POLLARD STUDIO, the Team behind KARMA: The Dark World

This interview was conducted with Lu Chen and Yonghe Wang, respectively executive producer and CEO of Pollard Studio. Wired Productions and Pollard Studio kindly sent us a key of the game to be able to prepare this interview and we kindly thank them for this! 

Point’n Think: Pollard Studio was founded in 2018, so it’s been almost seven years now. Can you tell me about this journey and what led you to create the studio and eventually bring Karma to life?

Lu Chen: Our studio was founded in 2018, and we started working on Karma in 2020. You might wonder what happened during those three years in between. Well, in the beginning, we didn’t have much funding to start our own project. We had a concept, but without financial support, we couldn’t hire a team. At the time, there were only three of us in the studio, so to keep things running, we took on outsourcing work. That allowed us to slowly bring more people on board, people who genuinely loved Karma and its narrative.

Thankfully, we eventually secured the funding to begin full development. But even with that, it’s been a long road, almost four years now. We faced many challenges along the way, the biggest one being financial constraints. We aimed for high quality, but with limited resources, creating assets, 3D models, environments, animations—required far more manpower than we had. Since we couldn’t afford a full production team, we had to continue outsourcing while working on Karma to keep the studio afloat.

Despite these challenges, we remained focused on making the best game possible, carefully managing our budget to ensure we maintained a high level of quality.

Point’n Think: How did your partnership with Wired Productions come about? At what point did they get involved, and how did they help, financially, with marketing, or both?

Lu Chen: Personally, I was a big fan of Deliver Us the Moon, which was published by Wired Productions. Then, in 2022, they released Martha is Dead, a horror game that really caught my attention as well. So, I decided to reach out to Wired’s CEO, Leo. We had long discussions about Karma, its themes, its narrative, and I quickly realized that Leo shared our creative vision. He really connected with the game’s dark, introspective storytelling. That was the foundation of our collaboration.

Wired Productions provided us with a lot of support, especially in marketing. As a Chinese studio based in Shanghai, we didn’t have many direct opportunities to connect with Western audiences. But Karma has themes that align more with Western dystopian fiction, things reminiscent of East Germany, Orwellian influences, so Wired helped us bridge that cultural gap. They also supported us in practical ways during development, assisting with QA testing, PlayStation 5 porting, and localization, work that would have been incredibly difficult for us to handle alone. Their help was invaluable in bringing Karma to a wider audience.

Point’n Think: The game has a distinctly Western or European feel, as you mentioned. Playing through it reminded me of how FromSoftware, a Japanese studio, approaches European medieval settings, integrating Western horror tropes in their own way. Karma does something similar with its dystopian world. And of course, there’s a lot of David Lynch inspiration! But first, let’s talk about the game’s narrative. It blends psychological horror with deep philosophical themes. How did you develop the story, and what led you to incorporate those ideas into the game?

Yonghe Wang: At the very beginning, when we started working on Karma, I personally wanted to explore the essence of humanity. It’s about imagination, about the origins of pleasure and suffering. I wanted people to reflect on what it means to be human, to look at themselves and the world around them in a different way. The game is built on the idea of cause and effect, which ties into its themes.

So, to explain a bit more, Yonghe, our creative lead, is strongly anti-war. He dislikes the way many games focus on competition, where there always has to be a winner and a loser. He doesn’t personally enjoy that type of game. But he also understands why people are drawn to them. Society puts so much pressure on us, and for many, games provide an outlet, a place to escape, to achieve victory, to feel a sense of release. We respect that.

However, he wanted to create something different, something that doesn’t rely on those traditional competitive structures. Instead, Karma uses its setting, its different cultural influences, and its dystopian themes to make players reflect on themselves and their place in the world. It’s a game where every action has meaning, where karma exists in every moment, shaping the world around you. That’s why these elements were so important in the game’s narrative.

Point’n Think: Karma is set in a world controlled by the Leviathan Corporation, and we uncover pieces of its influence gradually. There’s a strong dystopian feel to it, something reminiscent of 1984’s Big Brother or the imagery of the USSR. How did you envision the role of this corporation in building the world of Karma? From what I’ve seen so far, everything seems to be connected to it in some way. How did you approach that aspect?

