Ludum Dare Dropout ‘Pandora’s Box’ Explores A More Freakish Mentality

Terror Bull Games have released their freaky text-based adventure game, Pandora’s Box, which was originally going to be entered as part of Ludum Dare 22 but became something more ambitious than what could be achieved within the competition’s strict time frame.

The idea behind Pandora’s Box entered the developer’s mind when being issued with the theme of Ludum Dare 22, “Alone”. The game was originally intended to be “a mood piece that vaguely fostered feelings of loneliness and isolation” but it turned out a lot more complex and interesting than just that.

The developer got attached to the “dynamic madness” they had incorporated into the game and decided to explore it further. The result is Pandora’s Box; a nightmarish tale that revolves around a delusional character and their many fears and thoughts, constantly recycling events and losing track of time – “It might even be a new genre: A ‘whyisit’, rather than a ‘whodunnit’.”

The developer’s psychotic twist and turn-filled adventure is rather obscure but is handled in a pretty original way. It’s biggest problem, which is bizarrely also it’s strength at times, is the repetitiveness of your choices and consequences. These were all planned out in a proper DIY fashion as you can see in the developer’s planning map below:

The idea of the game is good but trying to seek some form of ending through gathering clues while constantly restarting the lucid trip gets a bit tedious. Still, Pandora’s Box is free to download and has a rather unique touch to it, plus text-based adventures rarely pop up nowadays are hold many people’s attention – the visuals in Pandora’s Box will certainly help you out there.

If you do want to see what it’s like to be inside a mental person’s mind, then you can download Pandora’s Box for Windows, Mac and Linux.

More information can be found on the official Terror Bull Games website.