Hey everyone,
small new update from Desecrated Deck.
I’ve been working on a strange but surprisingly useful first-person detail: the player can sometimes vape during the ritual.
It is not a manual “press button to vape” mechanic. The animation can trigger automatically between gameplay moments, especially after drawing cards or during short pauses in the ritual.
At first it was just a funny little idea, but it actually helps the pacing a lot. Since Desecrated Deck is built around tense card draws, item cards, life cards, rock-paper-scissors duels and ritual consequences, I wanted the player character to have small human moments between the cursed decisions.
The vape animation gives the player a short break, adds personality, and makes the ritual feel a bit more grounded and uncomfortable — almost like Ethan is trying to calm himself down while sitting in the middle of something he should never have started.
Right now I have 3 different vape animations implemented. The smoke itself is still temporary, and I’ll add a proper Niagara smoke effect afterwards to make it feel more atmospheric.
I’m curious what you think about small immersive details like this in horror games.
Do they make the character feel more real, or would you rather keep horror gameplay focused only on the core mechanics?
Cheers,
Elvis