Haunted Echoes Studios — Current Canon

The 9th Vessel

A four-investigator cooperative paranormal investigation and survival-horror mystery set in modern-day Jerome, Arizona.

A historic mine disaster casts a shadow across modern-day Jerome. Four player-defined investigators enter real locations, follow evidence that changes position between runs, and discover that the town’s haunting reaches farther into the past than anyone expected.

Watch Gameplay Teaser View Jerome Locations

Four InvestigatorsReal Jerome LocationsHistorical MysteryUnity

The 9th Vessel horror game cover art set in Jerome, Arizona — Official concept cover art for the cooperative paranormal investigation set across Jerome, Arizona.

Gameplay Concept Teaser

A first look at the Haunted Hamburger investigation.

This work-in-progress visual concept explores the first-person atmosphere, pacing, and paranormal tension planned for The 9th Vessel. It is AI-assisted concept footage and does not represent final in-engine gameplay.

Work in Progress Concept Footage First-Person Horror

Haunted Hamburger is one of the Jerome investigation locations. This teaser is a visual-development experiment used to explore mood, movement, sound, and encounter pacing.

Story Foundation

The mystery has a fixed truth.

Replayability comes from where evidence appears, how encounters unfold, and how the AI Director pressures the team — not from changing what actually happened in 1928.

Investigate

All 12 main locations are canonical story spaces. Clues and events can move between valid positions, but the underlying history remains consistent.

Interpret

Evidence is more than a collectible score. The team must connect testimony, encounters, locations, and impossible events to understand what happened.

Choose

What the investigators learn—and what they fail to understand—changes the choices available when Jerome’s buried history finally catches up with them.

Locked Main Locations

Real Jerome locations become playable environments.

Each location now pairs a real-world reference photo with the current in-game visual direction. The game renders preserve recognizable architecture while shifting each site into the moonlit first-person investigation style.

Real-world photograph of the Jerome Grand Hotel — Real Location

Game render of the Jerome Grand Hotel investigation — Game Render

01Primary investigation hub

Jerome Grand Hotel / United Verde Hospital

Historic hospital and hotel layers anchor the modern investigation and the earliest major supernatural escalation.

Real-world photograph of Gold King Mine and Ghost Town — Real Location

Game render of the Gold King Mine and Haynes investigation — Game Render

02Main investigation

Gold King Mine & Ghost Town / Haynes

A major mining-history environment supporting exploration, evidence gathering, and escalating paranormal encounters.

Real-world photograph of Douglas Mansion — Real Location

03Main investigation

Douglas Mansion

A major historical location used for evidence, story progression, and the town's mining-era context.

Real-world photograph of the Connor Hotel — Real Location

04Main investigation

Connor Hotel

A locked story location at Main Street and Jerome Avenue, tied into the investigation route through central Jerome.

Real-world photograph of Jennie's Place and Nellie Bly — Real Location

Game render of Jennie's Place — Game Render

05Main investigation

Jennie's Place / Nellie Bly

A canonical investigation space used to uncover evidence and move the story forward through Jerome's historic commercial district.

Real-world photograph of the Haunted Hamburger — Real Location

06Main investigation

Haunted Hamburger

A modern Jerome landmark folded into the supernatural investigation and the town's living history.

Real-world exterior reference of Old Jerome High School — Real Location

07Main investigation

Old Jerome High School

A canonical exploration site where environmental storytelling and paranormal pressure can intensify.

Real-world photograph of the Little Daisy Hotel — Real Location

08Main investigation

Little Daisy Hotel

A historic location connected to Jerome's mining history and the wider evidence network.

Real-world photograph of the New State Motor Company Building — Real Location

09Main investigation

New State Motor Company Building

A canonical town location supporting investigation, environmental storytelling, and encounter variation.

Real-world photograph of Liberty Theatre — Real Location

10Main investigation

Liberty Theatre

A Main Street landmark used as one of the game's locked story locations.

Real-world photograph of Jerome Pioneer Graveyard — Real Location

11Main investigation

Jerome Pioneer Graveyard

A historic hillside burial ground tied to death records, memory, spiritual residue, and Jerome's unresolved past.

