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Review
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.
