Inspirations?

[JudasPhysicist]

Hi I'd like to ask the devs a question.

What inspired you while developing this game?
Don't Starve is one that comes to my mind, but I can see STALKER
influences here and there as well. Obviously I'm not familiar with
Polish literature so may be missing out stuff from there.

[ZZtheTOP]

Im not a dev, but here is some things I have found relating to polish folklore
From my understanding a lot of the polish folklore influence is mainly visual (one quick google search and the art styel is dead on), but there are some bigger connections that may be able to be made.

19th century polish/slavic artwork (quite similar in aesthetic)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Witold_Pruszkowski-Rusalki.jpg

importance of trees in folklore (kinda a stretch)
http://studlit.ru/index.php/en/issues/22-2017-vol-2-1/98-tree-symbolism-in-slavic-folk-culture-apple-tree

a little more significant impact of tree (the world tree) which shares some themes of the game
https://www.slavorum.org/world-tree-and-the-tree-of-life-among-old-slavs/

leshy seems very similar to the savages in appearance, but not quite in purpose
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leshy
image https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Leshy_%281906%29.jpg/220px-Leshy_%281906%29.jpg

[ZZtheTOP]

23 seconds into the live action trailer for this game shows an image of striking resemblance to what is know as marzanna,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marzanna
She was burned in effigy (as seen in the video), and was a representation of death and rebirth of nature (huge ties to the story). She is also related to dreams, so take that as you will.

Baba Yaga is a witch who lives in a house with chicken legs, so take that as you will regaurding the chiken lady (I couldn't really find any more connections besides the fact that she kidnaps people

mushrooms may have a minor connection, being sort of sentient in the folklore,
http://aarticles.net/culture-art-history/12705-soberem-gribnoe-lukoshko-v-folklore.html

vodyanoy bears some resemblance to a swamper but not much
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodyanoy

it should be noted that banshees are actually irish, and don't really look like they do in the game,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banshee

there are some creatures in slavic folklore that deal with birds, but none from my research are close enough to resmble the banshee.
Overall, this is all just speculation and coincidences, I have no idea how much of these actually influenced the creators, however, they did say they were influenced by slavic folklore.

[Rubyeyed]

Or maybe it was just a fantasy about a big dark forest with some spin on the folklore stories + more modern monsters. It's not like this setting is breaking new grounds of concept and depth.

[Teacup]

The works of David Lynch, Strugacki brothers, Stanisław Lem. Games like Fallout, Dark Souls, Project Zomboid, Teleglitch. Slavic folklore. And, well, life.

[JudasPhysicist]

Originally posted by Rubyeyed:

Or maybe it was just a fantasy about a big dark forest with some spin on the folklore stories + more modern monsters. It's not like this setting is breaking new grounds of concept and depth.

For video games, I'd say this is breaking new grounds :D
Compare this to The Forest, which also tries to be a spooky forest.

Darkwood completely tramples it in visual and audio design alone.

[diamondbackDaryl]

Originally posted by ZZtheTOP:

Im not a dev, but here is some things I have found relating to polish folklore
From my understanding a lot of the polish folklore influence is mainly visual (one quick google search and the art styel is dead on), but there are some bigger connections that may be able to be made.

19th century polish/slavic artwork (quite similar in aesthetic)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Witold_Pruszkowski-Rusalki.jpg

importance of trees in folklore (kinda a stretch)
http://studlit.ru/index.php/en/issues/22-2017-vol-2-1/98-tree-symbolism-in-slavic-folk-culture-apple-tree

a little more significant impact of tree (the world tree) which shares some themes of the game
https://www.slavorum.org/world-tree-and-the-tree-of-life-among-old-slavs/

leshy seems very similar to the savages in appearance, but not quite in purpose
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leshy
image https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Leshy_%281906%29.jpg/220px-Leshy_%281906%29.jpg

nice research