Reveil | Full Gameplay Showcase Presentation
Reveil is a story-driven first-person psychological thriller game developed by Pixelsplit. Players will solve puzzles and explore the narrative focusing on what goes on within the mind of Walter Thompson as he deals with his past at the Nelson Bros Circus. Take a look at the latest gameplay showcase with Reveil, launching on March 6 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC with a release on PlayStation 4 later in 2024.
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00:00 Dory, what are you doing out here?
00:15 Hi hello, my name is Kat and welcome to today's video.
00:17 I'm here with our lovely friends over at Pixelsplit Games to talk about their new game, Reveil.
00:22 We'll be diving into some gameplay today which you have not seen before and some that you
00:26 may have seen a little bit at PAX East.
00:29 But anyways, I will let my friends over at Pixelsplit introduce themselves before we
00:32 jump into some gameplay.
00:34 Hi, I'm Bennett from Pixelsplit, this is Steffen.
00:39 We both founded Pixelsplit a few years ago.
00:42 We are a remote game development studio from Germany and yeah, our current title is Reveil.
00:49 I'm there for the technical part mostly, aren't you Steffen?
00:54 I'm there for the visual part and we're really excited to show you a bit, yeah.
01:01 Amazing, so we are going to jump into the game now and just kind of chat while we play
01:06 and I'm very excited to see this because I haven't actually seen even the opening bit
01:09 yet.
01:10 So you guys will have to show me all the little cool puzzles and I'm sure they're coming to
01:14 the beginning.
01:15 Right thrown into it, huh?
01:40 From the very beginning, I love that.
01:42 Yeah, so you are Walter Thompson, the main character and you wake up in this house which
01:49 will play an important role during the game.
01:59 So what would you say if you had to describe this game in just like a quick sentence or
02:03 less, what do you think the game is really about?
02:06 It's a first-person narrative psycho thriller focused on a big narrative I would say and
02:15 it blends in puzzle elements, horror elements and other gameplay elements.
02:21 I guess this sums it up.
02:24 No, that sounds perfect and do you get that story?
02:28 I already took care of all the circus stuff which leaves me with the rest as always.
02:32 I'll let Walter speak.
02:34 I won't interrupt you, Walter, I apologize.
02:38 But do you think the story really kicks off right from the beginning or is it kind of
02:41 something that you have to kind of find as you go?
02:43 You have to unravel it.
02:44 So you have to find out what's going on.
02:47 Walter is a bit confused all the time and you really have to figure out why and what
02:53 is going on.
02:55 And yeah, so it's also a bit of a mystery and you really try to figure out what this
03:01 is all about.
03:02 I think this is part of the old music box.
03:04 That's really cool.
03:05 I love this kind of thing of finding new little clues as you go too.
03:09 I'm very much like a detective gamer so I love that kind of stuff.
03:13 It seems like kind of a new genre for you guys.
03:16 What kind of made you think to do this psychological thriller and horror route?
03:20 So we like to do all sorts of genres and this was on our, I would say, I call it bucket
03:27 list for a long time.
03:29 Yeah, and it took us quite long to…
03:33 Initially we thought it would be way easier to produce such a game and now we are here
03:36 after five years.
03:40 But we really love these types of games and it's a new challenge for us.
03:45 Before we focused a bit on gameplay heavier game strategy and action, whatever you might
03:52 call it.
03:53 This time a more narrative and really focused on visual set pieces, etc.
03:59 And yeah.
04:00 The visuals look incredible already.
04:01 What was it like kind of developing a game that's like nearly photorealistic in the
04:05 way that it looks?
04:06 It was kind of new to us.
04:08 Our last games were more simple.
04:13 So it was a lot of research that we had to do because our game plays in the 70s mostly
04:21 on the Circus and nowadays you don't know these locations.
04:25 Yeah.
04:26 That's so interesting.
04:29 You mentioned the Circus, which we'll see a bit of later.
04:33 It's a very unique setting.
04:35 So what was the research process like for that?
04:37 Mostly we got inspiration from movies, from the old movies from the 80s, like horror movies
04:43 or movies in general.
04:47 And a lot of research through image search and through newspapers and stuff because we
04:54 wanted that the props feel realistic.
04:57 Yeah.
04:58 I definitely get that nostalgic for like horror movies and stuff.
05:02 Is there any other media that you guys were inspired by when you were creating the story?
05:07 Actually most of them were from movies.
05:09 It was not a specific movie.
05:14 Mostly some scenes from movies.
05:18 Because we love the look that the old movies had.
05:24 Absolutely.
05:27 So now we are in Dory's room.
05:29 Oh, look at all the stuff that you can look at.
05:35 And this is some kind of puzzle segment.
05:38 You can call it like an escape room or something like that.
05:41 Oh, very cool.
05:42 You have various props and machines here.
05:49 And you have to figure out how they are connected.
