VERWANDLUNG
VERWANDLUNG is a reinterpretation of Kafka’s novella “The Metamorphosis”. The player takes the role of Grete Samsa, looking to find out what happened to her missing brother.
The game is an attempt to capture a strong feeling of alienation and loss of identity I felt while working at a monotonous day job with no time left for art and recreation.
VERWANDLUNG was developed using Unreal Engine 5 and was released for PC on November 7th 2022. You can play it here:
The main focus is the AI of the brother Gregor Samsa, who has turned into a swarm of small insects. My goal was to evoke empathy through their behavior. The insect swarm is not actively pursuing the player, but attempting to recreate the brother’s daily routines. It will move to certain spots in the house like the kitchen or Gregor’s work laptop and form a human shape for a while before moving on. The only way to end the story is to recognize his behavior and confront him with something the siblings had been passionate about in the past.SPOILERS
