Lethal Company developer says the freedom afforded by text adventure design is why his latest game took 10 years to make: 'That made it very easy for this project to spiral out of control'

A character looking at a screen in a spaceship

(Image credit: Zeekerss)

Solo developer Zeekerss may be best known for Lethal Company, arguably the most influential game of the last few years. But it's actually the latest in a long line of spooky experiences from the game design wunderkind. Previous projects include the lo-fi paranoia generator It Steals, the survival horror throwback Dead Seater, and the physics-heavy frightfest The Upturned.

In short, Zeekerss is highly prolific, which makes it all the stranger that his latest game has been in development for longer than any of the above. Welcome to the Dark Place is a creepy single-player text adventure inspired by the likes of Zork and Kentucky Route Zero, which Zeekerss' has been working on for more than a decade.

In addition to this, Zeekerss wanted the adventure to feature specific audio for everything he came up with, using both heavily edited sound effects from freely available sources, and recording effects made by family and friends. "I'd write and write and write, then regret it afterwards when I had to do the audio work," he explains. Consequently, Zeekerss "repeatedly put it on hold to work on other projects, including Lethal Company."

Welcome To The Dark Place - Trailer #2 - YouTube

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During the interview, Zeekerss also delved into the inspirations behind Welcome to the Dark Place. As mentioned, Zork was an early influence on the developer. First encountered when he was 10 years old. "I remember feeling like it was the most realistic and mysterious game I had ever played." Meanwhile, it was the "magical realism" of Kentucky Route Zero that enchanted Zeekerss' when he played Cardboard Computer's long-in-development adventure. "That game does this thing where it gives into dizzying, text-based 'rabbit holes' in which you tell yourself the story."

Welcome to The Dark Place, released in October, and it is playable for free. While it isn't anything like as popular as Lethal Company, those who have played it have rated it favourably, with the text adventure accruing a 'Very Positive' rating on Steam.

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.

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