story-driven exploration in mind, and many of the features (and sometimes limitations) of the technology were used to heighten the player’s sense of dread.

In one sequence, we leaned into the false presence created while in VR, and allowed the player to get confused about their facing and lose their sense of direction—while simultaneously requiring them to rapidly flee an imposing threat.

The cursed mountain serves as both a literal and symbolic setting, reinforcing cycles of loss and desperation. By integrating emotional storytelling, environmental puzzles, and body horror mechanics, it delivers an experience that is both unsettling and thought-provoking, transcending typical VR horror tropes.

Body Horror & Game Design

Identifying that body horror is uniquely suited to VR because the medium directly engages the player’s sense of physical presence and embodiment, I recognized the opportunity to provide a first-person experience of the genre, which was a novel concept at the time. 

I incorporated elements of visceral body horror, adding gameplay that required unsettling physical actions like reaching into corpses, or mutilating your own hands.

This increased physicality made every in-game task feel personal and immediate. In horror specifically, hand-tracking amplified tension, evoked true apprehension from our play testers, enhancing the emotional stakes.