Asylum (from creator of Scratches)

[Durq]

I played Asylum for a couple hours. The beginning is a bit dull. Seeing lists of Kickstarter backer names when I'm searching around for clues is really annoying and immersion-breaking, especially considering that a game like this will live or die by the eerie atmosphere it can maintain.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Got to play a little before today's bedlam starts.

It feels very similar to Scratches. Stand in place, look around and try to find all the hotspots and click through seemingly endless verbiage. Endless amounts of loose papers lying about everywhere. The key difference is that this time there are people to talk to, with topics to discuss with them.

The setting is paper-thin though. At an undisclosed point in time (but I'm guessing mid-1970s) the unnamed protagonist (he doesn't even introduce himself) returns to the eponymous asylum he was at previously because he has an obsessive compulsion that he forgot something important here. Did he work there? Why was he there? Answers not available at the start. In fact, someone in the protagonist's mental condition shouldn't even be out and about. Foggy memory, hazy recollection, and the entire conversation with the receptionist just feels weird. And yet the protagonist understands that whatever he's looking for isn't in the endless stacks and piles of paperwork scattered about.

The game looks nice enough, and the Options-menu is neat in that everything there is laid out like a hospital chart. Detail-levels are renamed to 'visual acuity', mouse DPI-settings to 'patient's reflex speed' and sound-settings to 'audio perceptions'. More disturbing in the options are the empty fields that are meant to describe the patient, with the only filled field being 'Reason for admission = Schizophrenia'.

There's some humor about though. A corkboard found early in the game has a list that details 'Reasons for admission' and has among the usual psychological cases, 'Abuse of Walkthroughs', 'Liking Myst' and 'Dropsy'. Later on direct references to Scratches are dropped - try clicking the phone and the typewriter in the reception. I've heard that there's more later on.

One bug discovered early - I didn't like the music in the first chapter (constantly plonking piano tunes) and I muted the music down to zero - only for the music to return full blast once I moved somewhere, despite my settings! Not fun, especially later on when the tense audio starts playing.

That old unsettling tension of Scratches starts picking up right about the time the player can visit the Low-Risk Male Ward, and from there into the High-Risk Male Ward below. Really unsettling being down there.

Overall first impressions? Seems like more of the same, Scratches-wise.

 

[Infinitron]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/230210/view/823701034523165518

THE ASYLUM HAS OPENED!
Thoughts, aftermath, and... What's next?
Hello Steam community!

Have you heard the news? It happened. It's here. ASYLUM exists.

It's quite surreal to write this update, and it's gonna be days until the moment settles in. I'd like thank everyone for being such cool and supportive people over the years. I REALLY mean that. Everyone around these parts have been ultra nice, and even now our Steam forums are active and fun. I truly hope you all enjoy the game. It's no secret that development has been a nightmare and, as I write this, I still have Slack notifications popping up all over the place since the Senscape team is doing QA for the patch that we're about to launch.

About that: admittedly, the release had more bugs than I'd have wanted to see. We got a bit optimistic. Two dangerous decisions that we made too close to launch for comfort were to rework the main character's voice and translate ASYLUM to 10 more languages. Tackling this feat with a publisher would've been a crazy, now imagine self-publishing the game...

I think these were the right decisions, though — the new VO is being praised, and more people have been able to enjoy ASYLUM at launch. Of course, we are actively working on the bug fixing, and I'm perusing the forums to hear from you. ALL your reports and feedback are very much appreciated. Please, keep them coming! We want to ensure ASYLUM stands the test of time in pristine shape.

Launch has been successful, we're seeing positive reviews dropping in, and people are really enjoying the story, characters, and atmosphere. It's what we set out to do all this time: a love letter to the adventure genre, both a nostalgic trip, but featuring modern touches across the board. We can't wait to hear your thoughts and impressions when you're done with the game. About this: Steam reviews are extremely helpful at this stage! If you've already finished the game (quite a few of you did), feel free to leave a review, positive or negative, it doesn't matter. Even early reviews help too, and you can always change your rating if you loved/hated the game when you're done. Thank you for considering this, it's just that these days we are forced to fight against obscure algorithms. The machines are winning the war

ALSO, be sure to discuss theories and thoughts about the ending in the forums

What's next?​

Oh, the story of ASYLUM doesn't end here. There's another story to be told, about how this crazy project came to be. Like The NeverEnding Story, everyone is part of it. YOU are part of this story too! Next steps are to release a special bundle in which you'll be able to acquire an Art Book featuring a glimpse into the early days of production, Soundtrack with variations on the music that you hear in the game, as well as the anticipated A Tour of Hanwell documentary, detailing the wild journey that was required to get to this point (all discounted for current customers, of course). And there's more too... more amazing adventures before we finally return to the ordinary world. But that's another story for another update.

Oh, and look at that. I finish writing the update and the patch is live! Check out the release notes, as surely a number of bugs that were annoying you have been fixed. Have a fun weekend playing ASYLUM, peeps!

—Agustín

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Oops! I accidentally the whole thing.

Non-spoilery post follows.

In the 1960s renowned surgeon Dr. William Hanwell decides to push his field of medicine into the field of the mind. He founds the Hanwell Mental Institute, builds it in a remote location and starts treating mental patients. Everything works out and Hanwell becomes a revered and respected man.

In the 1970s Hanwell has made a medical breakthrough with his STRABBE-machine, but is also looking to cut costs running his asylum. To do this he orders tunnels dug under the asylum to facilitate quicker travel between parts of the institute. While digging those tunnels he discovers [REDACTED] leading to the authorities swooping in, closing the asylum and relocating all the mental patients.

