.redruM (2024)

!!!WARNING TO USERS!!! .redruM was born as a work of art before being a walking sim game, which aims to communicate a message. The game is deliberately slow, this is precisely to stimulate the user to look for this message within themselves and do it with calm and patience.The .redruM Experience: A Psychological and Cinematic Horror
.redruM is a psychological and cinematic horror experience that focuses on realism and visual experimentation. Inspired by liminal spaces, backrooms, and real crime scenes, it places you in the shoes of a crime scene photographer, tasked with uncovering the identity behind these gruesome murders.

Minimalist Gameplay for a Disturbing Experience
The gameplay is intentionally minimalistic: walk, photograph, do your job. However, this simplicity conceals a deeply disturbing and reflective experience.

A Short, Personal, and Intimate Story
A short Game that lasts around an hour. A personal, intimate story made by a solo developer.

Important Warning: This game contains violent content and is not suitable for sensitive audiences.

Contemporary Art and the Birth of .redruM
.redruM was born from the need to express my vision of contemporary art. What does it mean to create today, if not to reinterpret the concepts of the past in an act of parasitism? .redruM is a love letter, an insult, a declaration of what it means to be an artist today. A killer who photographs his victims to create, a killer of memory. A photographer who documents the abandonment of existence and the death of dreamers' dreams. Dreamers who envisioned a better world, but whose dreams have become empty and identity-less concepts.

.redruM is a red room, a dark laboratory where photos that no one wants to share are developed.

The Aesthetics of Liminal Spaces and Modern Existentialism
The aesthetics of liminal spaces and backrooms are fundamental in enhancing the dramatic emotions and the catharsis of modern existentialism. These spaces, at the boundary between reality and imagination, are inherently unsettling. They represent places of transition and abandonment, where the familiar becomes strange. Their suspended and undefined atmosphere reflects the angst of modern existence, amplifying the sense of disorientation and isolation. In .redruM, these environments become the perfect stage to explore anxiety and despair, leading the player to confront their own fragility and solitude.

Level Design: Evoking Emotions Through Violence and Catharsis
In creating the levels of .redruM, I did not limit myself to traditional game design but sought to evoke the emotions that accompany the final moments of great artists. Violence, as in Aristotle and Shakespeare, is not an end in itself but a means to achieve catharsis. The "catharsis of events" is a concept originating in ancient Greece, particularly associated with Aristotle’s theatrical works. It refers to a process of purifying or liberating emotions through artistic expression or emotional participation in a work of art. When we witness dramatic or tragic events, such as those depicted in a play or film, we experience a sort of "purging" of our emotions, helping us to release accumulated tensions or anxieties.

Catharsis Through Violence: A Parallel with Aristotle and Shakespeare
Aristotle defined catharsis as the purification of emotions through drama, as seen in the fall of Oedipus or the assassination of Agamemnon. Similarly, Shakespeare used violence in works like Macbeth or Julius Caesar to shake the audience, leading them to reflect on human nature and their own fears. In .redruM, the use of violence might be understood as a way to make users experience this emotional catharsis, through direct engagement with universal themes like death and loss. It is not mere horror, but a vehicle for art and reflection, just like in the great dramas of the past.

The Collapse of Reality: Liminal Spaces and Broken Dreams
The aesthetics of liminal spaces and backrooms further reinforce this experience, creating an environment where every corner suggests that something is profoundly wrong, a place where reality itself seems on the verge of collapse, just like the dreams and aspirations of the protagonists.