Lost Intrigue is a rapid grey box-level prototype inspired by the level design from Half-Life 2. Created within Unreal Engine
5 within 3 weeks of development time. Created during the Into Games: Master the recipe for level design online course.
Lost Intrigue is a greybox level inspired by Half-Life 2 and elements from The Last of Us and Alien Isolation, with a core focus on atmosphere, powerlessness, and strategic problem-solving. Each segment of the level puts the player in a vulnerable state, either facing instant death or a tough challenge. However, I’ve made sure they’re never helpless. The space is deliberately designed to provide them with manoeuvrability. The key is in how they learn, adapt, and remember enemy behaviour and the level’s layout.
In this level, the player begins in a quiet, claustrophobic mine, armed only with a flashlight, as they explore freely and acclimate to the environment, building a sense of unease. Once the player progresses enough in the level, an unkillable enemy is unleashed, and the player must now gather batteries from the dark to escape the level, while relying on audio cues to track danger and avoid death. Emotions quickly change from curiosity to fear, then panic, and eventually to focused determination as the player learns to navigate the space tactically. Every close call tightens the tension, rewarding clever movement and memory, until the player finally escapes, feeling a wave of relief and accomplishment. The experience is designed to take players on a short, intense emotional arc: from quiet unease and dread to desperate survival.
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My goal with this level is to craft a focused, atmospheric experience that captures the tension and pacing of Half-Life 2, while showcasing my understanding of level design fundamentals. I wanted to create a space where the player feels powerless at first, but not helpless.
The layout, enemy behaviour, and audio cues are all designed to encourage trial and error, allowing the player to learn through observation and experimentation rather than brute force. In researching this, I broke down what makes Half-Life tick: its ability to shift tone and genre mid-gameplay (Ravenholm), to trust the player with mechanics introduced through the environment, and to maintain a sense of agency even during intense set pieces. I pulled from horror and suspense design principles, such as making use of tight, curved corridors, layered sound design, and limited visibility, to shape something that feels oppressive, but fair. It's not about cheap and obvious jump scares.
Rather than going wide with mechanics, I chose to go deep on a single idea: survival through awareness. My research helped me anchor that through things like replayability (randomised objective spawns), space that supports memory-based exploration.
One of my main aims for the level design is to capture Half-Life’s design philosophy: mechanics introduced organically through exploration, dynamic shifts in tone, and an emphasis on maintaining player agency. My research focused on how Valve paces their levels using space, sound, and dynamic enemy behaviour to guide the player. I also studied horror design principles such as controlled visibility, claustrophobic layouts, and delayed enemy reveals to create suspense without relying on scripted scares.
Rather than layering in multiple systems, I leaned into a single core tension: one enemy, no weapon, and a flashlight in a cramped environment. By randomising objective locations and giving players time to explore before triggering danger, I encouraged replayability and let them develop spatial memory and confidence under pressure. The result is a short, replayable horror-suspense.
