Doctor Morben's Asylum

A loot-fest in an abandoned mental institution turns into a ghostly rescue mission. But the protagonist’s original objective of gathering enough valuables remains in the background, giving rise to an interesting tension between altruistic and selfish motivations for PC and player alike.

The asylum itself is an ever-looming presence. The descriptions of its gloomy corridors, stripped-down rooms, and water-logged roofs summon a bogged down atmosphere, home to long-gone but lingering suffering and despair.
Within its chambers, ghosts and spectres are trapped. Despite their terrifying effect on the protagonist, they also elicit a sympathetic, caring response through the backstories we find during our search of the premises.

Obstacles are mostly quite easily overcome, at least if the player takes good care to thoroughly investigate, remembers to return to certain locations when so clued, and has a good memory (or notes) to remind her of where the relevant pieces of the puzzle are.
This ease of puzzle-solving leaves a lot of mental room for the slowly creeping atmosphere to really grab hold.

The pacing and gating of the exploration, and the tempo of unraveling the story with it, are very well handled. Blockades and bottlenecks clear up after sufficient discoveries have been made, the promise of intriguing new secrets always keeps the player on her toes, the spread of ghost NPCs through the building gives a good balance between calm(ish) investigation and bursts of adrenalin.

A panic-meter adds to the tension. If it fills up, you fail. This mechanic, too, is very well-balanced. Scary rooms and sudden noises cause the meter to creep up notch by notch, while confrontations with spectres or other sudden events give the panic an upward jolt. But there are ways to release the tension too. I particularly liked seeing my panic-meter drop down by picking a choice that seemed the more dangerous, but was actually harmless. I could feel the relief of my protagonist as their panic dropped down and my own tension fell with theirs.

This is the only Grand Guignol game that I tested.

This is a large and complex choice-based game with a strong emphasis on place and inventory. It has stylized text and background images, and uses a variety of fonts to indicate different character voices or special events. It has an inventory sidebar and uses graphics and animations to track your 'panic'.

You play as someone visiting an old abandoned asylum in an attempt to recover treasure from within. Once you get there, you discover that things are much worse than you could have ever guessed: this aslyum is haunted!

The author mentions in a note that this story, which was started 25 years ago, evolved to be one where the patients are victims of mistreatment by a cruel facility.

The panic meter is the key factor in this story. Getting a scare can raise it by 1 or 2. But confronting a ghost can fill up almost half the meter, which can lead to instant death in some cases. Fortunately, you get one 'free life' to keep going if you do, but it can be useful to keep a lot of saves and only push past warnings when you're sure your panic can handle it.

I found the panic meter engaging, keeping me more on my toes and more engaged in the gameplay, rather than just trying every option one by one. At times I found myself lost in the maze of links, but I eventually constructed a mental image of what the asylum looks like.

This is a big, polished game and was a pleasure to test and play. There are a few bugs here in there in the current version but the author has already described plans on fixing them after the competition.

Founded by Doctor Morben, Morben House was once a state-of-the-art establishment that could cure any mental illness, even insanity. Until patients disappeared and scandal forced the asylum to close its doors in 1930s. It’s been left abandoned- and the source of countless rumors- ever since.

Fast forward to the 21st century.

You’ve got bills to pay. And a theory: If it served wealthy patients who supposedly never left, could their valuable belongings be in there? Looting it is a gamble… but you’re desperate.

Desperate enough to sneak into this reportedly haunted (and surprisingly accessible) asylum and face whatever secrets lie within!

A submission to Ectocomp 2025 in the Le Grand Guignol category.

Gameplay
Our adventure begins outside the asylum’s entrance. The game features what I like to call “free range of movement” which is where the player navigates rooms and interacts with content like they would with a parser, except they click on links instead of type. As a Twine game Doctor Morben's Asylum has one of the largest maps I’ve seen.

You have full roam of the asylum and, for a limited time, the grounds outside it. There’s a lot to explore.

More signs: CONSERVATORY to the left, HALL to the right, and CONSULTING ROOMS pointing yet further down the passage.

>> Enter the greenhouse
>> Enter the hall
>> Follow the passage to the foyer
>> Follow the passage to the back of the house

Initially, the objective is to find valuable items until it becomes clear that (Spoiler - click to show)A, there’s not much worth taking, and B, there are ghosts who need your help (see Story section). The focus is then on finding the right item to appease each ghost and earn their support before facing the ghost of Doctor Morben and freeing the souls trapped in the asylum.

Despite the large map and long gameplay, this is not a puzzle-fest. Puzzles boil down to finding the right items to bypass doors and fulfill encounters with NPCs, but the game keeps things varied to avoid becoming stale. Players are encouraged to carefully examine their surroundings and revisit locations as they learn more secrets.

