Upending player expectations with the surreal horror game Anglerfish

gamedeveloper.com:

Anglerfishis a horror game about surviving a night at the bar. Trouble is, there are all manner of monstrous creatures there. Also, every time you die, something changes. Those changes are dictated by how you died as well, creating an ever-shifting evening of dangers as you try to unravel the mysteries behind these lethal events. And not all of your answers will lurk within the game itself.

Game Developer spoke with writer, designer and programmer John Tinning, art and animation director Maria O. Christensen and music director Astrid Fabrin, who comprise Professional Villains, the development team behind this tricky horror game. We talk about using unexpected changes to unsettle the player, finding ways to turn the repetitive nature of games into a strength through careful design, and the appeal of hiding secrets in unexpected places (such as tying answers into the Steam reviews section).

Anglerfish is a horror game where the world changes with every death. What inspired you to create something like this?

A combination of an old idea, Markiplier, and a sequence with a monster dog. The first part of Anglerfish, which starts out as a strange dating game, was a very old game idea we had for a small free game. When we released the demo for Anglerfish, it was reminiscent of the old idea, and we released the demo first as a free dating game on Itch.io.

Four years ago, we made The ER, which was a free, six-minute horror game. It was part of a study we did on how to create flow in a linear game experience. The player starts in a room with three doors. Before the game is over, the player must go through each of these doors. For each door the player walks through, the story will unfold more and more. No matter which door the player