The Aquarium ended up being composed of two combined zones we were working on - the Aquarium and the Zoo. Some of the original level concepts for the Zoo involved riding gondolas between animal enclosures. The whole area was like a boss rush. Based on abandoned Zoos.

In the Royal Peak, a group of human survivors named "Severance" would be found holed up in a radio tower trying to make contact with the outside world. Luca could help them try to get the tower up and running again, much to Rhem's dismay.

Very early on we had a few areas that were cut for scope, understandably. The Observatory. Royal Peak. Highway Wastes. In the Observatory, I wrote about a character named The Artist whose Possessor fed off of their creative energy. The museum-like area would've been covered in layers of graffiti.

Many of the characters had internal names that shifted over time before we landed on their final ones.

A few of our support NPCs were originally named after their profession/purpose. The Hunter, The Professor, The Crafter.

Rhem was originally called Redd. Dessa was Desha. And Vargus.