Retain your sanity in this Lovecraftian horror

ASYLUM is a premium supernatural horror game from Senscape. In this maddening adventure, you are thrown into a large, decaying asylum where you witness horrific experiments and incidents happening across its halls. You try to uncover the secrets of the towering building and more importantly, you try to stay alive.

More than its atmospheric horror, ASYLUM has an impressive story. Its brand of suspense is quite similar to Summer of ‘58 or Layers of Fear, but with better graphics and an even better and longer playthrough. However, there’s no official release date yet for the game.

Welcome to Hanwell

In ASYLUM, you are sent to Hanwell Mental Institute: an unbelievably large yet decrepit institute. The lights are flickering, the walls are stained, and the beds are in disarray. This, however, is only one element of the impressive environmental horror that the game offers. Without warning, you will run into disturbing imagery that might not be suitable for minors or for certain audiences.

Another feature that sets this apart from other games is its puzzle design. The developers put a lot of thought into each one, taking a separate direction from the usual math or pixel-hunting type of puzzles. Its music also doesn’t help you. Aside from its masterful sound effects, its music for certain scenes only drives the horror of the game even deeper.

Lastly, it also manages to deliver a story that’s larger than your collective experiences within Hanwell. Through its shocking ending, you’ll feel and understand what it means to face something not of this world — a truly Lovecraftian narrative. The only drawback in this game, ten years in the making, is that its cartoonish character design somehow kills the realistic fear this game offers.

A truly believable, horrible world

The detail that goes into designing ASYLUM alone is enough to make you play it throughout. Its environment is incredibly graphic it’s scary on its own, and the same can be said of its use of audio. The only break you’ll have is in its dated, cartoonish character design that reminds you that it’s all just a game. Still, this game remains highly recommended, and for all the right reasons.