A central gameplay mechanic is a “Panic” stat that tracks the player’s fear levels. This adds an extra challenge to balance out the simplicity of the puzzles.

Panic: 6/14

You are on edge.

If you max out… (Spoiler - click to show)it’s not a good idea to max out here.

Three modes of difficulty: Gentle, Normal, and Hard, which can be toggled during gameplay. However, the game doesn’t explain what they entail. I tried them and didn’t notice much of a difference. The only thing that comes to mind is that (Spoiler - click to show)Gentle mode allows you to take Han’s photograph from the office and use it to appease his spirit in the secret downstairs area. Otherwise, he continues to be a threat.

Despite the slick interface, flexible gameplay, and spooky story, there are some noticeable snags. Several times I came across red error links (ex. Error: cannot find a closing tag for macro <<first>>), and the feature that keeps track of your endings is a mess.

There is also a bug involving (Spoiler - click to show)Beau Russell’s ghost. When appeased, ghosts disappear from their haunting spot. To do this with him, you hand over the cigar case. He thanks you and disappears. But if you revisit his location, the game acts as if this never happened. You get ambushed by an angry ghost but no longer have the cigar case.

Story
The game’s story is not exactly groundbreaking or innovative, and when it comes to the premise of exploring an abandoned (and often haunted) asylum, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Instead, its strength stems from a consistent and streamlined narrative, along with characters that we can care about. Topped off with the writing and suspenseful gameplay, the result is an immersive story that draws the player in.

Doctor Morben's Asylum never had a dull moment.

But what is going on?

Subject matter
Despite its subject matter, Doctor Morben's Asylum is not as grim as its premise might suggest. It’s not a graphic game. No gore. It’s not One Eye Open. If anything, the most disturbing part is the mere fact that asylums like Morben House actually existed (even today there’s room for improvement- but that’s another discussion). Content-wise, the game taps into this history without trivializing it.

What we find in Morben house reflects some of the beliefs about mental illness that were present at its time. For example, female "hysteria" equating to mental illness.

Or how certain behaviors, like wetting the bed, are viewed a matter of moral failure that requires “correction” (aka: child abuse).

I like that the game chooses to (Spoiler - click to show)humanize the ghosts rather than antagonizing them as “crazy patient” NPCs. Now, the ghosts, who are traumatized, will attack you out of confusion, until you bring an item, or “anchor”, that allows them to reclaim memories that were stripped away. They then reappear to help when you go to destroy the machine.

Endings
There are seven endings. At the end of the game there is a box listing the endings that you reached. Unfortunately, it is a tangled mess of red error links and can even misnumber the endings that are listed. As far as I’m aware, I found all but endings 2 and 3.

Endings I reached: (Spoiler - click to show)“Gave up and ran away, lived another day” (1), “The doctor’s next experiment” (4), “Greed beats charity” (5), “Lost to the device” (6), “An end to this horror” (7). I’ve played the game multiple times to find the others with no success. Does anyone have any ideas?

Characters
I discussed the NPCs. I'm a little curious about the protagonist.

An old aluminium torch. The battery isn't perfect.

You're about to ransack an infamous asylum… and all you bring is a pack of gum and a shoddy battery-powered torch? (I only mean this from a story standpoint.)

Visuals
A few years back, I played another game by the author called The Green, and I remember being impressed with its slick, atmospheric visual design. Doctor Morben's Asylum has the same level of quality.

The screen displays a generic wallpaper pattern as a backdrop; in the center is a dark translucent text box. Text is primarily white with green links, and other colours are used as accents. Readable content*, such as handwritten letters, is displayed in a textbox that mimics paper. Icons are also creatively used. For example, a notification with a green hand briefly appears when you add something to your inventory. The author goes the extra mile to enhance the player’s experience.

*(I appreciate that we can turn off the stylized fonts used for this content. Fancy cursive handwriting has a nice aesthetic but gets tiresome after a few sentences.)

Final thoughts
I was impressed with how much Doctor Morben's Asylum had to offer.

It stood out to me because while the story and gameplay are heavy on content, it is light on puzzles without sacrificing challenge. Overall, gameplay is intuitive and streamlined. I never needed a walkthrough or hints to “win” the game, though I’d still like help for two of the endings. These qualities will appeal to players who are intimidated by large Twine games.

As I mentioned, there are some error messages and a noticeable bug. But this feels minor in comparison to the game as a whole. Some players may hesitate to play the game due to its subject matter. However, it opts for atmosphere over explicit content, relying more on the idea of exploring a spooky building.

The best way to know if this game is for you is to give it a try!