Existing Games:

1. ‘What Remains of Edith Finch’

• Similarities: Both are first-person narrative games centered on exploration and recollection, driving emotions through environmental details and fragmented narratives.
• Differences: This game leans more towards exploring family relationships and the helplessness of individuals in the face of societal upheavals. My game focuses more on teenagers’ reluctance to let go of childhood and their uncertainty about the future as they approach adulthood.

2. ‘Pools’

• Similarities: Both use abandoned swimming pools as their central setting, creating a strong sense of loneliness and spatial disorientation, with a minimalist art style.
• Differences: This game has a clear emotional narrative (searching for the girl’s memories) and introduces vaporwave aesthetics and a more complex visual puzzle system. The overall tone leans more towards nostalgic melancholy than pure psychological discomfort.

Market Positioning:

A first/third-person role-playing game focusing on adolescent confusion and electronic nostalgia, with an atmospheric visual puzzle setting. It doesn’t pursue traditional horror, competition with NPCs or players, or high-intensity challenges. Instead, it strives to provide a tranquil digital memory space for players to immerse themselves in.

It blends the spatial tranquility of Poolcore, the digital nostalgia of Vaporwave, and the surreal logic of Dreamcore, forming a unique and highly recognizable visual style.

Gameplay Features: No combat, no time pressure. Players solve visual illusion puzzles and piece together fragmented narratives by changing perspectives and using old-fashioned tools (such as CD players and magnifying glasses).

Target Players:

1. The Contemplative Player

• Enjoy emotionally driven, slow-paced experiential games like ‘Journey’ and ‘Sky: Children of the Light’. Seek inner peace, emotional resonance, or philosophical reflection in games, rather than excitement or challenge.

2. Aesthetic Enthusiasts & Subculture Communities

• A group with a strong interest in internet aesthetics such as vaporwave, poolcore, dreamcore, and lo-fi music.

3. Narrative Explorers

• Enjoy games like ‘What Remains of Edith Finch’ and ‘The Stanley Parable,’ relishing the process of actively uncovering the story through exploration and environmental details. They are receptive to and appreciate ambiguous, multifaceted, and non-linear narratives that require personal interpretation.

4. Gen Z & Millennial Nostalgics

• Have personally experienced the technological revolution from feature phones to smartphones, from physical media to digital streaming media.