Twenty Design Manifestos from Arkane: The Real Story Behind "Fuck Escalators"

Twenty Manifestos on Arkane's Walls Changed How I Think About Game Design

Before Microsoft shut down Arkane Austin in May 2024, the studio walls displayed twenty "design manifestos" — not just some cheap motivational posters. These were core values that hung there from the original Dishonored development through Prey in 2017. And one of them was bluntly, unapologetically Arkane: "Fuck Escalators — You'll fall and die anyway."

Yep, an entire studio decided moving stairs were the enemy. When I first heard this, I thought it was a joke. But once you read the full list and understand Arkane's philosophy, it becomes clear they were talking about something way deeper than just hating escalators.

The Complete List: What Arkane Actually Believed In

Ricardo Bare and Raphaël Colantonio from Arkane shared this list in a Game Informer video before Prey's launch, and Harvey Smith — the creative director who worked at Arkane from 2008 until Austin's closure — revisited it on the Tone Control podcast with Steve Gaynor. Here are the twenty manifestos:

1. Multiple Paths — Sandbox spaces with open-ended movement: multiple entrances, layered design, crawl spaces. Never lock the player into one route.
2. Well Integrated Puzzles — Real problem-solving, not just "key-lock" puzzles with a single solution.
3. Say Yes to the Player — If a player thinks something sounds fun and tries it, let them. Don't say "no" just because your story is narrow.
4. Ecology — AI reacts to each other and the world in ways players can exploit and play with.
5. Dynamic Hazards — Environmental changes that force both the player and enemies to adapt: solar flares, pressure drops, zero gravity, creature counts shifting.
6. Simulated World — The world and its inhabitants exist independently of the player, operating by consistent rules even when you're not looking.
7. Space Dungeon — The player survives within a closed, hostile world (especially obvious in Prey).
8. Dramatic Setups — Situations, plot turns, characters, and endings must be dramatic. Boredom is the enemy.
9. Intentionality — Give the player information about the situation and let them form a plan. Don't ambush them without logical reason.
10. Grounded Sci-fi — A believable, coherent near-future: balance between the familiar and the mind-bending (this was primarily Prey's thing).
11. Clarity — Teach the world clearly and enable the player to navigate it. Confusion isn't depth.
12. Fuck Ladders — "You'll fall and die anyway" (the mantra that became legendary).
13. Improvisation — Players love being clever; let them experiment with game systems and craft their own solutions.
14. Consequences — Player choices have real emotional or mechanical consequences. No fake choices.
15. Environmental Storytelling — Let players build the story through interpretation, not text dumps.
16. Object Density — A world rich with things to interact with but not cluttered. Everything has value.
17. Break the Patterns — Players crave surprise; avoid repeating the same encounters.
18. Mood — Every element serves one distinctive emotional tone. Games with personality feel cohesive.
19. Reuse of Space — Let players return to areas that change over time so they become attached to places.
20. Specialisation — No character is good at everything. Choices need to matter.

Why This Actually Matters to Me

Reading this list in full, it wasn't surprising the escalator manifesto was there — it was an inside joke, but one rooted in real philosophy. The other nineteen reveal a studio thinking incredibly deeply about player experience: how to give them real power, how to make their choices matter, how to build a world that feels alive.

What genuinely got me was Harvey Smith saying on the podcast that these values "were fun, the team loved them, and they were a good reminder of why we loved making these games." It wasn't just professional design doctrine — it was genuine craft love.

Some manifestos were game-specific, like "Assassination" for Dishonored and "Grounded Sci-fi" for Prey, but the foundation was unified: build worlds where players feel smart, powerful, and welcome.

What We Should Remember

Arkane Austin's closure in May 2024 was a real loss. It wasn't just a studio churning out games — it was a laboratory for design philosophy that still inspires. These twenty manifestos aren't sacred laws, but they're damn good questions: Did you give the player real choices? Does the world feel alive? Is there one emotional thread tying everything together?

If you're a developer or someone curious about why Dishonored and Prey feel different from other games, I'd recommend reading each manifesto slowly. And if you're just a player, this list gives you words to explain why some games just feel like something else — and sometimes better — than everything else out there.