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Nov 30, 2023

How This Bed We Made Devs Crafted a Noir Mystery That Stays True to Its Identity

Game Rant speaks with This Bed We Made's narrative writer about the research behind the game and finding inspiration in peculiar places. This Bed We Made follows the story of Sophie, a maid at a hotel

Game Rant speaks with This Bed We Made's narrative writer about the research behind the game and finding inspiration in peculiar places.

This Bed We Made follows the story of Sophie, a maid at a hotel in the 1950s, and features a compelling design that recalls the mood of mystery and film noir. Rife with stylish mid-century flair, Lowbirth Games' newest indie title is teeming with puzzles, mysteries, and murder. Those who want to start uncovering its secrets can play the demo now on Steam, with the full game slated for release on PC sometime in 2023.

Game Rant recently had a chance to speak with narrative writer and marketing director Sai Afzal about the team’s detailed period research, which aided Lowbirth Games in crafting a game that feels authentic and true to its time.

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This Bed We Made is a murder mystery set in the 1950s in the Clarington Hotel. Players take control of Sophie, a maid who snoops around uncovering and analyzing clues in an effort to try and solve the mysteries of the enigmatic guests of the Clarington Hotel. The game features a variety of puzzles, characters, and narrative bits set in a true-to-form 1950s hotel environment that is oozing with secrets, glamor, and murder.

Afzal notes that This Bed We Made draws inspiration from a multitude of places, ranging from real life experiences to fictional movie and game worlds. Initially, the idea to set the game in a hotel was inspired by Lowbirth founders Chloe, Raphaelle, and Olivier, who had all had experience working in hotels themselves. But as the team grew over time, so did the scope of the project, bringing on a dozen or so devs to help expand on the idea.

Tonally the game draws inspiration from film, and the team looked to other games to inspire features like pacing and mechanics. Afzal cites the classic films of Alfred Hitchcock as being a huge influence on the game’s overall tone and rising tension, whereas Life Is Strange and L.A. Noire inspired the pacing and investigative mechanics, respectively. While these previous works were paramount to crafting the overall feeling of This Bed We Made, the team also found inspiration from looking at the style choices of the time.

“Games like the Life is Strange series inspired the pacing and style of gameplay, and L.A. Noire inspired the mechanics behind uncovering clues and executing an investigation.”

One crucial part of making sure the game’s mood was true to the period in which it is set was doing an enormous amount of research into the design of interiors, objects, and fashion from the 1950s. Over time the team compiled a database for reference and would even defer to older relatives when necessary just to make sure everything felt right. This included not only looking at common, everyday items from the time but also considering some more peculiar items one may not consider off the top of their head.

This is where the nightmare-fuel that is the vintage Valentine’s Day card comes into play. In a blog post on Lowbirth’s website, Afzal shares a story about the process of researching and writing a story beat in which a controlling man is to marry an apprehensive fiancée. The studio needed to design an item that could convey this story to the player effectively, so it decided a card designed in the style of the time would be best, which proved to be a wise decision.

What the developer found were dozens of Valentine’s Day cards proudly donning images of boys and men claiming their women. This ranges from cute wordplay featuring cherubic boys brandishing guns and “aiming at your heart,” to the not-so sublime image of a man literally strangling a woman and asserting “now or never WILL you be my valentine.” This is quite shocking nowadays, but may not have been in the past. Regardless, the inspiration seemed to fall right into Afzal’s lap.

“Historical accuracy is important for a sense of immersion, but we’re still making a video game that we want players to have fun playing”

Lowbirth Games has worked tirelessly to ensure the vision it set out to achieve represents the time in which the game is set through careful research and synergy of various cultural aspects of the 50s. The glamor of film noir mixed with modern puzzle solving and choice-based mechanics is sure to make it an enjoyable experience for anyone looking to indulge in a bit of mystery (with a touch of murder).

This Bed We Made is anticipated to release in full on PC some time in 2023.

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Chris' earliest video game memories include playing Super Mario 64 with his older brother and that off-putting laughter scene in Final Fantasy X. Previously a News Writer, he is now an Interview Reporter for Game Rant. Chris is a lover of hearty narratives, indie games, and all things PlayStation.