Welcome back to Insider Gaming’s 28 Games Later: A Horror Showcase. One of the games you saw as part of the show was Where Dolls Hang, and we have an exclusive interview with the game’s developer.
From Steelkrill Studios, Where Dolls Hang is a survival psychological horror game where you investigate a place plagued by strange and unsettling events filled with hanging dolls. Explore dangerous locations, gather evidence, uncover hidden secrets, and use your boat to confront the unknown as you search for answers.
As part of the show, we spoke with Steelkrill Studios founder Ryan Poretlli about Where Dolls Hang. Below you can find the full conversation. For more on the game, check out our full rundown.
Where Dolls Hang – 28 Games Later Interview
Q: How long has the game been in development?
A: Where Dolls Hang has been in development for almost a year now. I started working on it around November last year, and since then it has grown quite a bit from what I originally had planned, which was a much smaller game in my head haha. I’m developing the game completely solo, and this is by far the biggest project I’ve worked on so far.
Q: Can you talk about the game’s inspiration?
A: The main inspiration comes mostly from Mexican folklore, as well as a real place in Mexico called La Isla de las Muñecas, or the Island of the Dolls in English. It’s a really fascinating and creepy place filled with thousands of dolls hanging from trees and scattered throughout the island, and it also has a really dark and fascinating history behind it. When I first discovered it, I immediately thought it could make a really interesting setting for a horror game, and to be honest, I was also surprised by how little the location had been explored in games and even in films.
The game isn’t a recreation of the actual location, but I took that initial inspiration and built my own world and story around it. Games like The Forest, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Outlast have also been big inspirations, especially when it comes to the atmosphere, psychological horror, exploration, and that feeling of making the player feel vulnerable and never completely safe.
Q: During the game’s development, has the team faced any obstacles it had to overcome?
A: Since I’m developing the game completely solo, I would probably say the biggest obstacle is simply the amount of work involved and trying to juggle everything at once. I’m constantly switching between actually developing the game, fixing things, working on environments, optimizing it, creating trailers, marketing it, talking to people, and everything else that comes with creating any game haha.
So I think the biggest challenge has really just been managing all of that while still giving the game the amount of time and attention I want to give it.
Q: Was there a “eureka” moment where everything just clicked and started to come together?
A: Definitely when I started building the environments and actually filling them with the dolls and mannequins haha. Funny enough, the game was originally actually going to take place in an American suburban setting, while still taking inspiration from the real-life Island of the Dolls. But as I was developing it I started noticing that at least from the horror games I’ve played and seen, you don’t often get to explore Mexican and Latin American settings and folklore compared to some of the more common horror settings… so I mostly started experimenting with a Mexican setting, architecture, environments, and atmosphere, and that’s when everything kind of clicked for me. It gave the game much more of its own identity, and from that point I knew that was the direction I wanted to take it.
Q: What features are you the most proud of? What are you excited for players to experience?
A: Probably the atmosphere, but I’m also really proud of the film and VHS features that some of them feature myself. Throughout the game, you can actually find real films on VHS tapes that you can watch in-game. Some of them contain clues that are important to the story, while others are there mostly for fun. For example, you could sit there watching the full movie of Night of the Living Dead .. You know? While also hearing footsteps walking around outside the room, which I think can be pretty haunting haha. There’s also a lot of original footage throughout the game. Some of it was actually filmed by me personally, while for other parts I had an animator to create custom films and animations that players can discover throughout the environments.
I’m really excited for people to find all of that and start piecing things together. Mostly though in the end, I’m excited to see how people react to the game as a whole. In terms of the environments, graphics, atmosphere, and overall scale, this is by far the biggest game I’ve ever worked on, so I’ve been putting a lot of time into trying to make it the best game I can, and I hope some people enjoy it.
Q: You have 30 seconds or so to pitch to a player who’s looking for a new game to play. What would you say to them?
A: Where Dolls Hang is a psychological survival horror game inspired by a real location in Mexico filled with thousands of hanging dolls. You’ll explore forests, abandoned houses, caves, and coastal areas filled with dolls, mannequins, and porcelain figures while searching for clues and answers. You’re also equipped with a camera; resources are limited, and something is stalking you – so sometimes you’ll need to run and hide rather than fight.
If you like atmospheric horror games like Silent Hill and Outlast, mysteries that slowly reveal themselves, and you’re absolutely terrified of creepy dolls and a sucker for Mexican Folklore… then I think you’re going to have a pretty good time with this one.
Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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