I Have Been Here Before?

A short, dreamy first-person exploration that trades traditional objectives for déjà-vu, nostalgia, and the quiet unease of places that remember you wrong.

Introduction

It all starts in this one room. Just a space where others pass by, pass through, without ever halting. It was a beacon to you - why did it feel endless, as if you'd come out again and again in the same space, were you to enter it? It feels infinitely familiar, like you have been there before, but you are sure you haven't.

As if you are moving through a dream, you start exploring the space, and you realise you want more. More of whatever it is it gives you. Are all these liminal spaces the same, while being different? While you progress, with every layer, you feel you are being pulled in deeper. Just when you think you hit the bottom, it lives on.

Some of these places exist in real life, others only in dream states - of the maker, or perhaps of you, the player. A surreal exploration through familiar yet impossible architecture: collective memories surface, evoking nostalgia for a place that perhaps never existed.

Key features

• First-person, singleplayer exploration focused on atmosphere

• Simple, tactile interactions that alter spaces and unlock new areas

• Progression through environmental discovery - no inventory

• Dreamlike architecture and an 80s / 90s-tinged nostalgic aesthetic

Gameplay

• Walk, run, look: straightforward first-person controls

• Interact with objects and mechanisms (switches, panels, doors)

• Environmental triggers reshape or reveal parts of the level

• Emphasis on mood, tension, and the feeling of dreamstates and déjà-vu

• No combat or complex puzzles - experience and interpretation drive progress

Estimated playtime

Approx. 30 minutes - 2 hours (depends on exploration depth)