Some of the most unsettling horror doesn’t come from monsters we’ve never seen. It comes from places we remember and thats exactly where YAN魇: PARASOMNIA takes it’s journey.

For Joseph Teng and his brother, that idea became one of the foundations behind YAN魇: PARASOMNIA. Rather than building its world entirely from familiar horror conventions, the brothers drew from their own childhood experiences to create environments that feel strangely authentic places that can appear ordinary at first yet carry an unsettling sense that something is wrong.

That personal connection is especially apparent in the game’s environments. Familiar architectural details, cultural influences, and memories from their childhood helped shape the spaces players will explore. The goal wasn’t simply to make locations that look scary, but to recreate the feeling of being somewhere you recognize while simultaneously feeling uncomfortable and unsafe.

That distinction is important.

Classic survival horror has always understood the power of familiar spaces. A house, an apartment building, a hallway, or a neighborhood can become terrifying when the context surrounding it changes. In YAN魇: PARASOMNIA, Joseph and his brother take that concept and filter it through their own experiences, creating a world that feels personal rather than manufactured.

Set in the late 1980s, the game follows the Wan siblings as they explore the mysterious Wallace Court, uncovering a supernatural disturbance connected to their family’s past. Its world combines psychological horror, supernatural elements, exploration, puzzles, and classic survival-horror design with the added ability to experience the nightmare through online co-op.

But behind the ghosts and supernatural mystery is something much more human: memory.

In our conversation with Joseph Teng, we explore how his childhood experiences and those of his brother influenced the creation of YAN魇: PARASOMNIA, particularly the environments that make up its world. We discuss how memories can become design inspiration, how real places can be transformed into sources of horror, and why creating something personal can make a fictional world feel much more believable.

For Joseph and his brother, the nightmare didn’t necessarily begin with imagining a monster. It began with remembering a place and transforming those memories into the art their story called for and that is what makes it feel so authentic.

The story’s themes of loss, grief, and guilt are familiar to us, but when those emotions become intertwined with family, they take on a much deeper emotional weight. There is something very powerful and very special about exploring these feelings through a story that is so deeply connected to family, memory, and personal experiences.

The Game gave me vibes of games like Obscure and the Resident Evil Outbreak Series but with that silent Hill touch in the atmosphere and environment, It’s fuckin Great!

Watch our full conversation with Joseph Teng as we go behind the scenes of YAN魇: PARASOMNIA and explore the memories, influences, and ideas helping shape its world. This is another title that I am looking forward to add to The Vault once it releases COOP Gameplay on Survival Horror deserves more!

Interview by El Joe’s La Boveda Podcast for The Survival Horror.

Watch the Trailer: