A first-person psychological horror set in shifting liminal spaces, where reality loops, architecture lies and the only way forward is deeper into your own mind

Project Overview

Liminal Core is a first-person psychological horror experience set in eerie, shifting liminal environments abandoned backrooms, endless corridors and dreamlike voids. Built around the theme of “space as a character,” the game disorients players through architectural loops and environmental storytelling. With over 15,000 copies sold worldwide, it has been recognized as one of Pakistan’s most successful indie titles.

  • Engine: Unreal Engine 5
  • Tools: Blueprints, C++, PCG, Level Streaming
  • Perspective: First-Person
  • Platforms: PC
  • Team Size: 7
  • Developed by: Shadow Owl Studios partnered Ashen Studios
  • Role: Game Designer & Technical Artist
  • Duration: 18 Weeks

Gameplay

Responsibilities

  •  Designed the core horror loop (explore → disorient → confront entity → resolve), ensuring escalating tension with pacing variations.
  • Built maze-like levels with looping structures, dead ends and shifting geometry to reinforce themes of paranoia and the uncanny.
  • Crafted moments of psychological tension using environmental storytelling, hidden audio cues, and perspective tricks.
  • Defined rules for encounters with abstract beings (avoidance mechanics, detection thresholds, scripted scares).
  • Implemented lighting tricks, shader effects and post-processing to simulate surreal atmosphere (flickering neon, spatial warping).
  • Collaborated closely with a large multi-disciplinary team, aligning gameplay systems with narrative & art.
  • Managed all UI elements, including in-game HUD, different In-Game menus.

Game Narrative

In Liminal Core, players step into a world where reality bleeds into memory. Vast spaces which were once familiar but now empty have become haunted reflections of trauma and isolation. The deeper players descend into the “core,” the more they encounter fragmented echoes of a world collapsing in on itself. There are no clear villains; the true horror lies in the unreliable environment that shapes itself around the player’s fear.

What I Learned

“You wander spaces that twist with memory malls without exits, corridors that loop and echoes that know your name. When even the architecture turns against you, how do you escape what’s inside your own mind?”