05:52 So let's look at the map.
05:55 Dory painted.
05:56 So first of all, you find this machine here.
06:08 It's a recreation of a vintage, I think 60s or 50s arcade machine.
06:16 Oh, very cool.
06:18 So you need a coin for here.
06:20 So next step is to find a coin.
06:28 The sound design of each item must have taken ages.
06:31 That's really amazing.
06:32 You can hear how each object interacts.
06:36 That sounds great.
06:41 It was quite important for us.
06:43 So getting proper atmosphere.
06:46 And this comes down to visuals and sound design.
06:51 I guess that's when you're inspired by horror movies, too.
06:56 Especially the older horror movies.
06:57 I feel so much of the attention comes from sound design and visuals like that that are
07:02 kind of very minimalist, but can have a really big impact.
07:06 Do you think that's kind of part of that?
07:08 Yeah, of course.
07:10 Our sound design is mostly environmental sounds.
07:15 And we have some kind of ambience music.
07:17 And we have also some soundtrack.
07:20 But it's more a supporting role in our game.
07:23 Let's take red.
07:24 It's my favorite color.
07:32 I love these puzzles.
07:35 They're a bit trickier sometimes.
07:39 So this is kind of like two puzzles back to back that are very inspired by real world
07:44 puzzles, very physical stuff.
07:45 What was it like developing these kind of more haptic physical puzzles into a game?
07:49 Harder than we thought.
07:52 Especially this one.
07:53 I don't know.
07:54 It's a tense iteration or something to get it right in the end.
07:59 But now it feels good, I would say.
08:01 Yeah.
08:02 And it was super important to us to make stuff feel physical and to really...
08:09 Even though you have the mouse in your hand, you feel it.
08:14 You feel the movement in your hand and how it reacts.
08:17 And that was quite important to us.
08:19 It didn't work out all the way.
08:21 So fun and usability was also an issue with that.
08:27 Because if you just go into physics, whatever, then sometimes it gets too annoying for the
08:33 player.
08:34 So it's always some sort of balance.
08:37 But it was really a huge goal for us to make it feel very haptical.
08:43 Yeah, that's such a hard thing to accomplish with a mouse.
08:46 But you can definitely feel like you're in that story, like actually touching these objects
08:50 and stuff with the sound design and with the kind of eerie nature of everything.
08:54 That's very cool.
08:55 Yeah.
08:56 And so is there any worry of puzzles being too difficult?
09:02 Or do you think that they kind of make sense because there's so much items you can get
09:05 hints and things from in the game?
09:08 We hope it works out.
09:11 A few weeks ago, we had quite a lot of play tests from other players.
09:17 And they all were able to play it.
09:21 And they all found it very cool.
09:25 For some, it took longer.
09:26 For some, it was faster.
09:29 But in the end, I think it is quite a balanced out approach for the puzzle aspect.
09:36 Because we don't want to call it a pure puzzle game.
09:39 It's not a hardcore puzzle game.
09:41 It's just an element.
09:42 So even the non-puzzle gamer should be able to solve it.
09:45 But later on, there will be also some puzzles which are a bit more difficult.
09:50 But yeah, like I said, balanced out, not too hard, not too easy.
09:58 Gosh, those drawings were terrifying.
10:01 Oh, very inter- that's very trippy, huh?
10:09 So it feels like kind of unreal what's going on.
10:12 This has to be another dream.
10:16 Is that kind of where the psycho thriller stuff comes in?
10:19 Where you don't know where stuff is real or not throughout?
10:22 Yeah.
10:23 Very interesting.
10:25 We change the environments and scenes quite a lot.
10:29 So you jump around and everything blends together.
10:35 And yeah, like I said in the beginning, you really try to figure out what's going on.
10:40 Gosh, it looks gorgeous.
10:41 You guys did such a good job.
10:42 Oh gosh.
10:43 That is both adorable and creepy.
11:04 You really couldn't balance.
11:06 That's a combination of both.
11:09 Wow, I can imagine the lighting took a while to get down, but it looks incredible.
11:18 Was also quite a technical challenge to get the performance because we use the Unity engine
11:23 and this is the HD render pipeline.
11:26 They're new rendering tech, but yeah, you really have to fine tune everything so that
11:31 it is playable on a variety of machines.
11:35 Yeah, what a difficult thing to do with PC gaming too, that everyone's got something
11:40 different.
11:41 Yeah, that's true.
11:42 Yeah, I prefer not having my computer.
11:45 So now we're entering the circus bit, I suppose.
11:49 Yeah, this is the approach to the circus plaza.
11:53 And so this is the environment that most of the game will be in or will we kind of go
11:57 back and forth between environments?
12:00 Back and forth.
12:01 So there will be another scene where the circus will play an important role and something
12:08 that is related to the circus.
12:09 I don't want to spoil too much here, but I think we will see that later.