Yonghe Wang: Leviathan Corporation is essentially the foundation of this world, it controls everything in this city. Every aspect of daily life, from technology to scientific advancements, is directly created and maintained by Leviathan. Even the televisions, the hidden surveillance systems, everything is a product of the corporation. Their goal is to construct a “perfect” city, one where efficiency is the highest law. The belief is that the more efficiently people function, the better society will be. It’s a strict and highly controlled system.

Of course, that sounds incredibly dark, but that’s only the surface of what Leviathan really is. There’s something much deeper beneath it. The corporation itself is not the ultimate power, it is, in fact, controlled by something even higher: Mother. Mother is the true overseer, the entity that dictates everything. But here’s the catch, Mother is no longer fully functional. There’s a reason for that, though I can’t reveal too much. Behind Mother, something even darker lurks in the shadows.

For Karma, we wanted to introduce these elements subtly, leaving clues for players to piece together. The idea was not to lay everything out at once but to build curiosity, why does Leviathan have so much control? How does it influence not just society, but people’s thoughts and consciousness? Maybe in a future project, we’ll be able to explore what happened before Leviathan became this all-encompassing force. How did it rise to power? What events led to the world being the way it is in Karma? That’s a story I think would be very interesting to tell.

Point’n Think: The game uses a non-linear storytelling approach, which was really effective in the demo. It starts with a character who doesn’t know who he is, then dives into someone else’s mind, entering an environment that feels straight out of Giger’s imagination. How did you approach this kind of storytelling? Was it difficult to balance the fragmented narrative while maintaining a coherent story arc?

Lu Chen: Actually, our storytelling isn’t exactly non-linear. There’s no traditional timeline, but rather than following a single structured path, we break the story into different segments. We want players to experience the narrative in layers, some may only grasp the surface-level story about Daniel’s family, while others who explore deeper will uncover the game’s larger world and its hidden complexities. This was something I really enjoyed in Resident Evil when I was younger, the idea that there’s always more beneath the surface.

So while Karma follows a single storyline, we’ve fragmented its presentation. This approach might make players feel like the game jumps across different timelines, but in reality, everything is part of the same sequence. Our goal was to encourage discussion, players piecing together clues, sharing theories, and forming their own interpretations. Yonghe, in particular, was inspired by BioShock, he loved the way players could collect evidence, find hidden details, and discuss their discoveries with others. We didn’t just want to connect players to our characters; we wanted them to connect with each other, exchanging thoughts and perspectives on Karma’s world.

Point’n Think: Continuing with the game’s themes, Karma deals a lot with memory and identity, especially since we spend much of the game diving into the minds of suspects. Can you explain how memory and identity are explored through gameplay and character development?

Yonghe Wang: Memory plays a crucial role in Karma. The main character, Daniel McAlvin, has been part of the Leviathan Corporation since childhood. Everything in his mind, his beliefs, his sense of duty, was instilled in him by the corporation. At the start of the game, he appears cold, emotionless, strictly following orders. He treats his colleagues with detachment, and when he interrogates criminals, he’s ruthless. This is the Daniel that Leviathan has shaped.

But as the story unfolds, players will begin to see cracks in this persona. Beneath his programmed behavior, Daniel has a deeply human side, he feels, he cares. He starts to show concern for his colleagues, especially Sean. His interactions with Rachel reveal a different side of him, one that can be vulnerable, even expressive. This transformation is something we wanted players to experience firsthand. In the beginning, the player embodies Daniel’s cold and detached nature. But as the story progresses, they don’t just see his emotions, they feel them. By the time they reach the later chapters, they should have a deeper emotional connection to both the character and the world around him. We hope this evolution makes Daniel’s journey resonate more, allowing players to reflect not only on his identity but also on their own perceptions of morality, control, and free will.

Point’n Think: That leads me to one of the most fascinating gameplay mechanics, the mind-diving headset used during interrogations. I love how it allows us to relive the same memories as Sean or Rachel, but depending on the connection, things can turn surreal. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s just a distortion of memory. How did you design this feature? 

Yonghe Wang: Since Daniel and the other Leviathan agents are trained to dive into people’s minds and reconstruct their memories, we needed to create an experience that felt both grounded and disorienting at the same time. We wanted players to feel that shift when entering someone’s mind, where reality and memory intertwine.

One of the key design elements was making players suddenly aware that they are no longer in the real world. To achieve this, we manipulated art, audio, and atmosphere to create subtle but impactful changes. For example, we used visual distortions, like warping or twisting elements of the environment, to make the transition into memory space feel immediate and unsettling.

