Asylum: The Interactive Teaser

There are certain places you would not enjoy visiting, because nothing good can come out of it at the end of the day. Abandoned insane asylums rank quite high on a hypothetical list of such places, probably next to creepy forest cabins and deserted cities coated in nuclear radiation. However, it’s places like that you need in order to create the proper atmosphere for a horror flick, be it a movie or a video game.

Asylum: The Interactive Teaser is a more of a showcase than an actual game, because its main purpose is to demonstrate the engine capabilities and make you feel uncomfortable while doing so. In essence, the game itself is a point-and-click adventure game, which means that your goal is to investigate the place and solve a few puzzles, using objects you find laying around the environment.

Story-wise, the action obviously takes place in an insane asylum, which is called the Hanwell Institute. Not a lot of other details are given as of right now, but there are certainly enough creepy signs that the plot won’t involve any puppies or princesses. Everything is gritty and in a state of decay, starting with the paint on the walls, all the way to the iron beds that are rotting away under a veil of rust.

The gameplay is quite standard for a point-and-click adventure title, which means that you have to do everything using your mouse. Whether you want to move, pick up an object or just look around the room you happen to stand in, a flick of a wrist should do it. The immersion is greatly improved by the fact that you can freely rotate the camera as you want, because you get to get a better look at the environment this way.

Visually, it is quite clear that the designers took their time placing every object around the rooms you visit, which is yet again a bonus point in the immersion column. A thick layer of noise has been added over the overall image, to inspire a grittier atmosphere and make everything look even older. The sound quality is decent as well, although there are not many chances to notice it as of yet.

Even if Asylum: The Interactive Teaser is only a tiny piece of a larger structure and it cannot even be called a video game yet, there’s certainly something here. As such, if the developers do not drop the ball and continue to put at least as much effort into the rest of the experience, this should be something to keep an eye on in the future.