Real-world photograph of the Jerome Episcopal Christ Church — Real Location

12Main investigation

Jerome Episcopal Christ Church

A church location supporting the spiritual and historical side of the investigation.

Secondary Jerome Layer

Ten secondary locations deepen the town-wide investigation.

These locations support evidence, history, encounters, traversal, and story connections around the primary route.

S1Sliding Jail

S2Surgeon’s Mansion

S3Little Daisy / UVX Mine Office Area

S4Audrey Shaft Headframe

S5Laura Williams Memorial Park

S6Spook Hall / Lawrence Memorial Hall

S7Mine Museum / Whitten Printers Basement

S8Mexican Pool

S9Husband’s Alley

S10Paul & Jerry’s Saloon

The Eight Anchor Points

Eight fictionalized locations built for Jerome's mining landscape.

The Anchor Points are original game locations rather than surviving historic buildings. Their architecture and terrain draw from the mining character of Jerome while each environment is designed around a different investigation style.

A1Fictional Anchor

Old Foreman's Office

Jack “Ironhand” Calloway

A weathered mining administration office built around records, accountability, and the foreman's final investigation trail.

A2Fictional Anchor

Powder Magazine

Samuel “Blaze” McKenna

An isolated reinforced explosives bunker cut into the hillside, with blast doors, firing equipment, and narrow service corridors.

A3Fictional Anchor

Company Survey Archive

Mateo Ruiz

A forgotten engineering and map archive filled with drafting tables, mine plans, survey instruments, and geometry that becomes increasingly unreliable.

A4Fictional Anchor

Level 3200 Barricade

Walter “Timber” Briggs

A timbered mine portal descending toward a dead-end barricade, unstable supports, and a progressively tighter underground route.

A5Fictional Anchor

Main Shaft Hoist House

Emil Novak

A heavy industrial shaft complex dominated by winding drums, steel cable, brake systems, and an elevated operator station.

A6Fictional Anchor

Lower Drainage Station

Thomas “Pumps” Hale

A low-elevation mine utility station of pipes, valves, pumps, standing water, gauges, and drainage machinery beneath the industrial hillside.

Game render of the fictional Assay Office and Specimen Vault anchor point — Game Render

A7Fictional Anchor

Assay Office & Specimen Vault

Nathaniel Crowe

A compact mining laboratory combining ore preparation, furnace work, chemical analysis, and a secure specimen vault.

Game render of the fictional Old Infirmary and Chapel Annex anchor point — Game Render

A8Fictional Anchor

Old Infirmary & Chapel Annex

Isaiah Brooks

A decaying medical facility that transitions into a small rock-set chapel, blending emergency care spaces with the spiritual side of the investigation.

Spoiler-Free Systems Preview

The truth must be earned.

The public project page intentionally withholds character secrets, ritual mechanics, revelation requirements, and ending conditions.

Layered Investigation

Clues, witness accounts, environmental changes, and paranormal encounters form a connected mystery rather than a simple collectible checklist.

Adaptive Pressure

The AI Director responds to teamwork, isolation, fear, and player behavior while preserving one consistent underlying truth.

Consequential Outcomes

Team decisions and individual behavior shape what survives the investigation, but the exact paths and conclusions remain for players to discover.

Current Production Status

Canon and location framework are locked.

The project is beyond the old generic concept page. The next production milestone is field-reference and photography work in Jerome so the locked locations can be translated into accurate exterior and interior game environments.

Status

Canon / Design Locked

The complete internal story bible, historical chronology, investigation logic, character arcs, and outcome framework are defined. Public materials remain spoiler-free.

Engine

Unity Development

The technical direction remains Unity for first-person exploration, cooperative systems, adaptive encounters, environmental storytelling, and supernatural effects.

Jerome Photo Survey

Capture exterior and interior reference photography, confirm access and sightlines, and use those references to refine environment blockouts and historical details.

Haunted Echoes Studios

Where the unknown becomes playable.

The 9th Vessel is being developed as a historically grounded supernatural mystery using real locations, a fixed underlying truth, adaptive encounters, and cooperative pressure.

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