Years later, one faithful evening, a mentally disturbed man with a hazy memory returns to the asylum, driven forward by an unexplicable urge that he forgot something there. After seeing that the asylum building has been neglected and abandoned all these years, to his surprise he finds that a skeleton staff is on-site as the government has ordered the asylum re-opened. A few former inmates have already been committed to 'test the facilities', and a construction crew is coming in tomorrow to begin renovations of the whole building. The man feels that whatever needs doing must be done tonight, so using a flimsy excuse he enters the asylum proper. Will he succeed? Will he remember what happened? Will we, the player, make sense of things? Play the game to find out!

But do I recommend this game? Considering it has the EXACT same gameplay as Scratches (though the puzzles are not as nitpicky and restrictive) but it's done in the Unreal-engine just makes me scratch my head in confusion. Why make such a mobility-restrictive game using a modern-day game engine? It was understandable and forgivable in 2006, but nothing excuses it in 2025, not even a troubled and belated production. So on that front I have trouble recommending this game.

But is the writing any good? The writing is on par with Scratches, but it fails to reach the same heights. Scratches has two of the most terrifying scenes ever seen in a video game, mostly because the build-up to them is so good. Asylum has numerous scenes where it's trying its best to repeat that success, but fails every time. It has to resort to gore, torture porn and a frantic chase scene, but to no avail. The scene where the player has to recover a small key from one of the inmates probably comes closest though.

Finally, for those wondering... yes, Asylum and Scratches are connected, taking place in the same 'universe'. The references are subtle, but they're there.

So overall it's kinda like Scratches 2, except like with all true sequels it's never as good as the original, but it's not bad either. Currently it's plagued by a lot of little bugs, so for a better experience I suggest holding off on playing it for a few days/weeks while they suss them out.

 

[Rean]

I'll have a chance to Scratch myself with this next weekend, probably.

 

[Alienman]

But is the writing any good? The writing is on par with Scratches, but it fails to reach the same heights. Scratches has two of the most terrifying scenes ever seen in a video game, mostly because the build-up to them is so good. Asylum has numerous scenes where it's trying its best to repeat that success, but fails every time. It has to resort to gore, torture porn and a frantic chase scene, but to no avail. The scene where the player has to recover a small key from one of the inmates probably comes closest though.

What scenes are those?

 

[Darkozric]

Why make such a mobility-restrictive game using a modern-day game engine?

Why not? There are people out there making fucking visual novels in modern engines.

Also, too many words without mentioning anything essential about the gameplay. What type of puzzles one should expect from the game and how is the overall difficulty.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Why make such a mobility-restrictive game using a modern-day game engine?

Why not? There are people out there making fucking visual novels in modern engines.

I bet most of those allow freeform movement within their first-person environments. Neither Scratches or Asylum does, which is jarring in the case of the second one.

Also, too many words without mentioning anything essential about the gameplay. What type of puzzles one should expect from the game and how is the overall difficulty.

Did you miss this part: "Considering it has the EXACT same gameplay as Scratches (though the puzzles are not as nitpicky and restrictive)" That goes a long way towards answering your question.

In Scratches there is a puzzle where you have to try to find a set of candles in the house. For that puzzle to count as 'completed' and for the game to move on, the player has to search EVERY drawer in the house at least once. There are no such puzzles in Asylum.

In Scratches you must find and use ONE exact piece of paper to solve a puzzle, in a house literally FILLED with all kinds of papers. There are no such ludicrous puzzles in Asylum.

Asylum has a few puzzles where the answer is random. An early puzzle involves finding the right music to play over the speaker system. Three records can be found, each having four tunes. The goal is to figure out which of the twelve tunes to play, and then finding the clue that answers the question. The clue is randomly selected from a few possibilities, meaning the right music to play is not the same for everyone.

I'll admit that there is a new gameplay element that I've not mentioned, and that's the dialogue system. The player is carrying a notebook arranged into pages, with each page then having relevant fields to question others about. Picking certain fields may reveal further fields of discussion, or cross out old ones. Despite obvious appearances I could not find a way to get softlocked in this dialogue system as there are no bad choices. It's mostly important in the early part of the game, as the game's cast of conversable people only numbers four people, and not all of them are available all the time.

Finally, considering I beat the game over the span of just ONE day, should tell you that the game is at least easier than Scratches.

What scenes are those?

Which game, Scratches or Asylum?

 

[Darkozric]

I just wanted a few examples. Finishing the game within one day after so many years of development screams popamole.

 

[Alienman]

Which game, Scratches or Asylum?

Scratches.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Scene 1

On Day 2 Michael (who is controlled by the player) discovers that the small exhibition room of African artifacts in the manor has a hidden room. Inside that hidden room are artifacts from a rather bloodthirsty African tribe, including an odd-looking tribal mask. At the end of the day Michael goes to sleep, and dreams that he's moving around the manor, and eventually finds himself in that very same room. [REDACTED] The scene works because the build-up of suspense, atmosphere and audio cues all working hand-in-hand to give the mother of all jumpscares... and all without a overly loud scream.

Scene 2

The end scene. By this point Michael's been through the entire manor, uncovered almost all of the family's secrets, except... he hasn't explored the boiler room in the basement, and the scratching noises coming from within. The final acts of the game is Michael making his way into that room and looking around... and finally peeking into what appears to be a dug-out hole in the wall. The discovery of what lies therein is either blood-curdling or blood-freezing, depending on your base body temperature... but then again, this is the scene that the entire game has been building up to. To say that it delivers is putting things mildly.

 

[Rean]

Just got into it.
Like the immersive nomenclature for settings, even though not everything is immediately clear at first.

Song of Horror proved Spaniards can make good horror games, we'll see.