Crafting Immersion: How Realism and Sound Shape WILL: Follow the Light

In WILL: Follow the Light, you take on the role of a lighthouse keeper relentlessly searching for his family. Initially, we aimed for an art style similar to Firewatch and INSIDE, using an isometric third-person view. However, after six months of development, it became clear that our narrative was more compelling than the visuals we were producing. So, we decided to scrap everything but the narrative mechanics and make a fresh start. This new approach helped us balance realism with what our small team could achieve. Our visuals have drawn many comparisons to Alan Wake, a game we admire for its atmospheric depth. We worked hard to match that level of immersion, additionally incorporating harsh Nordic scenery into our setting. Several team members, including Roman, traveled across Norway, Sweden, Greenland, and Iceland to capture the essence of these cold, desolate environments and infuse them into our game.

WILL: Follow the Light isn’t meant for a casual popcorn-and-sandwich experience; it’s designed for a more immersive journey. We recommend playing with minimal lighting and high-quality headphones to fully appreciate it, as we’ve focused heavily on music and sound effects. We created our soundtrack from scratch, working with musicians Roman met in Ireland. Our desire to capture the right atmosphere even took us to a Celtic cemetery at night, which inspired us to create a mesmerizing piano melody. To ensure authenticity, we recorded a lot of our own sounds, including sailing and dog sledding. For example, we spent an entire night with a microphone recording footsteps in the snow during Dublin’s first snowfall in a decade, finding joy in the process. This dedication to audio detail is important to us in creating a truly immersive game world.