Devil's Tuning Fork

Devil's Tuning Fork is a student project from the DePaul University in Chicago (USA) and it is a first-person exploration game with platform and puzzle elements. The country is struck by an epidemic where young children enter a coma and do not wake up any more. Wielding a tuning fork, players get to explore an unknown world through one of the children who wakes up, but not in reality.

The environment is entirely dark, but using the fork the emitted sound waves will briefly light up the environment, inspired by M. C. Escher's classic optical illusion and the echolocation of dolphins. The game is divided into three chapters with different checkpoints in each of them. The worlds are filled with the cries and whispers of the comatose children, and the voices of the adults apparently responsible for the epidemic.

Walking around, it is impossible to see the environment, but the visual sound waves that originate from the fork reveal the outlines of objects. To progress, stuffed animals need to be located as these release the trapped children. There is an unlimited amount of sound waves, but the fork has a certain recharge time when too many are sent out too quickly. Next to the basic sound wave, there is also a concentrated sound used to bounce off mirrors and activate triggers, and a low frequency sound wave to detect unstable floor panels.

There are no visuals enemies inside the game. Instead most of the challenge originates from the exploration, platform jumping and solving puzzles by activating triggers. Dropping down, it is possible to die, but an unlimited amount of continues is available.