Remanence Studio has been quietly shaping something unusual for the Amiga scene— The Doll Maker, a text-driven graphical adventure that threads dark storytelling, intricate puzzles, and unexpected design choices into one surreal package. At the center of the game is Emo, a treasure hunter lured by a mysterious signal pulsing from an abandoned, sprawling landscape. What awaits is not buried gold, but shadows of a forgotten past—and machines that seem to think for themselves.
The gameplay blends classic point-and-click elements with atmospheric text descriptions, much in the spirit of The Pawn or Guild of Thieves. But The Doll Maker isn’t clinging to the past—it’s experimenting with it. The environments stretch across dozens of locations, where cryptic mechanisms and logic puzzles stand guard over the game’s deeper mysteries. It’s a slow burn kind of adventure, inviting players to pay attention, take notes, and piece together the truth behind the beacon.
Backing all this is a custom-built procedural soundtrack system that reshapes the music on the fly. The result? No two playthroughs sound the same. Jesper Andersen of The JohnDoe Search composed the music, drawing from lo-fi, alt-rock, industrial, and ambient influences. The full soundtrack will be available separately via major streaming platforms like Spotify and Tidal.
Now for the part that might spark debate: AI-generated content. Yes, it’s part of the process here. But not in the way you might assume. Real buildings from the developer’s hometown were first built in CAD software (specifically Shade3D, which traces back to Amiga’s own 3D roots). These structures were then integrated into the game’s aesthetic using generative AI to fill out their placement within the environment. If you’re firmly against that—fair enough. This one might not be for you. But if curiosity wins out, there’s a demo waiting to be tried.
As for the specs, they’re refreshingly modest. The Doll Maker runs on an OCS Amiga with 1MB of chip RAM and 5MB of hard drive space. There’s even a mode that disables the sound engine, allowing it to function on machines with only 512KB of chip RAM. The team regularly tests on an unexpanded Amiga 600 with Kickstart 3.1.
There’s already a playable demo available featuring a few sample areas and puzzles. It’s still early, so expect a few rough edges, but it gives a solid sense of the game’s tone and approach.
