A truly remarkable and breathtaking psychological thriller which captivates it’s audience.
I’ve literally just finished playing the beta and pre-release version of The Town of Light at the time of this review and I’m somewhat speechless. I really don’t know what to say. I went into the game expecting a typical horror game, especially considering that it ticks all the standard horror criteria. Creepy and abandoned but yet previously active and real insane asylum which is revisited by a former patient? Check. A macabre doll which is wheeled around the asylum in a wheelchair to keep the doll comfortable and warm? Check. Mysterious doors that close by themselves and a corridor which seems to go on forever in a surreal and almost ‘entering hell’ type situation? Check. I was expecting a good scare, but certainly wasn’t ready for what The Town of Light had to offer.
To my surprise, the game isn’t horror at all. It’s a psychological thriller which is based around the Volterra Insane Asylum in Tuscany, Italy in the late 30’s / early 40’s and the real events that took place behind those walls, although the game very quickly informs you that the main character and the names surrounding the story are not real. Obviously when writing a review there also comes a certain amount of background research, in fact most of my brief broadcast journalism career was based around it so I know that Volterra Asylum was known as ‘The Place of No Return’ which is fairly consistent with what the game has to offer. Patients at the asylum we’re condemned behind bars to an almost prison like scenario and it’s shown very well when playing.
The story opens with the voice of Renée T (former patient of the asylum) who is paralyzed, she doesn’t know why and she’s hearing voices but there’s no one there. It’s obvious from the beginning that something isn’t quite right in Renée’s head, but you sympathize with her as a character because ultimately it’s not her fault. It’s a very real illness which occurs to a lot of people but is never really addressed by society even in modern day. It then follows Renée who re-visits her former “home”. The reason why she goes back is somewhat unclear, it’s likely that she’s gone back in search of answers to questions, but your first task is to find Charlotte, her old doll which she was very close to for reasons that will be uncovered as the story develops. Throughout the game your given a series of objects to discover memories and events of the past and to ultimately lead you to the conclusion.
It starts out fairly slow and dull, which is something that could definitely be improved on and may be when the game is released, but after about 20 minutes of playing you will be hooked. I have to be careful with what I say here because I don’t want to ruin anything but there are events and incidents which come to light which just grab your attention and keep you playing, so much so that I’ve just spent the past 3-4 hours playing from start to finish because I’m unable to stop until I see what happens at the end. The developers (LKA*it) have done a great job grabbing their audience and reeling them in with facts and information which are impossible to ignore.
The topic of the game is quite sensitive and some parts can be somewhat disturbing due to the nature of them. It’s a game which in my opinion hasn’t been made just to bring money (although that’s always a plus) but more to show the truth about a very dark part of human history and to show the truth of what life can be like when handling psychological issues. This hits pretty close to home for me because one of my biggest fears in life is (in a very blunt way) to lose my marbles. It’s something which ultimately could happen to anyone at any point in their lives and is uncontrollable so it’s a very scary but very real issue and the developers have done a truly incredible job capturing the mental trauma and psychological issues that face Renée.
Further to all the above, you also come across points in which you act as Renée’s conscience. There are several parts in which you have to answer for her, whilst I wasn’t aware of this before, some background reading shows that these could ultimately lead to different scenarios and different endings. The ending that I got was somewhat traumatic and involved a horrendous surgery scene which made my stomach turn but I’ll be re-playing the game to see what the game has to offer in its other endings.
The game isn’t in any way difficult, in fact the only challenge that the game throws at you is where to go next, which can be somewhat challenging when your new to the game and have no real bearings on where you are or what you are doing. Thankfully, the developers have included a way to speak with Renée with the ‘H’ button, although this may change on release. This offers some handy little information as to where to go and what to do which can then be figured out using the maps around the Asylum.
In order to analyze the graphics when dealing with a game that’s based around a real world establishment you have to go and check real images in order to judge if the developers have done a good job recreating the location. The images that you see as a reality and the graphics that are in the game are almost identical. The designers have done an amazing job re-creating the interior and exterior of the Asylum, so much so that when looking at the pictures you can tell which room it is based on in the game. Each piece of furniture, the doors, the walls, the windows, the staircases have been so beautifully designed that they fully reflect the building itself. It’s difficult to say, but from the images I’ve seen even the layout of the buildings look the same. The work that has gone into this has paid off though and ultimately what you are left with is a location which is filled with atmosphere and electricity which is a key part of any psychological thriller.
There’s little sound in the game in the way of background music but the sound that is there in the form of effects and voices are very well received. At certain points in the game sounds will occur which are perfectly timed and will make the hairs on your neck stand up on end. The majority of the game is in silence, which just adds to the atmosphere behind what is happening and any music that is playing is macabre and almost gothic which again just adds to everything. In similarity to the graphics, everything about the sound is perfect and whilst there’s not much to say about it, it’s purely because it’s fine the way it is.
Unfortunately for most games which are of the psychological thriller genre there is a hill to climb in hitting its criteria for suspense. It’s something that most games don’t have to worry about but when dealing with this particular genre is a very big part of the game and it can be difficult to fulfil the quota because suspense isn’t really something that you can add into a game in the same way that you could with sound or graphics or action. It’s a hill to climb but it’s one that The Town of Light has climbed so many time’s that it’s now walking up mountains because the hills were too easy. The suspense is incredible and I’m not sure how but from the first 10 minutes of the game I was more or less hooked and desperate to keep playing just to see what would happen next.
The other criteria that games like this have to hit is thrill factor, because ultimately it’s called a psychological thriller for a reason. There are so many points in the story which I would love to comment on but can’t because I don’t want to spoil any of the story but please believe me when I say that The Town of Light has no problem being a thriller. It’s something that the game does time and time again and there are so many disturbingly beautiful points in this game that will just blow you away and leave you speechless.
As I mentioned before, the version of the game that I played is still in development so there are opportunities for it to be developed slightly. There’s the odd spelling mistake, a few characters missed off subtitles and a few things that could be improved upon such as slightly increasing the walking speed of the main character. With regards to the speed of the main character It’s not a huge deal, because ultimately there is no action in this game, there’s no where you need to get to fast, however it can take a big of time to get from A to B especially in the later sections of the game.
The Town of Light is a shining example of how a psychological thriller game should be. It’s a fully interactive story which will leave you breathless and place you in the shoes of your character. It’s a game which is yet to be released but is already on it’s way to winning awards and frankly I think anything that the game wins would be more than justified. My suggestion would be that even if you aren’t a huge fan of psychological thrillers, go and play it anyway because by the time the game ends, you will be. It’s an eye opener and a truly remarkable experience all rolled into one and I can say without a doubt that it’ll leave you speechless.
The game is due to be released on Steam on February 26th 2016.
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