In terms of sound design, our sound director, Skeng Li, took a very specific approach. For the real world, he incorporated natural, tactile sounds, human touches, footsteps, the rustling of paper—to make everything feel authentic. But when shifting into memory space, he replaced these with eerie, distorted sounds, unnatural echoes, reversed whispers, and unsettling ambient tones, to create an entirely different sonic environment.

Lighting also played a crucial role. Yonghe carefully adjusted the lighting in each scene to make the real world feel stable and grounded, whereas the memory world is marked by unnatural hues, deeper contrasts, and sometimes even an absence of light. The goal was to subtly guide the player’s perception, making them instinctively feel when they were stepping into a space that wasn’t entirely real.

Ultimately, this balance between reality and memory wasn’t just about visual or audio cues, it was about making the player question what they were experiencing. The mind-diving mechanic forces them to piece together the truth, knowing that every memory is unreliable in some way. That tension is what makes the experience immersive and, hopefully, unsettling.

Point’n Think: The game has such a strong sense of visual identity. Early on, when diving into Sean’s memory, stepping into that first surreal room felt like entering something straight out of Twin Peaks’ Black Lodge. It was incredibly powerful, immediately, you sense that you’re experiencing emotions and fractured memories rather than just reliving past events. That brings me to the technical aspect. You mentioned earlier that you’re using Unreal Engine 5, and I have to say, the environments look stunning. How did you use the engine to craft such detailed worlds? Were there any specific visual features you’re particularly proud of?

Lu Chen: We actually started the project on Unreal Engine 4, but as soon as Unreal Engine 5 was publicly available, we switched to it almost immediately. We’re really grateful to companies like Epic Games for continuously updating their technology and making it accessible to developers like us. Since Karma is so focused on environment and atmosphere, Unreal Engine 5 was a massive help in improving our artistic quality. We used Lumen for dynamic global illumination and Nanite for handling high-detail assets without performance loss. These features allowed us to achieve richer lighting and textures while maintaining performance, especially on PS5 and PS5 Pro. That optimization was a big advantage.

Point’n Think: The world feels deeply atmospheric, with every frame looking like a piece of artwork. There’s a strong sense of influences, but at the same time, you’ve crafted something unique. How did you approach designing these spaces, particularly in differentiating between dreams, memories, and the real world?

Yonghe Wang: That’s a great question. When designing the environments, we wanted players to feel a distinct shift between these different realities. One of our main inspirations was how fragmented memories work, memories are never perfectly linear, and they aren’t fully reliable. For example, in a dream-like level, we structured environments to feel disjointed, almost like film editing—cut, cut, cut—where one moment you’re in a corporate office, and the next, you’re somewhere completely different. It reflects how memories work: not as a continuous, unbroken sequence, but as fragmented, abstract recollections.

We also played with color palettes and visual motifs to create contrast. One room may feel sterile and corporate, while the next is overwhelmingly surreal and chaotic, reinforcing the unreliable nature of memory. These jumps create unease and uncertainty, making players question what is real.

Point’n Think: That definitely came through, especially with Lucas’s section, it was this vast underground space filled with unsettling elements. It created such a strong sense of tension.

Lu Chen: Another key design choice was how memories transform people and places. In real life, a person may look completely normal, but in someone’s subconscious, they could appear monstrous or entirely different, because memories are shaped by perception. That’s why, in Karma, a character might be human in the real world but appear as a beast or an unnatural entity within a dream. The environments reflect that same idea. Even when locations are based on reality, they are distorted in the memory world, exaggerated by emotion, fear, or guilt. This is how we built dream levels that are both visually striking and thematically connected to the game’s deeper psychological layers.

Point’n Think: Can you tell me about Karma’s influences? I brought up David Lynch earlier, but there’s also a clear inspiration from H.R. Giger in some areas, especially when entering those unsettling spaces filled with organic, biomechanical elements. There’s also a sense of dystopian control that reminded me of Orwell’s 1984. What were your biggest inspirations when creating the game?

Yonghe Wang: Yes, 1984 by George Orwell was a huge reference for us, especially when designing the oppressive nature of Leviathan Corporation. And, of course, David Lynch, his movies and Twin Peaks influenced a lot of our approach to surreal storytelling. We also took inspiration from Bioshock, which is one of our favorite games, as well as certain cinematic influences, including Stephen King and the Coen Brothers.

