Spectral is based within a library that is apart of a single university building, connected to other sections areas of the university by corridors and stairs which allows students to travel from one building to the next without the need to go outside. Before events at the start of the game, the player character and his friend were working late in the library before his friend left to go to the toilet as the closes one was on the second floor. However, soon after the friend left the player character soon finds himself waking up not realising that he’d fallen asleep for a considerable amount of time and the library which was once full of people, is now locked, dark and completely empty. Worried that he wouldn’t be able to get out, he wondered why no one not even his friend had woken him up to tell him that the library was closing. It caused him to check to see if his friend had left him, but his belongings were still there which meant that he hadn’t left and was still somewhere in the building so the player character decides to investigate. This is here the game starts. This will all be shown during an introductory cutscene which will inform the player of the events before they start playing, so their next move is made clear and prevents them from wandering around aimlessly trying to figure out what they’re supposed to do.