intro

"An epic supernatural horror adventure and the spiritual successor to cult classic Scratches set in a massive, decaying mental institute. Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, Hammer Films and twisted Euro Horror from the 80s." After having waited for almost 20 years since the release of Scratches the spiritual sequel Asylum is finally released. To this day I rank scratches in my top five of all time best adventure games, only narrowly beaten out by Darkness within. The atmosphere, the slow burn, the creeping dread – it was something truly outstanding. Despite the brutal pixel hunting (and inevitably missing most items for hours upon hours). From the moment I stepped into the decaying halls of the Hanwell Mental Institute, I felt at home. Every room and corridor, every detail made it actually feel like an abandoned mental asylum. The atmosphere was one of immediate unease.

story

It's a twisted, labyrinthine journey into the heart of madness. Cordes has woven a narrative that's both captivating and deeply disturbing. You're constantly piecing together fragments of the past, uncovering the secrets of the institute and its tormented inhabitants. It's a slow, deliberate unraveling, and it's absolutely brilliant. It's a cliche to say "worth the wait" but it is. There's one major gripe I have with it though. In Scratches the plot dumps felt properly integrated into the environment, you'd find a diary in the desk drawer, a stack of newspapers in a closed of room, etc. While the beginning of Asylum does start out that way it eventually degenerates into "figure out how to open locked door, enter room, get confronted with a stack of paper containing the plot dump for whatever you're currently working on, find next locked door and loop this sequence." It irked me something fierce and disrupted the otherwise carefully crafted atmosphere. Why are these papers laying on top of a desk in a mental asylum that has been closed down for god knows how long? Why do you always find the journal of the patient you're currently curious about? Deus ex machina in the worst way. That said the story overall is properly bleak and disturbing. It had me hooked almost immediately. The ending in particular is disturbing since our protagonist notes that his greatest fear is losing control. Which.. well, you'll see.

presentation

The pre-rendered panoramic views are a perfect throwback to the peak of horror adventure gaming. The visuals are great. The audio is unremarkable but never out of place, it always fits. The voice acting is great and I was surprised to hear that they apparently re-recorded all voice acting just a few weeks before release. Likely due to the enormous development time having resulted in disjointed voice acting sessions, or script changes.

tech

Worked flawlessly with proton-ge. No issues at all.

links

Senscape Good Old Games