Last week, independent Polish studio Fallen Leaf, added a new level to the demo for their upcoming game “Insanitorium – Don’t Be Afraid”. This is my first look at the demo, and the game as a whole, so I took it from the top. The game is made in Unity, and boy can you tell. After getting past the first minigame in the form of a main menu visual bug, I found my way into the options screen.
The default sensitivity is about as high as Snoop Dogg, but when pulled all the way to the bottom of the slider, it approached levels I would consider “acceptable”. You are instantly graced with what I have to say, is a pretty standout performance by voice actor Eric Pasquet who I gather has unexpectedly returned from a career hiatus to take on this role.
The audio EQ is a little rough at times with “S” sounds coming out a little distorted, but this performance is strong and probably the most captivating part of the demo at this point. With the one exception of a jump scare between the levels which somehow lacks so much in impact, that it failed to make me, one of the jumpiest people on this planet, react in anyway at all. Please cut that part.
It’s made clear early on that this is going to be one of the litany of horror games that use a torch to tunnel your vision, and treat batteries as a consumable, immediately giving me traumatic flashbacks to Alan Wake. What is novel, is that this might be the first flashlight invented that projects more light onto the hand holding it, than the world in front of it. So if you’ve ever struggled to see your own hand, this is the flashlight for you.
The two levels you explore in the demo are largely populated by a cast of mannequins, but it’s made obvious that your perception is playing tricks on you, and what might seem like a mannequin at first may in fact be a real human being. I like this, call it a trope, but The Autons from Doctor Who scarred my ability to browse clothes stores for a good few years of my childhood, so safe to say it works.
Not to leave Doctor Who behind for long, there’s also some Weeping Angels action going on here, or SCP 173 action if you were born in a year that starts with 2. The female mannequin that seems to creep up on you outside your field of vision is inconsequential for now, disappearing with a giggle if you walk up and touch her. I expect that in the full game, this will serve to introduce you to something that will actually matter in later levels.
After a bit of mannequin Simon Says, it’s implied that you get… arrested I guess? Roaming through an environment that feels part mental hospital, part police station, leads you to encounter the first actual moving NPC and some extra consumables and notes. What you do with these is anyone’s guess. It’s not part of the control scheme that pops up for a few seconds at the beginning of the game, doesn’t show up in any settings menus, and after a thorough keyboard smashing sessions I was unable to provoke a response.
The mobile NPC rather unceremoniously swings and grunts at you. He doesn’t seem to care whether you flashlight is on or off, and despite his somewhat zombie-like behaviour, is plenty adept at opening doors. He kills me a couple of times, and then in the most meta-terrifying fashion, hits me so hard it sends me back to my completely normal desktop.
The release date for Insanitorium has not been announced yet, and it’s probably for the best, since it has a lot of work to do before it can realistically be said to be bringing anything new or interesting to this already pretty bloated genre of Energizer sponsored asylum explorers.
I look forward to seeing how it progresses, and I hope the developers can focus on the fact that in a game like this, you really have to lean heavily on visual immersion and atmosphere. Something unfortunately still found lacking.
