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A Modern Metro Ghost Story - Transit Interview

We chatted with Toke Barter, founder of Fable Systems, about the upcoming VR game inspired by Nordic folklore.

Audio transcription

"Hi, we're here at Nordic Game. I'm Jakob from Gamereactor, and we have been speaking to a lot of developers, primarily from the Nordic scene, and right now we are standing here with a Danish developer called Fable Systems.
We are here with Toge, who is making the game Transit."

"Toge, what can you tell us about the game?
So the game is a modern ghost story that takes place in the metro system beneath the Nordics.
It stars a young girl called Jo, who's looking for her sister that has been lost."

"Very early in the game, she meets a sarcastic sockpuppet that takes her as a host, and needs to bring him back to the underworld, where he's been banished from. So under the ground we stand right now, there is, in reality, an ancient world where all our myths come from."

"So Skepner is like the Midgard worm you meet in the game. We have the Norns.
He's kind of a local character that's been banished in threads.
Yes.
So yeah, it's a it's a first-person game. There's gonna be some exploring, some dark places, it seems, but what kind of gameplay can we expect?
So through the game, in the very beginning, you're solving some basic puzzles to move on. So we have, in the very opening of the game, you actually have these phones that are ringing."

"So you need to figure out which one is ringing next, because you're caught in a time loop in the very beginning of the game.
But here, as you see the person you're playing, you are actually at a vending machine, and you're trying to stop the vending machine in the right place, so you get the sock out of it, out of the vending machine. It turns out that he's forgot the ticket."

"You need to move on to the next station, and he lures you actually onto the tracks in the station, and and when you actually get back from the tracks, you actually die getting hit by a train.
But you wake up again, and that's kind of the whole time aspect in it."

"And he then tells you off for being so stupid that you actually jump on the tracks.
So it's very much about the relationship between the player and the sock, whether you can trust him or not.
And he's kind of a silly character, grumpy, and he has this tendency of getting his hosts killed."

"So you need to build that relationship with him.
Of course you are inspired by this local setting, but what kind of other games or television or media inspired you in the creation of the game?
So one of our very main references is actually Twin Peaks."

"This game takes place in 94, two minutes before the world is going to end.
So the kind of characters and the mood, so there's a slight horror, but also the humor kind of outbalances that. So that's also why we call it a modern ghost story.
Another key reference has been Firewatch, the game, which is a narrative driven game where you talk to this other person in a fire tower through a walkie-talkie."

"There's a very strong voice acting between the two and the characters build. So here instead of the walkie-talkie, we actually have a sock.
The great thing about the sock is you can pop up and he can comment on things, he can tell you off.
And he kind of guides the player, but also misguides, misleads the player and it has a comment to everything."

"So like at a point, there's a surveillance camera that drops from the wall and the sock is like telling it off for like not giving it consent to film him.
And then later on, you actually discover a live feed of that surveillance camera, which is also looping and he sees himself and he's like, wow, I'm on TV. I'm a star now. So he's like intrigued by it."

"He's very double-sided.
Yes, another reference has been What Remains of Edith Finch, which is a game about coming to like an old house where a whole family has died and you get to visit, play through the deaths of all these family members."

"So in the game, you meet a series of souls that have been trapped in these soul traps, reliving their worst trauma in life.
And as a player, you actually have to help release them from this trauma so they can move on to the underworld.
So that's, I think those are like the key references for the game right now, but I would have lost for as well."

"Yeah, so a lot of games, especially games that have puzzle elements, have these kind of helpful sidekicks that sometimes they are so helpful that they actually give you the solution to the puzzles or say, look over there, have you tried that?
Is your game, when you're saying that this sock can also trick you, is your game kind of commenting on this trend?
I think yes and no. I think we looked at a lot of Stanley's Parable, which also has this kind of like, it's messing with your head."

"The narrator like takes this other role.
So it is, but I don't think we are that specific about it, to be honest.
So in terms of the development, do you have an estimate of when the game will release and which platforms are you targeting?
Yes, so we aim to release in the end of 26 and we are targeting both PC and consoles."

"It will potentially be the Sony PlayStation and also the Switch too, when that comes.
And a final question, what has so far in development been the most challenging aspect of making the game?
We have a soul puzzle in this game where you enter into this soul trap and you basically use this radio to tune between different memories and you get to then explore the memories and move things around and even though it's a very small part of the game, it's taking a lot of time to develop it and get the right feel and guide the player through."

"And that should be in place by next week when we start sending our builds out to the publishers.
Okay, thanks for the talk and good luck with development.
Thank you very much. Have fun and play our game."

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