Eternal Night Grassland: Creating a Suffocating Horror Atmosphere

Introduction: Why “Grassland” Instead of “Forest”?

When it comes to horror game settings, most people think of dark forests, abandoned hospitals, or eerie mansions. But we chose a less common setting—grassland.

Why? Because grassland is actually more terrifying.

In a forest, you can at least hide behind trees. In a hospital, you can hide in rooms. But on an open grassland, there’s nowhere to hide. You can see far, but that also means—the hunter can see you too.

This feeling of “nowhere to escape” is exactly the fear we wanted to create.

Visual Design

Eternal Night

Bear Doom was originally set in the morning.

But after testing, we found that the morning grassland…was too peaceful. Sunlight on the grass, gentle breeze—it felt like a picnic, not a survival scenario. This wasn’t the feeling we wanted.

So we changed it to eternal night.

This change had two reasons:

• Humans instinctively fear darkness - It’s in our DNA
• Real bear attacks often occur at night - This adds realism

The eternal night setting instantly elevated the game’s horror by several levels.

Street Lamps: Traps Disguised as Hope

In complete darkness, people instinctively seek light sources. Light represents safety, represents hope.

So we placed street lamps in the eternal night grassland.

The street lamps are visual cues guiding players to the exit. When you’re lost in the darkness, distant lights tell you where to go.

But here’s the trap: street lamps randomly go out.

Imagine: you’re running in the dark, you see light in the distance, hope rises in your heart. But just as you’re about to reach it, that lamp suddenly goes out. Plunged back into darkness, with footsteps closing in behind you…

Asphalt Road: Fusion of Modern and Wild

Besides grassland and street lamps, we also added an asphalt road.

This road blends modern civilization with wilderness elements. It gives players a clear sense of direction while creating an eerie contrast—why would there be a modern asphalt road in a desolate grassland?

This “sense of incongruity” actually increases the game’s mysterious atmosphere.

The Cabin: Exit, or…?

The player’s goal is to reach the cabin—the game’s exit.

But as mentioned in the worldbuilding design, the cabin is not just an exit. As for what it really is…let the players discover for themselves.

Sound Design

Environmental Sounds

Bear Doom’s sound design aims to create an immersive horror experience:

• Wind - Wind blowing across the eternal night grassland
• Grass rustling - Sound of grass as the player moves
• Footsteps - Different sounds for walking and running
• Bear roaring - Warning when the bear approaches
• Forest ambience - Background sounds for atmosphere

BGM

The background uses horror-style piano music.

But there’s an interesting design here: when the player uses the time stop skill, the BGM suddenly becomes quieter. This design makes the skill effect more prominent, creating a feeling of “time frozen”.

Special Loading Screen Design

We made a special design for the loading screen: no BGM, only typewriter sounds.

Combined with real bear attack cases displayed on screen, this minimalist sound design actually creates an unsettling atmosphere. Players start feeling fear while waiting for the game to load.

Accidental Discovery: Fog Effect

This is our favorite development story.

During development, we encountered performance issues—rendering the entire grassland was too demanding on hardware. To solve this problem, we decided to add fog effects to limit rendering distance.

The result?

The game became more terrifying.

Fog limited the player’s vision, unable to see far. Not knowing where the bear is, not knowing where the exit is. This fear from “the unknown” is more effective than any jump scare.

Sometimes, the best designs come from accidental discoveries.

Three Core Elements of Atmosphere Design

Through Bear Doom’s development, we summarized three core elements of horror atmosphere design:

1. Visual

Eternal night, fog, light-dark contrast of street lamps—visuals are the most direct elements affecting player emotions. What players see is what they feel.

2. Sound

Wind, footsteps, bear roaring—sound creates “presence”. Even if you can’t see the enemy, you can “hear” it approaching.

3. Game Mechanics

Ever-following bear, randomly extinguishing street lamps, vision-limiting fog—game mechanics determine player behavior, behavior affects emotions.

These three elements are indispensable and need to work together. Visuals alone aren’t scary enough, sound alone isn’t enough either. Only when all three combine can you create a truly suffocating horror atmosphere.

Conclusion

There’s no standard answer to atmosphere design. Different games have different needs—what to limit (vision, information, ability) depends on what kind of experience you want to create.

But one thing is certain: the best designs often come from accidents.

We added fog originally to solve performance issues, but it ended up making the game more terrifying. Sometimes, limitations are sources of creativity.

If you’re also developing a horror game, don’t be afraid to experiment. Let friends playtest, observe their reactions. You’ll have many unexpected discoveries.

After all, that’s how our game became scary, step by step.

“Fear doesn’t come from what you see, but from what you imagine.”
— PCS Gaming Studio