The Audit

Level Blockout

Level Overview

The level is a Hub-and-Spoke Dungeon. The player must explore non-euclidean spaces to find two objectives, with the final goal of escaping the simulation. There are basic weapons and ammo pickups around the environment. The player will fend off enemies while navigating the confusing environment and managing their ammo supply.

The hub is an abandoned mall that loops infinitely. When the player traverses down the stairs and reaches the end of the mall, they are teleported back to the beginning. They maintain their relative location in an identical-looking space so it does not look like they have been teleported. This creates the illusion of an endlessly descending space.

Narrative Overview

The level takes place inside the Consumer Correction Facility, a decaying digital simulation designed to rehabilitate criminals through personalized punishment. The player controls Subject 808, whose sentence for tax evasion takes the form of forced consumerism within an infinite shopping mall.

The facility is controlled by a degraded Warden AI, and a malfunction has trapped Subject 808 inside the simulation indefinitely. As the player searches for an escape, they encounter the Defaulted, other subjects who have lost their identities and become hostile after prolonged exposure to the facility.

Maintenance Corridor

The route to the waterpark begins with two identical maintenance corridors. Whichever direction the player looks down first is populated with three large enemies, while ammunition is placed in the opposite hallway to encourage the safer choice.

That path leads to another identical intersection, where the same trick repeats.

The player is meant to feel increasingly unlucky until they recognize that the environment is manipulating their decisions. Progress ultimately requires confronting the enemies, after which the exit appears behind them.

This Blueprint detects which corridor the player looks down first and places the enemies and ammunition accordingly. It also controls the flickering lights, audio cues, enemy resets, and teleportation used to repeat the encounter without an obvious transition.

Echo Beach

Echo Beach is an indoor waterpark inspired by the unsettling familiarity of liminal spaces. Repeated architecture, empty pools, and artificial lighting suggest that something is wrong with the simulation.

The waterpark functions as a maze-like space and contains the shotgun as a reward. To leave, the player must locate the breaker room and restore auxiliary power, unlocking the powered doors and activating the cinema.

The Cinema

When the player first reaches this section, the cinema is positioned on the ceiling while the apparent exit remains on the ground. As the player approaches the exit, the Warden AI rotates the room, placing the door out of reach and forcing the player to enter the cinema instead.

The interior is significantly larger than its visible exterior footprint, reinforcing the level’s non-Euclidean design. Inside, the player must navigate the darkened theater and recover the power core needed to activate the physics engine.

Gravity Shift

The physics engine represents the systems controlling gravity within the simulation. It cannot be activated until the player retrieves the power core from the cinema.

Once powered, the machine reverses the player’s gravity and allows them to walk across the ceiling. This recontextualizes a previously inaccessible section of the mall and creates a new route to the exit without requiring a separate environment.

This blueprint is designed to smoothly reorient the player after going through a portal. This is necessary when the player's gravity is flipped at the end of the level. Many of the doorways in the level are secretly portals, allowing for the illusion of non-euclidean geometry.

Expanding Hallway

The final route to the simulation room initially appears to be a short hallway. As the player moves toward the exit, the hallway expands and the door recedes into the distance. Continuing to run forward causes the destination to move farther away.

The solution is to walk backward, which shortens the hallway and brings the exit closer. The puzzle challenges the player’s assumption that moving forward always creates progress.

This Blueprint moves the exit farther away as the player advances while also adjusting the field of view. The resulting dolly-zoom effect makes the surrounding walls appear to stretch and exaggerates the increasing distance.

Metrics Gym

During preproduction, I built a metrics gym to establish consistent dimensions before constructing the final level. I used it to test doorway and stair sizes, player movement, weapon ranges, interactable objects, enemies, and the clearance required for portals.