Hello everyone, I'm the producer of Annulus.
We've previously discussed why this game is called 'Annulus'—a worldview centred on rings, layers, and cycles.
This time, I'd like to introduce you to a more 'bizarre' aspect of our lore:
Reconstruction and Aberration, the Soul Cavities, and those 'hands' reaching into other planes.
1. Soul Cavities: Where Negative Thoughts Accumulate and Take Shape
Within the world of Annulus exists a peculiar space: the Soul Cavity.
One might envision it as—
A void in the world's psychological fabric, where all undigested emotions, negative thoughts, regrets, and fears flow.
Here, it is not merely emotions that gather, but also various 'Minis creatures' drawn to and bred by this negativity.
They resemble:
Fragments of dreams, incomplete in form
Lives gnawed away by emotion.
Or simply 'things' piled up from sheer obsession
The Soul Cavity is not a normal ecosystem,
but rather the world's spiritual junkyard + testing ground.
For us, this zone holds two core significances:
Narratively, it serves as one source of negative emotions and alienation.
Design-wise, it grants us a space unconstrained by ''normal physical laws.''
Many outlandish object combinations, terrain structures, and even enemy forms can be plausibly justified by declaring: this place is inherently abnormal.
2. Ring Array: Environment and Life Drawn into a Shared ''Pathological Cycle''
In the depths of the soul's cavities, a structure emerges: the “Ring Array”.
When the Ring Array activates or persists over time—
Everything around it is drawn into a process of “Reconstruction and Aberration”:
Trees develop skeletal patterns, with vein-like and rib-like textures entwining their bark
Stone surfaces acquire skin-like textures, pores, and even ‘wounds’
Once-independent creatures become fused to the ground or walls, as if ‘welded’ into reality like corrupted files
We wish players to grasp instantly:
Here, ‘environment’ and ‘creature’ are no longer distinct entities.
They have been forcibly bundled into a loop by a force beyond comprehension.
Conceptually, this carries two layers of meaning:
A power transcending human understanding:
It directly rewrites creatures' genetics and mechanisms, inducing an 'overbinding' to their environment,
ultimately transforming them into 'environment-creature hybrids'.
A re-examination of ‘nature’:
Nature has never been mere backdrop;
Organisms and environment have always formed a cyclical whole, mutually influencing and consuming each other—
Only we seldom witness such a starkly ‘naked’ version.
Within the confines of the ring array,
Boundaries continually blur:
Where ends terrain? Where begins life? Where lies the curse?
3. Thought Solidification: When ideas cease to flow and become ''objects''
The soul cavity does not merely reshape the physical form;
it also intervenes with thought itself.
We often discuss an internal question:
When thoughts fuse with solid matter,
might a wholly new mode of cognition emerge—
a “fixed plane of thought”?
Under normal circumstances, thought flows freely;
within the Soul Cavity, however, certain ‘ideas’ become frozen, fixed, crystallised—
visually, you might perceive something akin to this (target direction):
‘Fragments of thought’ suspended in the air like crystals, within which symbols and text slowly rotate.
Words that were once incantations, prayers, or curses, materialised into twisted, three-dimensional scripts, embedded like stones in the ground or walls.
An action (a sword swing, a kneeling gesture, a prayer) frozen in mid-air, becoming part of the terrain.
Here, the 'thought' loses its dynamic capacity, yet gains a different kind of 'presence'.
It is no longer a mental construct, but rather an “obstacle” you can see, walk around, or even trip over.
4. The Hand: From Instrument of Creation to Transdimensional Tentacle
When we speak of 'dynamic capability', the hand naturally springs to mind.
In both reality and religious symbolism,
the hand embodies the power to create, execute, and shape the world.
Humans use hands to build, destroy, write, and heal
In religious imagery, the divine hand often signifies 'descent, intervention, creation'
Yet we must ask:
When detached from the source of thought, can the hand still be considered an instrument of creation?
Or does it become something else entirely?
Within the cavities of the soul, these reconfigured, alienated 'hands' have undergone several transformations (conceptually):
They no longer grow from bodies, but instead:
Are nailed to stone walls or pillars, like peculiar interfaces
They extend from fissures, black holes, and spatial rifts, as if emerging from another layer of reality
They no longer seem to 'obey a specific brain',
but are instead 'borrowed' by some higher-order will
For players, these hands are likely:
Trigger points for certain mechanisms
'Boundary lines' for specific domains
Evidence that certain entities are attempting to reach into our world
Here, the ''hand'' ceases to be merely a human tool, becoming instead a tentacle of unknown will reaching into reality.
This is a point we wish to emphasise visually and in design:
Where players encounter numerous ''hands'',
they will instinctively realise—
This is not merely a terrain hazard,
but ''something else'' attempting to touch the plane you inhabit.
5. We'd also love to hear your thoughts
Finally, we'd like to pose an open-ended question to those who've read this far:
If 'thoughts could solidify into physical form',
would you consider that a greater freedom, or a more terrifying prospect?
If within the game you could interact with/shatter/harness these 'solidified thoughts',
what kind of gameplay effects would you hope to see?
Feel free to share wild ideas, brainstorm, or even vent in the comments:
'This is utterly bizarre—I just want to get on with the fighting.'
We'll refine the world of Annulus while reviewing your feedback.
Thank you for taking the time to read this design note.
Next time, we'll discuss other 'rings' and the characters trapped within them.
With best regards,
The Annulus Development Team.