The game was written by Dave Lebling and inspired by the horror fiction writings of H. P. Lovecraft (including his Cthulhu Mythos).

Although the game begins as a quest to try to salvage the term paper, alarming events soon unfold, revealing a powerful evil within the school's depths.

In the course of unraveling the mystery, the player encounters demons, zombies, and sinister references to a recent campus suicide.

Failing to set things right in the hidden passages beneath the school will result in a literal fate worse than death.

In particular, the Infinite Corridor is a central feature of the MIT campus, and a door marked "Department of Alchemy" actually exists in Building 2 thanks to a late-20th-century hack.

at a Glance", a guide for freshmen of the school, including maps of the campus and buildings and background information on the school; a rubber centipede-like creature reminiscent of one of the monsters in the game (this was not mentioned on the package, and made for a creepy moment even before the user played the game).

Tech's motto, seen on the student ID card in the feelies, is "Omne ignotum pro magnifico", a Latin phrase meaning "Everything unknown is taken for magnificent.

They elaborated that "Not only are the puzzles spot on genius, the writing is fantastic - a brilliant combination of the realism of Stephen King ... and the nameless, strangling horrors of H.P.