Dum Spiro

Dum Spiro is a horror game, which title comes from a Latin sentence “dum spiro, spero” - it means “while I breathe, I hope” and expresses main theme of the game: that even in the face of certain death people are still capable of deciding about their lives, defining its meaning through their actions towards the end and even triumph the evil in a symbolic way. Story takes places during years 1941-44 in Litzmannstadt Ghetto – a World War II ghetto established for Polish Jews, the second-largest ghetto in all of German-occupied Europe. Player takes role of the imprisoned boy who struggles against all odds in order to hide and save his little sister.Although at first glance the game looks as presented from first-person perspective (the view from the eyes of the main character), the aim and the main distinguishing feature of the game is the destruction of the so-called "fifth wall" separating the player from the presented history (to render him the recipient instead of a full-fledged participant).Unique aspects of the game focus on increasing immersion through the creation of a sense of player’s responsibility for characters’ activities, by giving him the freedom to make all the choices in the game and assessing their impact at the same time. These are:- Branching plot of the game - the game is divided into 3 acts, at the end of which the player makes a choice in determining which of the episodes he will play next. The main advantage of this is to call in the real sense of the player to decide about plot’s shape, and hence the responsibility for his decisions.- Dilemmas in subsequent acts chosen based on previous choices - thanks to that the tension created by the dilemmas in later acts escalates according to the best principles of drama history.- An extensive system of interpersonal relationships - based on smaller and more frequent decisions that do not alter the main events, but affect the state (emotional, mental, physical) of people who are close for the hero.