The first OPUS game, The Day We Found Earth, released back in 2016. Since then, developers SIGONO have released another four games in the series, all with distinct, standalone stories that share the same universe. OPUS: Prism Peak is the latest entry in the series, releasing in April 2026 to strong reviews, and is a standout title of the year thanks to its touching story that many can relate to, its incredible animation and its fun and well-crafted camera mechanic.
We had an opportunity to talk with Brian Lee, the producer and creative director on the game, about its development, from creating its striking animation to the writing process and much more.
Hi, I’m Brian Lee, co-founder of SIGONO. On OPUS: Prism Peak, I mainly worked as the producer and creative director. My job was to help shape the overall vision of the game, the emotional core, the story direction, the pacing, and how all the different parts of the experience fit together.
What sparked the idea of OPUS: Prism Peak?
The idea started with a photographer who had become a little lost in life. Not just physically lost, but emotionally lost too. From there, we began thinking about photography not only as a mechanic but also as a way of looking at memory, regret, and the things people avoid facing directly.
The mountain setting came naturally after that. Mountains have this quiet feeling of distance and reflection. As you keep moving upward, it also feels like you’re moving deeper into yourself.
The game includes a wealth of important and heartfelt messages that relate to real life. How important was it for you to highlight these subjects in the way that you did?
It was very important, but I never wanted the game to feel like it was preaching to the player. For me, stories are most powerful when they leave room for people to bring their own feelings into them.
A lot of OPUS: Prism Peak is about regret, distance, love, and the difficulty of truly seeing the people close to us. Those are all very real things, but I wanted them to come through naturally, through the journey, the characters, and the act of taking photos, instead of being explained too directly.
I really enjoyed the writing throughout the game. How long did it take to write the script?
Thank you; that means a lot to hear. The writing process took a long time, because the script kept evolving alongside the game itself. We had the emotional core quite early, but the actual scenes, dialogue, and pacing were rewritten many times during development.
Because OPUS: Prism Peak is built around exploration and photography, the writing couldn’t exist on its own. It had to work with level design, animation, and the rhythm of how players discover things. So in a way, the script was being written and rewritten throughout most of development.
The dog was my favourite character in the game, especially with the little “woof” on the end of its sentences. Were these spirits always based on animals?
I’m really happy to hear that; we’re very fond of the dog too.
The spirits weren’t designed simply as animals from the very beginning, but we knew early on that we wanted them to feel familiar, expressive, and a little mysterious at the same time. Animal forms helped a lot with that. They let the spirits feel emotionally immediate but still a little otherworldly.
As for the little “woof”, that was one of those small touches that helped bring the dog’s personality to life. We wanted it to feel warm, odd, and sincere all at once.
The animation throughout the game is incredible. What is your process of creating the animation and incorporating it into the game?
Thank you. Usually, we start from the emotional purpose of a scene. Before we think about polish or technical details, we ask ourselves what the player should feel in that moment. Is the scene meant to feel gentle, awkward, painful, funny, or bittersweet?
From there, the team works through storyboards, timing, posing, and then implementation in-game. Since OPUS: Prism Peak is very story-driven, animation isn’t just there to make things look nice; it has to support the acting, the pacing, and the feeling of the scene. A lot of the work came from testing things in context and adjusting until the emotion felt right.
How long was the animation process? Was it challenging to design the many characters we meet and to bring out their personalities?
The animation work lasted through a large part of development. It was definitely challenging, especially because some characters don’t appear for very long, but we still wanted them to leave an impression.
For us, personality often comes through very small details: how someone pauses, how they avoid eye contact, how they react before they speak. Those things matter a lot. Even when a character has limited screen time, we still try to make them feel like they’ve lived a real life outside the scene you’re seeing.
OPUS: Prism Peak features one of the more robust camera mechanics in a game. Were there any challenges in using a camera as such an important part of the gameplay throughout the development?
Yes, definitely. Once the camera became one of the core mechanics, it started affecting almost every part of development, level design, puzzle flow, interface, world-building, and story delivery.
The biggest challenge was making photography feel meaningful without turning the game into a pure photography sandbox. We weren’t trying to simulate every aspect of taking pictures. What mattered more to us was that photography felt emotionally connected to the story, that looking through the lens actually changed how you understood the world and the people in it.
Did you plan to have even more camera functionality in the game that you had to cut?
Yes, we explored more ideas during development. Some were more system-heavy, some were more puzzle-driven, and some gave the player more freedom in how they interacted with the world.
But in the end, we cut back on features when they started pulling attention away from the emotional experience. OPUS: Prism Peak is a game about looking closely, reflecting, and gradually understanding things. If a feature became too busy or too gamey, we usually felt it was moving in the wrong direction.
Deciphering the language was one of my favourite aspects. What can you tell us about designing that part of the game?
I’m glad that stood out to you. We wanted the language to make the world feel ancient and mysterious, but not in a way that shuts the player out. It had to feel like something you could gradually understand through attention and observation.
That part connects closely to the larger themes of the game. A lot of things in life don’t become clear right away; you only understand them bit by bit after looking again or after living with them for a while. That felt very connected to both memory and photography.
The OPUS games have been going for a few years now, with Prism Peak being the fifth game in the series. Where does OPUS: Prism Peak sit with the other games?
OPUS: Prism Peak is a standalone story, so players can absolutely start here. But in terms of spirit, it’s very much part of OPUS.
The series has always been interested in love, soul, and self-fulfilment. Earlier OPUS games often looked outward, toward stars, space, and vast distances. OPUS: Prism Peak turns inward a little more. It’s more personal, more reflective, and maybe quieter in some ways, but emotionally it comes from the same place.
If you could describe OPUS: Prism Peak in one word, what word would that be and why?
I’d probably choose “reflection”.
Not only because the game is about photography, but also because it’s really about learning to look at the world, at other people, and at the parts of yourself you may have avoided for a long time. To me, OPUS: Prism Peak is about that quiet moment when something finally comes into focus.
OPUS: Prism Peak is out now on PC, PS5 and Nintendo Switch. You can also read our review of the game here.
