The game is loosely based on the H. P. Lovecraft novella "The Shadow over Innsmouth". Lead developer Joseph "Akabaka" Hunter struggled to adapt this story as modern scholarly interpretations of Lovecraft's works frequently make accusations of racist and anti-miscegenation allegories in accordance with what is known about his personal views. While the original story (like most of Lovecraft's works) attempts to play into the fear of the unknown, Hunter felt the monsters and creatures used were "just, you know, metaphors for the guy living down the street, which is hardly unknown." Hunter did not want to potentially alienate players, and in order to adapt the story without reproducing these aspects, he took inspiration from "Lovecraft Country", a 2016 horror novel that adapted the Lovecraft mythos by using the controversial themes present in the original works to portray the experiences and threats black people faced in the United States under the Jim Crow laws.