Rising River is a virtual reality (VR) experience that unites Jungian shadow theory, the VIA Character Strengths framework, and a custom-trained large language model (LLM) to facilitate immersive self-reflection and introspection. Through interactive gameplay, participants explore the hidden sides of their psyche—the “shadow”—by uncovering suppressed emotions, memories, and motivations. User interactions simultaneously serve as therapeutic prompts and data inputs, enabling the AI model to construct a personalized “shadow avatar.” This avatar, revealed at the end of the journey, reflects the participant’s fears, desires, and undiscovered strengths. Early testing shows that this process of discovery is both surprising and revelatory, suggesting that Rising River could democratize key elements of analytic psychology for a broader audience.