Vertigo is a first-person surreal, atmospheric exploration prototype in Unreal Engine 5, built around a gravity-flipping traversal mechanic. The experience is mostly linear, using brutalist architecture, scale, fog/lighting, and sound to create an eerie mood and make the player feel disoriented inside the space.
The project started as a personal goal to learn UE5 and practice level design by building a walking-simulator style environment focused on mood and player experience. Later, gravity flipping became the core idea, so I shaped the level around it and added light gameplay beats during exploration (simple obstacles, a few puzzle-like moments, and clear flip platforms with visual cues).
Built solo, I owned the full experience: environment blockouts, level flow, and the gravity-flip mechanic, making sure the spaces supported exploration, readability, and the intended mood.
Project Origin
I wanted to get better in Unreal Engine 5 by building a full, eerie environment.
I was inspired by games like NaissanceE, where the space itself creates tension and curiosity.At first, Vertigo was not about “making puzzles.”
It was about creating a place that feels strange, quiet, and unsettling, a space you want to move through slowly, while trying to understand what you’re looking at.
While building the first spaces, I started thinking:What if movement inside the level is the main challenge?
Not enemies. Not UI. Just the player, the space, and a rule that changes how you navigate.That’s when the core mechanic idea appeared.
Once I saw how strong the mechanic felt inside this kind of architecture, Vertigo shifted from “environment practice” into a mechanic-driven level design project.My early brainstorming came from architectural concepts and spaces that feel built around control and observation, not comfort.
The next section shows that process step-by-step, using early sketches, first blockouts the first playable layout!
Level Design
How I Start (Research / Approach)
For Vertigo, I started the same way I usually do: from architecture.I wanted the space to feel brutalist, heavy, and a bit unsettling. I always find it fascinating how much emotion you can create only with shapes, scale, and composition — without characters, dialogue, or story.
So my “research” is mostly visual:•I collect references (real brutalist buildings + game mood references)•I look for strong silhouettes, deep shadows, long corridors, and big empty space•Then I try to recreate that feeling using very simple blocks firstThis is also how I worked in Project Echo. I like using architecture as the foundation, and then building gameplay on top of it.
Room 1 – First Blockout (The Corridor)
After experimenting with basic blocks, I built my first real space: a corridor / path.
This room was not meant to be final content.Its main purpose was to help me:
•Learn Unreal Engine tools and workflow
•Understand scale and camera feeling
•Test how the player moves through a space I designedAt this stage, I focused on simple brutalist shapes and a forced route.
I also started working on a round corridor shape to explore a more interesting flow.
Once I began experimenting with gravity, I came back to the corridor and reworked it.The corridor was still the same “path,” but gravity allowed something new:
the player could experience the exact same space from a completely different perspective like unlocking a new dimension in the room.This is when the corridor stopped being only a learning blockout and became a real design tool for:•Testing how readable the space is when the player is rotated•Testing comfort and camera control while flipped
shaping mood with atmosphere (I added fog during this phase)I also made small player adjustments during this stage (slower movement, debug viewing angles) to make testing the corridor easier and more controlled.
Room 2 — Part 1
After the corridor, I built another room that felt like a storage / service area.
The main reason was simple: I wanted to test what I could do with pillars (spacing, rhythm, and visibility).Around this time, the idea for gravity manipulation started to appear.
Because of that, I reworked this room into a mirror room: two sides that are almost the same, with small differences to help orientation and make the space readable.
Room 2 — Part 2 (Later Iteration / Puzzle)
Later, I came back again and turned the room into a small puzzle space.I “destroyed” the room — as if there was an explosion.
Parts of the path are blocked, and the player must move through ruins and debris to progress.The goal is to find a way through the broken space and destroy gravity switch plates that are blocking the route.
