Five Mysterious Murders is an open-world horror survival game built with Phaser, developed solo by Nick Silencer. Set in rural Louisiana, it flips the classic slasher movie formula: you are not the teenager trying to survive, you are the killer. Currently in Early Access on Steam, the game features trap crafting, crop growing, enemy pathfinding, and over 15 unique execution methods, all running in a large isometric open world.
Open-World Horror Game Built Solo with Phaser
Five teenagers travel to Springhill, Louisiana, to shoot a YouTube video about a notorious local serial killer. You play as the monster hunting them down one by one. Set traps, create distractions, craft weapons, and manage your survival in the wilderness, all within an expansive open world filled with secrets.
The game is currently in Early Access, with Nick planning regular monthly updates and major updates every three months. He expects the Early Access phase to last at least three years, with plans to add more locations, story-driven mechanics, and smarter and more competitive enemies.
Built with Phaser, React, and Electron
The stack behind Five Mysterious Murders reflects Nick's background as a JavaScript developer with over 10 years of experience. Phaser handles the game engine, React powers the UI, and Electron packages the game for desktop distribution. The rest, Nick wrote himself.
The game's world is rendered using 144 isometric layers of 20x20 tiles each, loaded on the fly based on the player's position. To manage this, Nick built his own scene editor. Enemy pathfinding runs in a separate thread to avoid performance bottlenecks on the large map.
Creator Interview
Q: Where did the idea for Five Mysterious Murders come from, and what made you want to build a game where you play as the killer?
A: I love the games like The Forest, Rake, BIGFOOT, and Firewatch. I got the idea after watching a few slasher films and combined a few things together.
Q: With so many interacting systems (traps, crafting, crop growing, enemy behaviour) in a single open world, how do you recommend keeping the codebase from turning into chaos?
A:
- Use TypeScript
- Structure the project well from the beginning. Split the code into small reusable modules / pure functions, covered well with unit tests
- Use OOP patterns
- Encapsulate the visual rendering code from the gameplay logic code
- Use a global state (e.g., React context) and share it between UI and Phaser
- Use automatic tests (e.g. Jest)
- Take care of performance
Q: The execution methods, the traps, the crafting... which mechanic took the longest to get right?
A: Performance was the problem most of the time. The rest was really easy.
I spent most of the time to be able to render the big map in a performance-safe way. It consists of 144 isometric layers of 20x20 size each. They render on the fly depending on a player's position. I also made my own scene editor that allows me to design a particular layer. Pathfinding for enemies took a while as well. I have to split the whole map into cells and then mark them as walkable and non-walkable depending on the objects inside. Since the map is big, I have to process pathfinding in a separate thread for better performance.
Q: You used AI tools to generate some textures and sounds. Which tools did you use, how did you integrate them into your workflow, and what tips would you give other solo devs looking to do the same?
A: Regarding images, almost everything is drawn by a human. I worked with two extremely talented freelancers from Upwork. No one believes that, but I have payment slips and conversation history to prove 😄 Zero AI was used for nature, buildings, and other environmental elements. Original pictures of characters were designed and drawn by a human as well. I only used Nano Banana from Google to generate more alternative poses for the humans.
As for sounds, all were made by AI, but I want to redo them with real voice actors one day. The tool I used is Speechify Studio.
Q: Why did you choose Phaser for this project, and how has it held up throughout development?
A: Firstly, it is a really great framework! Secondly, I've been working with JavaScript for more than 10 years, so I feel more comfortable with it than with other libraries or engines.
Q: What other tools or libraries have been essential to the project?
A: I used React for UI and Electron for packaging and distribution. The rest I wrote by myself.
Q: What advice would you give to other solo devs tackling an ambitious open-world game for the first time?
A: It is still very raw, and I still don't know where the project will lead me. I guess it is too early to give advice.
Q: What is next for Five Mysterious Murders, and do you have any other projects in mind after this one?
A: I have many new features in mind. I want to add more characters, locations, and side mechanics. Also, I want to add an ending chapter where you can play one of the victims. But first, I want to expand the game's community to start getting more varied feedback from players.
Five Mysterious Murders is available now on Steam in Early Access. Play it and leave your feedback to help shape the game.