A Letter to Frictional Games

This one comes from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you, Frictional Games — for inspiring me to make games where the environment does the talking, and where physics isn't a feature bolted on top, but the way the world itself works.

One of the very first games I ever played was the Penumbra tech demo you released back in 2006. I still remember it vividly. The physics floored me — reaching into the world and actually moving it, drawer by drawer, door by door. And I remember meeting the roach for the first time. It scared the absolute hell out of me.

I was six years old.

You're probably wondering what a six-year-old was doing playing a horror game. Honestly — I couldn't tell you. I was terrified. But I think that's exactly why horror doesn't shake me the way it shakes most people now. What stayed with me was never the fright itself — it was the atmosphere. That eerie feeling of standing somewhere you shouldn't be. Twenty years later, that feeling is the reason I make games.

So thank you to the entire team at Frictional Games — and especially to Thomas Grip, the genius behind the HPL engine, and Jens Nilsson, the studio's co-founder. You showed a six-year-old what a game could make you feel, and he never got over it.

And a special thank you to Mikko Tarmia. That tech demo menu theme has never left my head — it's part of the reason I fell in love with video game ambience, and with music production itself. The way his soundscapes carry a place, make it breathe, make it dreadful and beautiful at the same time — the man is an incredible talent. Thank you for inspiring me.