Shutter

Insane asylums seem to be the perfect magnet for ghosts, spirits, and every other kind of supernatural apparition out there. In fact, very few of them seem to be used for medical purposes nowadays, since most are abandoned and no one takes an interest in rebuilding them, or at least using the real estate in some other purpose.

Shutter is a survival-horror with adventure elements, in which you have to explore a haunted asylum, deal with your creeping insomnia, and solve some puzzles to make the experience feel a tad more meaningful. The main purpose is to get scared every once in a while, whether due to strange noises, sudden disturbing imagery, or just plan jump scares to get your pulse going.

As such, the story talks about a reporter by the name of Connor, who suffers from insomnia and he decides to check out a local insane asylum. Naturally, he brings his video equipment with him, in order to document the findings and solve the mystery once and for all. Things get spooky along the way, partly because of the unnatural forces governing the place, partly because insomnia leads to strange hallucinations.

In order to accentuate the horror and make you as uncomfortable as possible, the environment is very dark and almost indistinguishable in most cases. Hence, while it can certainly get disturbing from time to time, it can also get difficult to see where you’re going, regardless of whether you activate the night vision option on the camera.

Speaking of which, the graphics are very basic, especially when it comes to object modeling and the general level design. It doesn’t matter that much, on the other hand, since you do not really get to see very much of it anyway. Thankfully, the sound quality is quite good and there are moments when the noises can make you stop and listen for a while, to hear whether anything is coming for you.

All things considered, despite the cliche theme and the disappointing design mistakes, Shutter had the capacity to turn into quite the good game, if the developers would have kept improving it. Unfortunately, the development has been halted quite a while ago, so this is the most you’ll get to see of it.