the last blue
click on the spirit for lore pdf
about
The Last Blue is a narrative-driven puzzle adventure set in a forgotten shrine powered by the energy of a lost civilization. You play as a young girl who uncovers the story of a lonely shrine spirit and their tragic past by deciphering a mysterious language. Together, you and the spirit navigate the shrine’s puzzles, revealing its secrets and seeking freedom for both the girl and the spirit.
I began working on The Last Blue as part of a group project centered around the theme "Once Upon A Time." Initially, our team brainstormed ideas, and the concept of an ancient shrine emerged—a mysterious place with a story hidden in scribbles on its walls. From there, the vision of a curious child discovering the shrine and attempting to understand its forgotten history began to take shape. This idea of deciphering the past through environmental storytelling and puzzles became the foundation for the game.
language
The deciphering system was inspired by Chants of Sennaar. The structure of the language was inspired by Arrival (2016). The focus is on abstract, semasiographic symbols to convey meaning through placement and context rather than traditional grammar.
that's what they look like
There are four ways of learning the language
​
Conversational
The Spirit speaks in the ancient language, allowing the player to pick up on meanings through context and repetition as they interact.
Pointables
The player can point at objects in the world, and the Spirit will respond with phrases that name or describe them.
Murals
Wall paintings tell stories from the past, giving the player visual hints to understand important words.
Puzzles
The player learns verbs by using the language in real-life situations, giving commands to change objects or manipulate the environment.
It features three main types of "Major Glyphs," each representing a different kind of sentence
​
Square
Represent simple statements or declarative sentences.
​
Circle
Indicate questions or interrogative sentences.
​
Diamond
Represent commands or imperative sentences.
As the player progresses through the game, every glyph they discover is added to their journal, where they assign meanings to words by interpreting them in context and building on previously learned ones through a choice system.
.png)
click for glyph pdf
Each stage of learning provides the player with enough words from various sources to unlock further translations. One set of words naturally leads to another, and the choices offered primarily use words the player has already learned, providing clues to decipher unfamiliar ones.
To solve the puzzles the player needs to understand how to manipulate the language by exploring the shrine, interacting with objects and the spirit. By solving the puzzles the player progresses through the levels and learns the story of the spirit.
storytelling
The murals in the shrine tell the story of the monks' rituals and the shrine children's role. On the first floor, they show the child healing visitors, highlighting their power to change reality with their voice. On the second floor, the murals depict the monks gathering nature’s energy and channeling it into a newborn, creating the shrine children and establishing the shrines.
mural sketches vs final murals
monks
Throughout the game, the player encounters statues scattered throughout the shrine, their purpose unclear at first. These figures are found near murals, positioned as if they were admiring the art. Others seem to point the direction, frozen mid-motion fleeing towards the exit, with some having fallen and shattered into pieces.
As the player goes deeper, they come across what seems as an army of statues standing in formation near the exit of the shrine, waiting to leave. Gradually, the player pieces together their identity. Their resemblance to the monks depicted in the murals combined with their lifelike poses, reveals that these statues were once living monks, forever frozen by the power they couldn't control.
children
On the second level, the player enters a dimly lit room glowing red, where two monk statues stand close to each other as if their connection was special, gazing at the tree of pods. Some pods are empty, but others hold small skeletons of shrine children, their shapes resembling a mix of fox and human. The dim light casts their shadows on the walls.
One pod stands apart from the rest, empty and untouched. It seems to have been the pod where the Spirit was kept as a baby before receiving the energy. That's when the Spirit emits dark energy being in destress from the truth and it's blue flame gets weaker.
animation
vfx
The Spirit's moods and energy are reflected in its movements and flickering energy. When happy, the Spirit runs floaty with light particles swirling around, performing a cheerful jump whenever the player solves puzzles.
In moments of fear or insecurity, the Spirit hugs itself tightly, emitting dark energy. The blue flame above its head symbolizes its life energy, shrinking progressively as the game advances. This same blue energy powers objects throughout the shrine.
I had to pose for the Spirit’s animations because I could see exactly how it should move in my head. So now I’ve got a whole folder of videos where I’m dramatically performing all the Spirit’s actions for the animators.
I’m not including it here, though it could've been a fun little bonus >:3
As the story unfolded in my imagination, I could clearly picture the character's movements and emotions, and how to reflect them through the environment. I had an idea of how the murals, colors, light, pacing, environmental details and language could all work together to tell the story.
ending cinematic
As the Spirit realizes the truth, its blue flame fades. The girl and the Spirit step outside for the first time, revealing a floating blue shrine above a dead city, surrounded by other powered-down shrines. As they ascend together to the surface, the shrine shifts from blue to red. The Spirit turns into a beam of light, disappearing and powering down the shrine, leaving it as a quiet monument to a forgotten civilization
retrospective
Working on The Last Blue was fun, stressful, insightful, challenging and incredibly rewarding. It pushed me to think outside the box and find creative ways to tell a story without relying on traditional dialogue or text. Being in charge of both the production and vision keeping was tough, especially since the game’s foundation was built on the lore and the story of the Spirit. The narrative shaped every other aspect of the game, from the environment to the language system, which made it both exciting and demanding. I’m particularly proud of the unique language system. It brings me joy to watch players’ thought processes as they decipher the story and connect emotionally with it. The challenges were real, but they made the final product feel satisfying. I’m quite happy with how the way the narrative comes to life through the world around the player.
If you haven’t checked out the lore doc yet but are more curious now, you can click on the Spirit