It was a pleasure to sit down with the passionate team at Broken Bird Games to dive deeper into the psychological horror of Luto. Our conversation shed light on the intricate design choices and profound inspirations behind this unique title. This was pretty eye opening, and those of you who played the game will likely love the revelations that came from this interview.
GameDevourer: Luto’s narrative evolves significantly from a P.T.-like looping experience to something deeply meta, even intentionally featuring glitches, development tools, and “crashes” that break the fourth wall. How did your team decide on the extent of these meta-elements, and how did you make sure immersion wasn’t broken?
Broken Bird Games: Metafiction was part of the plan from the very beginning. We love it when a work plays with its own format, like House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski or even The Stanley Parable, both big inspirations for Luto, so we tried to bring that into a more personal idea, which became Luto. Keeping immersion intact has been a matter of trial and error, but honestly, sometimes we did intentionally break it for the sake of the narrative. For example, without going too deep into spoilers, there are moments where you suddenly have to stop playing, or moments where you have to repeat the same thing over and over… and one more time. In Luto, we wanted to convey the idea of overcoming, in a psychological and emotional context, that you have to keep going even when everything feels broken, although maybe we were a bit literal haha.
GameDevourer: The narrator in Luto is a fascinating character whose role shifts dramatically from initially jarring or cartoony to becoming a crucial and multifaceted voice, often interpreted as grief itself or Sam’s subconscious. Could you elaborate on the intentional design behind this character’s arc, and was the narrator a staple from the beginning of development, or did he come to be over time?
Broken Bird Games: The narrator was the “glue” that held almost everything together in Luto, especially since it was an idea that came relatively late in development, but when it did, it turned out to be the solution we were looking for. It’s true that almost from the start of development there was already an “entity” representing the character’s grief, but giving it a voice and the personality seen in the game really improved the narrative experience.
GameDevourer: I thought some of Luto’s puzzles were quite cryptic, often requiring a leap in logic or meticulous environmental observation, such as the monkey or phone number puzzles. How did you approach the difficulty and intentional ambiguity of these puzzles, because you did successfully balance the challenge with narrative progression without causing frustration, but was that something you had to test multiple times? Were there harder puzzles that just never made it in?
Broken Bird Games: We usually see how games create a progression in puzzles from easy to hard, giving the player a constant challenge to overcome, which makes a lot of sense. However, in Luto we wanted to do the opposite for the sake of the narrative. We thought it would better symbolize overcoming the loss of a loved one if everything started out more “difficult” and gradually became simpler, just like grieving, which over time becomes more… manageable. You also have to keep in mind that Luto is basically our first video game in every sense, so balancing “fun” with “frustration” was really challenging, especially since in several instances we intentionally wanted to highlight frustration or even boredom, similar to what I mentioned before about breaking immersion. There was a lot of trial and error, both in this and in every other part of the game, so we had to discard puzzles, mechanics, and other elements that seemed interesting. However, when it comes to puzzles, we got to scratch the itch of making “really hard” puzzles, because we ended up using almost all of them for the secret in Chapter X, the alternate ending of Luto.
GameDevourer: Luto is filled with deep symbolism and environmental storytelling. Elements like the cinematic black bars, the vast sandscapes, the House of Lost Dreams puzzle, and objects like Sam’s broken glasses all carry heavy meaning. Can you explain the creative process behind embedding these symbolic details? Were there other ways you wanted to do this, or did you feel like this came out the way you wanted?
Broken Bird Games: Just like metafiction was planned from the start, the use of symbolism was too, and since I’m personally someone who needs to give “meaning” to everything, Luto ended up full of details that most people probably won’t notice, which I think is great haha. I’m also someone who looks for a balance between “inspiration” and “analysis,” so if I like something I tend to research it a lot, see if there are previous interpretations, analyze them, and pick out any detail that inspires me to create something personal. I guess that could be one part of the creative process, and I say one because it’s impossible for me to define “the” creative process I follow, which could at best be described as a kind of chaotic map of ideas, where with luck, something finally clicks. In Luto, we ended up symbolically representing almost everything we had planned, with the desert being possibly the only thing left somewhat behind. Originally, the desert was going to be a much larger area with more content, where the symbolism it represents would be seen “directly” instead of through a painting and the main menu, as it ended up being. Even so, I think we managed to handle it well and we’re happy with how it turned out.
GameDevourer: The game directly addresses difficult themes like anxiety, depression, grief, and suicidal thoughts. It is brutally honest and has a profound view on these topics. What kind of research or personal experiences influenced your team’s approach to depicting Sam’s mental state? What message did you ultimately want to send to players about mental health awareness and empathy?
Broken Bird Games: The idea for Luto came about in 2020 after my father passed away, so it’s pretty personal haha. It was a time when I experienced a kind of “fear” I had never known, and it inspired me to shape the story as a form of catharsis. Over the years, this story has also been refined with the personal experiences of several members of Broken Bird Games, which has really enriched the project, since even though we all experience the loss of a loved one at some point, the way people cope with grief varies a lot. In that sense, the message we’ve always wanted to convey is that grief is a natural process and, even though it’s scary, it can be overcome. Like I mentioned before, the idea that even when everything seems broken, you keep going.
GameDevourer: I read that some players who tried the Luto demo noticed a difference in its tone or intensity compared to the full game, with many feeling the demo was more openly terrifying. What are your thoughts on this perception? Was the shift from the demo to the final release a deliberate change in the kind of horror experience you wanted to create?
Broken Bird Games: This point, along with the “difficulty” of the puzzles, probably ended up being the most divisive in terms of criticism. Just as we aimed for the game’s difficulty to go from harder to easier, we did the same with the level of horror, gradually reducing the “scare” factor in favor of the personal growth narrative. We’ve seen that the combination of both didn’t sit well with people looking for a more pure “horror” experience, and we completely understand that. Still, we’re very grateful for all the feedback and the comparisons between the demo and the final game, and it’s something we’re taking very seriously for our second project… Even so, in the case of Luto, we felt it was a risk worth taking, and we’re really happy with the final result. Especially after seeing so many people moved on such a personal level by our game, which is undoubtedly our greatest success.
This interview really helped to explain the creative vision behind the game Luto, from its clever meta story to its careful and considerate look at the subject of grief. Broken Bird Games’ game is unlike any psychological horror game I’ve played before because it connects with players on a very deep emotional level.
If you are looking for a game that will challenge your point of view and that provides a truly powerful story, then Luto is a game you must play. You can experience the journey for yourself by picking up Luto on Steam today.
