The Exit 8 has been creepily recreated in “live-action” video 

In The Exit 8, you must escape the underground passages of a Japanese station by spotting anomalies. Made by indie developer Kotake Create, the first-person walking sim has become a surprising hit on Steam since its release in November 2023, spawning numerous copycat games. Wandering around the liminal spaces in The Exit 8 is creepy enough, but VFX artist and director Ray Wakui recently upped the scare factor by combining real-life footage of a train station passageway with assets from the game. 

Entitled a “live action version of The Exit 8,” the video has made a big impact on X for its scariness and skillful blending of real and virtual elements.  

Be warned that the video below contains an infamous jump scare from the game! 

Since being posted on X on January 5, the video has garnered 6.5 million views and almost 400 comments. Most commenters expressed how scary the video was and many were impressed by the creator’s skills, with reactions such as “It’s super realistic” and “He went all out.” Kotake Create also reposted the video, reacting with a surprised utterance. The seamless juxtaposition of real footage and gameplay elements does give the video an uncanny valley feeling.   

The video contains anomalies found in the game; the opening and shutting maintenance door, the diagonal ceiling lights, the “turn back” sign and of course, the tile-covered man that leaps towards you. Since The Exit 8’s release, people have been pointing out how the diagonal ceiling light anomaly resembles an art installation in Tokyo’s Kiyosumi Shirakawa station. The mysterious lights are said to resemble the hustle and bustle going on above the ground (Sankei News). Kotake Create has since confirmed that the anomaly is based on this location. However, the developer would like the main inspiration for The Exit 8’s poster-lined passageway to remain a secret (Buzzfeed).  

It seems that Ray Wakui may have used real-life footage of Kiyosumi Station in his composite creation, as the diagonal ceiling lights and signs for the Oedo and Hanzomon lines can be seen in the making of video below.  

The making-of really shows how skillfully Wakui blended the camera footage with aspects from the game. Wakui is the head of video creation studio VEABLE, which has produced many commercials and music videos for Japanese artists such as Mrs. Green Apple, Kumi Koda and Golden Bomber. VEABLE uses chroma key technology to make their videos using live-action composite VFX, resulting in the creation of a realistic yet otherworldly atmosphere. From the making-of video, it seems that the “anomalies” were skillfully added in using VFX, making it seem as if they were occurring in real life.  

The Exit 8 is available now for PC (Steam). 

Based on the original Japanese article by Hideaki Fujiwara (original article’s publication date: 2024-01-06 10:21 JST)