Took inspiration from The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Se7en (1995).
One of the first release for the X-Box 360.
The sound effect for collecting bird carcasses is from actual bird bones. The sound engineers went through an empty warehouse and actually found dead bird carcasses.
An extras video in the game shows an earlier version of the game, known as "The Dark". Ethan's name was "Agent Cross" and an earlier version of the Elementary School level was shown. Agent Cross also seemed to have supernatural powers to break doors down, take weapons from enemies and heal himself.
A launch title for the Xbox 360.