With any piece of key art, the task is to balance giving the consumer a feeling of the game without spoiling it outright. Our creative team developed a range of options with varying themes that connected to the symbolism of the game. Aesthetically, we restricted the designs to adhere to a limited color palette and told the story through Kay’s relationship with an undersea monster (which has some importance in the game). The environment played a passing role in establishing a vast ocean, with a submerged cityscape teased within it. Once we had a layout approved, our illustrators got busy working through various styles. For example, some of the designs had a looser painted look while others had more controlled use of brushstrokes. We wanted to show the developers a range of emotionally driven styles, as some of the more impressionistic options said more about the fragility of Kay’s situation.