12:15 And yeah, there is a variety and like I said, you jump back and forth and try to figure
12:22 out what is going on and what are all these locations you are seeing.
12:30 The story itself is quite a puzzle.
12:32 So to put it together.
12:37 I know we talked already about kind of inspirations for the circus environment, but what are the
12:42 reasons that you choose this environment specifically?
12:44 Because I think it's so unique and people will be very drawn to it, I think, in the
12:47 genre.
12:48 For us, it's important that in these kind of games, you can dive into a unique world
12:55 and you can explore things that you don't see every day.
12:59 And at the same time, we want to surprise the player as much as possible.
13:05 And I think the circus setting has great potential to deliver many of these things.
13:12 Gosh, yeah, the environmental sound design is incredible.
13:20 Really eerie.
13:21 I think for now we stop here.
13:22 Yeah, I think that's a really good look of the beginning part of kind of how you enter
13:27 the story and definitely this kind of element of both puzzles and an eerie environment that
13:32 I'm looking forward to seeing what's going on in that circus.
13:34 I'm sure it's terrifying.
13:36 Well, should we switch over to the second part of the game that you guys are going to
13:38 show us today, which is a bit further into the save file and should show you a bit more
13:43 action packed sequence of the game.
13:45 But this is kind of the way that it starts.
13:47 So thank you so much for showing us the beginning part of the game.
13:50 Cool.
13:51 Okay, we're going to jump into the second part of the save file and explore this next
13:56 scary start.
13:57 Or scary part of the game, I should say.
14:01 Yes, as you can see, it's quite dark now.
14:07 Totally different vibe.
14:08 Yeah, it's a little circus here.
14:11 This is the circus train.
14:14 And how many hours is this into the game approximately?
14:18 One and a half, I would say.
14:22 Okay, yeah.
14:23 Oh gosh.
14:24 You guys have obviously are pros at this game now.
14:39 I'd be freaking out.
14:40 Terrifying.
14:41 Yeah, walk or go.
15:01 Again, you can really showcase the sound design here.
15:22 Terrifying.
15:25 Oh gosh.
15:30 My worst nightmare is trying to solve a puzzle when you're being chased by a monster.
15:58 Oh god.
16:05 What a way to end.
16:21 So this was one of our more gameplay focused scenes of the game.
16:26 Like I said, it's a mix of puzzles, exploration, narrative, and in this case also horror and
16:33 chase.
16:36 We really tried to have multiple pillars in the game.
16:40 Not just puzzles, not just narrative.
16:42 So really have a nice blend of all things.
16:46 Absolutely.
16:47 I think a good thriller game especially, it is all about that balance of tension of having
16:53 your relaxing moments so that when the tension does come, you're extra terrified.
16:59 That was a very good showcase of because I'm not looking forward to playing that bit, but
17:04 I'm sure people will enjoy watching me play that bit.
17:08 Incredible.
17:09 Well, that was a good way to also showcase how the game kind of develops throughout the
17:15 story.
17:16 I'm curious as kind of our last question before we wrap up today.
17:20 I know you guys are working on this idea of multiple endings for the game.
17:23 How does that impact the story and the gameplay throughout?
17:26 So the game itself is quite linear.
17:29 So we have our story in mind.
17:31 So the narrative that we want to provide.
17:34 The player can look around and pick up story bits in quite a different order, but in the
17:41 end it's quite linear.
17:43 So it really has this high quality that we want.
17:48 And later on at the end, the player will be able to choose from several endings.
17:53 So it's nothing at the beginning branches out completely.
17:58 It's more at the end you will be able to choose from different endings and you can finally
18:02 decide what's going to happen with the character.
18:07 Yeah.
18:08 This was already too much.
18:12 No, I'm very excited to hear more about that and see it once we play the game in this final
18:17 version.
18:19 The story seems so interesting and kind of mysterious.
18:22 So I'm sure everyone will really enjoy diving more into that once you get your hands on
18:26 the game.
18:27 But thank you so much Bennett and Stefan for talking with us today.
18:30 I really, really appreciate it.
18:32 And it's been really nice to see some extra exclusive footage of the game we haven't seen
18:36 before.
18:37 Is there anything else you wanted to mention before we wrap up?
18:39 I don't think so.
18:40 Thank you for having us.
18:42 Yeah.
18:43 Amazing.
18:44 If you want to play the game, make sure you wishlist it over on Steam.
18:48 It helps us so very much and we so much appreciate it.
18:51 And keep an eye on the development of the game by following us over on our socials,
18:54 which we'll put down below.
18:56 And thank you again so much to Pixel Splits and Bennett and Stefan specifically for talking
19:00 with us today.
19:01 I hope you guys enjoyed the video.
19:03 Let us know what you think down below.
19:04 And if you'll be picking up the game when it comes out this year.
19:20 (bells chiming)
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