And from an artistic standpoint, we drew from a lot of classic art movements as well. I’d love to get more details from our art director on those specific inspirations. 

Point’n Think: Switching gears a bit, let’s talk about the soundtrack. You already mentioned how the sound design distinguishes between the real world and the dream world, but Karma also has fully produced tracks with lyrics. Music plays a massive role in the immersion of the game, how did you approach composing the soundtrack?

Lu Chen: The music and sound design were led by Geng Li, our sound director, who is based in Los Angeles. Even though we’re working from different countries, we have a close creative relationship, and he played a huge role in shaping the game’s audio experience. He worked not only on the soundtrack but also on the sound effects and voiceover integration. He barely sleeps! (laughs) That’s probably why he had so much time to perfect the sound design.

One thing he mentioned that I found really interesting is how he hid small audio cues throughout the game. When you’re getting closer to the truth, you’ll start hearing subtle true sounds. It adds another layer of immersion for players who pay close attention. And, as we discussed earlier, the sound design changes dramatically between the real world and the memory world. In the real world, Geng used a lot of natural, physical sounds, things like human touches, ambient noise, and realistic soundscapes. In contrast, for dream sequences, he incorporated electronic distortions and unsettling, eerie sounds. 

One of the ways we managed to align our vision across different time zones was through shared music libraries. Yonghe and Geng Li have a private playlist on Apple Music and other platforms where they regularly exchange tracks. It helps keep everyone on the same page emotionally and tonally when working on the game.

Point’n Think: You’ve hinted at Karma being part of a larger universe. Are you already thinking about expansions, DLC, or perhaps a new game set in the same world? Or do you plan to explore a completely different universe for your next project?

Lu Chen:  (laughs) We can share a little bit. I can’t say too much, but I can give you a small tease. Karma is just one part of a much larger timeline in our universe. From a narrative perspective, it’s not the beginning of the story. There’s a whole history that predates what players experience in Karma, and we have many more stories to tell.

The larger universe is something we call The Dark World. Karma is just one chapter in that world. In Karma, players encounter Leviathan Corporation, but the deeper mystery is, what came before Leviathan? How did this corporation gain such control? That’s something we’re excited to explore in future projects.

Each of our planned stories takes place in different timelines, so we want to reveal the past, present, and future of The Dark World through multiple games.

Point’n Think: And Karma has a strong East German dystopian influence, would future games take inspiration from different settings?

Lu Chen: We based Karma in East Germany because its historical context fit well with the themes of control and surveillance. But Leviathan Corporation exists in a much larger world. Future stories could explore different cities, perhaps Tokyo, New York, or even France! Each city and country has its own unique culture, and we want to bring those elements into our world-building.

Ultimately, our goal is to tell deeply human stories, about relationships, emotions, love, and hate, through the lens of different societies and time periods. No matter how dystopian the setting, we always want to focus on people and their experiences.

Point’n Think: How do you hope players will reflect on their experience once they’ve finished Karma? You mentioned earlier that you didn’t want to create a competition-based or war-focused game. But at the same time, you’ve included so many clues and layers that are sure to spark discussions and theories. That’s one of the best things about games, diving into subreddits and seeing how different people interpret the story. What are your hopes for how players will react?

Yonghe Wang: I hope Karma will bring a better life not just for the team, but for everyone who plays it. We faced a lot of financial struggles throughout development, so our biggest hope is that Karma brings people something meaningful, whether that’s reflection, enjoyment, or even just a different perspective. But at the same time, the game carries a deeper message.

We’re living in a time where so many tragic things are happening, wars, social inequalities, and an increasing gap between the rich and the poor. The world feels unfair in many ways. People are exhausted. They wake up, go to work, eat, sleep, and repeat. Life moves so fast that many don’t even have time to stop and think about what truly matters to them.

What we hope Karma does, beyond being a game, is make players pause for a moment. When they put down their controllers, when they step away from their keyboards, we want them to reflect on themselves. Who they are. What they truly care about. And most importantly, to consider the idea of Karma, that every action we take, big or small, has consequences that will eventually come back to us. No matter how difficult life is, no matter what struggles someone is going through, we want people to be aware of the choices they make. Because those choices shape not just their own future, but the world around them.