Illuminating KARMA: The Dark World

A love letter to David Lynch, that has a very Kubrickian way with a corridor, and also gives a nod to Christopher Nolan, the gorgeously cinematic dystopian drama KARMA: The Dark World is a feast for cinephiles and devotees of intense psychological thrillers alike. The first-person narrative has you take on the role of Daniel, a so-called Roam Agent for the all-powerful corporation Leviathan’s Thought Bureau. If things aren’t feeling Orwellian enough, the action takes place in 1984… Creators Pollard Studio dispatched executive producer Lu Chen, creative director Yonghe Wang, and lead systems technician Jingfu Piao to Intel Gaming Access to shed some light on the deeply shady goings-on.

We asked the trio, what exactly are you allowed to tell us… without committing any kind of thought crime? “In simple terms,” Yonghe Wang began, “KARMA: The Dark World is a first-person role-playing, narrative-driven cinematic thriller and horror game. Its world draws inspiration from George Orwell’s 1984, [and is] filled with retro sci-fi and a dystopian worldview. We’ve created a parallel world concept where a giant corporation named Leviathan controls the city. The protagonist is an agent who serves this company, but his work primarily involves extracting memories and clues from the minds of suspects. The target audience includes fans of narrative-driven games, psychological thrillers, horror, and walking simulators. Additionally, since we’ve incorporated many homages and cinematic-style scenes, we believe many players will also come from the ranks of movie and book enthusiasts.”

“At its core,” Lu Chen took over, “this is about relationships. People live their lives surrounded by various relationships; we play different roles in these relationships and experience different stories, all of which shape who you are: your body, your mind, and your understanding of the world. Even though it’s a horror game, we haven’t relied heavily on jump scares to unsettle players. Instead, we’ve focused on creating a realistic world for players to explore.”

These shifting demands as well as the memory-extraction theme allows for an incredible range of tone and possibility. “What players should anticipate,” Lu Chen says, “is not just playing but experiencing. Whether it’s stepping into Daniel’s story, making choices on his behalf, or exploring new environments, KARMA: The Dark World aims to make players the protagonist of the story, rather than mere observers.” Yonghe Wang expands on this: “With KARMA, we aim to push the boundaries of traditional storytelling, creating a game experience that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. It’s not just a virtual journey but also a reflection of reality, encouraging players to find their own answers within the game. As game developers, we focus on integrating philosophical thinking into game design, much like the title of this work suggests. Players will experience a mind-bending story, akin to watching a Christopher Nolan film. The seamless blend of narrative and gameplay, combined with surreal art and high-quality music, will keep players constantly engaged and surprised, always wondering what will happen next.”

Paying tribute to some of the greatest stylists in cinema really puts the pressure on visual quality. “During the development process, we faced the challenge of the game performing well on high-end hardware but experiencing unstable frame-rates on mid-to-low-end devices,” Lu Chen shares. “By leveraging technologies like Intel® Xe Superamostragem (XeSS), we optimized the rendering pipeline, achieving a balanced performance across different hardware platforms. This ensures that all players can enjoy a smooth gaming experience.”

Yonghe Wang adds: “The beauty of PC gaming lies in the fact that as hardware performance improves, so does the quality of the content we experience. We hope PC players can enjoy this game in 4K, at the highest frame-rates, with HDR, Dolby Atmos, and ray-tracing enabled.” And here is where lead systems technician Jingfu Piao chimes in about how collaborating with Intel can make those hopes reality: “In our first official project together, Intel’s technical team provided deep technical support for the openness and compatibility of the algorithm interface during the XeSS 1.0 phase. The integration of XeSS 2 further highlighted the advantages of technical collaboration. Intel’s technical support team established a 24-hour response system, ensuring seamless progress in development [and] the new version of the AI super-sampling algorithm underwent significant optimizations at the engineering level. Our R&D team successfully completed the full deployment process in just a single day.”

Well, what can we say? It feels good to be on the right side of karma. But what’s in the future for the mind-bending, time-twisting thriller? “For us,” Yonghe Wang explains, “this isn’t the end of the journey, but rather the beginning of an IP universe. We hope to create more content across different timelines in the future to resonate with players.” Karma is an endless loop after all. See you on the flipside, gamers. KARMA: The Dark World releases on March 27th! 

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