Project Severance

Project Severance is a first-person survival horror game created by two high school students using Unreal Engine 5.

Inspiration

Project Severance started from our shared interest in psychological horror and the feeling of being hunted. As students in Grade 10 and Grade 9, we wanted to push ourselves and make something far more ambitious than what people usually expect from students experimenting with Unreal Engine.

We took inspiration from games like Outlast, Phasmophobia, and The Backrooms, but we didn’t want to simply copy them. Our goal was to create our own identity by combining tension, exploration, and constant unease into one experience.

Rather than relying on cheap jumpscares, we focused on making players feel trapped, disoriented, and hunted inside a maze that actively works against them.

What the game is about

Project Severance is a first-person horror game set inside a dark, maze-like facility. You are not alone. A creature known only as The Anomaly stalks the halls, reacting to your movement and sound.

The objective is simple: survive long enough to escape.

Players must navigate confusing corridors filled with dead ends and looping paths, listen closely for audio cues like footsteps or static that hint at danger, and collect key items to unlock new routes. As time passes, the environment becomes more hostile. Lights flicker, sounds distort, and the feeling of safety slowly disappears.

Each playthrough feels unpredictable, keeping players constantly on edge and unsure of what lies around the next corner.

How we built it

Project Severance was developed entirely in Unreal Engine 5 using Blueprints. We chose to avoid traditional coding so we could focus on learning game logic visually and understanding how systems interact.

We designed the level to feel intentionally disorienting, encouraging players to get lost and question their sense of direction. Lighting and atmosphere were built using Unreal Engine 5’s dynamic lighting and fog systems to create tight, claustrophobic spaces filled with darkness.

The Anomaly was created using Unreal’s AI Behavior Tree system. It patrols, listens, and chases based on player sound and proximity. Sound design played a huge role in shaping the experience, with layered ambience, distant noises, and subtle audio cues building tension over time.

Every update was play-tested by classmates and friends. Their reactions helped us fine-tune difficulty, pacing, and overall fear.

Challenges we faced

We were learning Unreal Engine 5 from scratch while balancing schoolwork, which made development slow at times. Understanding Blueprints, navigation meshes, and AI behavior required a lot of trial and error.

One of our biggest issues was AI pathfinding. Early versions of The Anomaly frequently got stuck or behaved unpredictably, which forced us to rethink how movement and detection worked.

Lighting was another major challenge. Dynamic lighting created great atmosphere but caused performance issues, so we had to carefully balance visuals with playability.

Designing fear was also harder than expected. Making something genuinely unsettling without overusing jumpscares required a lot of experimentation with silence, timing, and restraint.

What we’re proud of

We built a complete horror experience from the ground up using only Blueprints. We created an AI-driven enemy that actively tracks and hunts the player. We designed a maze-like environment that feels tense and alive, despite our limited experience.

Most importantly, we learned a professional-grade engine before even finishing high school. Seeing people genuinely panic or scream during playtests made all the effort worth it.

What we learned

Blueprints are far more powerful than we expected once you understand logic and event flow. Horror works best when it controls the player’s emotions through atmosphere rather than loud scares.

Working as a team mattered more than experience. Even without years of knowledge, collaboration and problem-solving carried the project forward. Iteration was everything. Each failed test improved the game, whether it meant fixing AI bugs or adjusting sound levels.

What’s next

We plan to expand the environment with additional maze sections and themes, improve the AI so The Anomaly adapts to player behavior, and introduce deeper story elements that explain the facility and the creature within it.

We also want to add more complex escape objectives, including puzzles and multiple endings. Our short-term goal is to release a playable demo on Itch.io and gather feedback from the indie horror community. Long-term, we hope to transition from Blueprint-only development to C++ for better optimization and advanced features.

Project Severance was built by two students who wanted to prove that age doesn’t limit creativity, and that anyone can build something unsettling if they’re willing to learn and experiment.

Built With

• unreal-engine