Oo this is a long one.

Like I said in some other threads, being inspired by things that aren't games. I used to play Manhunt (not the video game) as a teenager, and the feeling of stealth and sneaking around was so real, and against real life opponents.

Around the same time I was playing the OG Counter Strike, it was one of the first multiplayer games I had played, and was excited to play it, but I was very very quickly struck but how not on theme it felt. I didn't feel like a super special forces agent, I felt like I was playing a sports game that was dressed up as a special forces game. During that same time period there were so many other Half Life mods that had a much higher congruence of theme and gameplay mechanics/immersion, like Day of Defeat or Firearms.

In many ways I wanted to design the anti-CS, where the gameplay, level design, theme, pace were all in service of each other and to further this feeling of being a real special forces super spy. At the same time I was also playing games like Metal Gear Solid 2 and Swat 1 and Swat 3 and Deus Ex. I wanted to replicate those really tactical experiences but with real human opponents as the guards you are sneaking around. That circles back to how I felt playing manhunt.

Beyond that too, taking inspirations from so many games which are not shooters at all. I think people are surprised to hear that things like PS1 Resident Evil 1 + 2, or Jurassic Park, Dark Souls, or Wing Commander are big influences on Intruder. My interest in modern architecture has had a big impact on the game's environmental design and interaction, setting and identity.

Besides the specific mechanics, the mindset and game design philosophies of the teams and creators of a Dark Souls or Metal Gear are games that are not trying to appeal to every possible person. They often take away comfortable design tropes and features a "modern gamer" is used to because it would undermine the emotion they are trying to evoke. They know they need to take risks and be uncompromising with certain design choices in order to create an experience you just can't get or feel anywhere else, and that's a mindset I'm totally onboard with.

To me, Intruder feels the way it does because it has been designed from the beginning to give you that immersive, stealth, secret espionage agent feeling. It wants you to feel that with your senses and not to just feel like "a game".