The Krampus Lodge

A VR survival-horror game for Meta Quest 3 built on Austrian Krampus folklore, made in a 3-person, 2-week sprint.

2026Game & Interaction Design · 3-person team, 2-week productionUnity, Meta Quest 3

VRGame DesignUnityHorror

The Krampus Lodge is a VR survival-horror game built for Meta Quest 3 in a 3-person, 2-week sprint, drawing on Austrian and Alpine Krampus folklore: the horned, demonic counterpart to Saint Nicholas who punishes the wicked at Christmas. Tagline: "you can only try to save yourself."

First-person VR view at night in a snowy pine forest, HP 100/100 shown top-of-screen, a horned Krampus-like creature approaching in the distance near a lit red-windowed lodge.

Premise

The game moves the player through three designed scenes: a snowbound forest approach, a wooden lodge with blood-red lit windows and a small train station, all connected by lamp-lit paths through heavy pine snowfall. Horned, antlered Krampus-like creatures stalk the snow, and survival is tracked through a visible HP counter that climbs and crashes across the session, 100 to 1 and back, depending on how well the player evades or fights back.

The player at full health (HP 100/100) facing a lodge with red-lit windows, two glowing blue throwable weapons planted in the snow nearby.

The player at critical health (HP 1/100), surrounded by several horned creatures approaching across open snow at night, blood visible on the ground.

Gameplay

Combat runs on thrown icicle-like weapons planted in the snow, ready to grab; survival means managing distance from the horned creatures that close in from multiple directions. Red Bull cans scattered through the level double as a health pickup and a distraction: drinking one restores health, and throwing one instead pulls a nearby Krampus toward where it lands, buying a few seconds to reposition. The creatures run on baked animations built specifically for this project, and the village sells the folklore setting with a light, specific sense of place: an ÖBB train pulling into a red-lit station, Red Bull signage on a snowbound platform building, small details that root the horror in a recognisably Austrian winter rather than a generic one.

The player at low health (HP 19/100) in a rocky, pine-lined clearing with a Krampus creature approaching in the mid-distance.

A snowy forest approach to the lodge at full health (HP 100/100), lamp posts and a creature visible among the trees, the lodge's red-lit windows glowing ahead.

Close-up of a stone lodge archway and lit lamp post at night, with two glowing blue throwable weapons planted in the snow.

The player at critical health (HP 1/100) at a snowbound train station, an ÖBB train arriving beside a building lit with Red Bull signage.

Reflection

Built by a team of three in two weeks, The Krampus Lodge is a compressed, rough-edged build, with visible bugs and unfinished polish throughout. It's included here because it demonstrates full-pipeline VR game delivery under real constraints: environment, enemy behaviour, combat feedback and a coherent folklore setting, all shipped to a working Quest 3 build in a fixed sprint.