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Steam News1 January 20242y ago

ASYLUM is in beta!

Hello there! I come from the darkest depths of a dilapidated mental institute bearing news: for the past couple of months, we’ve been circulating a completable build of ASYLUM to our group of community mods, and it’s be

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Full ASYLUM update

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Repeated intro

Hello there! I come from the darkest depths of a dilapidated mental institute bearing news: for the past couple of months, we’ve been circulating a completable build of ASYLUM to our group of community mods, and it’s been an extraordinary success. This is was the first time people outside the Senscape team played the game all the way through, with barely any input from us.

What changed

0 fixes0 additions3 changes0 removals
  • Compatibility
  • Balance
changedOh, and Steam users will be delighted to hear that we have full controller support implemented already, with Steam Deck compatibility coming up, so you can lose your mind on the go.
changedNext stepsWe have more work to do. This first round of fresh feedback we received has been invaluable, but so far it presents a crucial milestone: the biggest worry for me has been the game might be too intricate, obtuse, or difficult to digest. Yet what I’m hearing is that, while further tweaks are required, ASYLUM is fun to play, the story is engaging, and keeps your interest until the end. Good exploration is hard to pull off: there’s a fine balance between giving the audience plenty of freedom and things to investigate while retaining a sense of direction and goals, to ensure the experience does not become frustrating. And it feels like we’re on the right track when one of the primary compliments I hear is that the Hanwell Mental Institute is a joy to explore. This is an accomplishment on a personal level, as the ability to explore at leisure has been the #1 thing I enjoy in games since I played King’s Quest for the first time many, many, many years ago.
changedNext stepsI wanted to be careful before we claimed beta. We’ve said this a number of times in the past: it’s a large game, and it’s no secret it’s been a challenge to develop over the years. But, the preliminary feedback we received from dedicated fans of the genre has alleviated any pending concerns. So, we’re ready to deliver the final blow. There’s six people actively working on ASYLUM besides myself, and one or two more folks may join the team during January. The big areas of focus will be tightening the storytelling and of course fixing bugs. The plan is to roll out this beta build after a first round of polish to VIP backers (around 100 people) soon

ASYLUM changes

changedOh, and Steam users will be delighted to hear that we have full controller support implemented already, with Steam Deck compatibility coming up, so you can lose your mind on the go.
changedWe have more work to do. This first round of fresh feedback we received has been invaluable, but so far it presents a crucial milestone: the biggest worry for me has been the game might be too intricate, obtuse, or difficult to digest. Yet what I’m hearing is that, while further tweaks are required, ASYLUM is fun to play, the story is engaging, and keeps your interest until the end. Good exploration is hard to pull off: there’s a fine balance between giving the audience plenty of freedom and things to investigate while retaining a sense of direction and goals, to ensure the experience does not become frustrating. And it feels like we’re on the right track when one of the primary compliments I hear is that the Hanwell Mental Institute is a joy to explore. This is an accomplishment on a personal level, as the ability to explore at leisure has been the #1 thing I enjoy in games since I played King’s Quest for the first time many, many, many years ago.
changedI wanted to be careful before we claimed beta. We’ve said this a number of times in the past: it’s a large game, and it’s no secret it’s been a challenge to develop over the years. But, the preliminary feedback we received from dedicated fans of the genre has alleviated any pending concerns. So, we’re ready to deliver the final blow. There’s six people actively working on ASYLUM besides myself, and one or two more folks may join the team during January. The big areas of focus will be tightening the storytelling and of course fixing bugs. The plan is to roll out this beta build after a first round of polish to VIP backers (around 100 people) soon

Takeaways and general comments are as follows:

  • Actual quotes

    “it’s an instant classic”, “the writing is engaging, music is amazing, environments are creepy, love the small nods to Scratches and just like it, Asylum has that beautifully eerie exploration feel”, “mood and atmosphere is unmatched”.

    Also

    “This will be the game everyone remember and use as an example of classic exploration horror point & click adventure game”. Wow!

  • No show-stopping bugs! Yes, of course we received bucketloads of feedback –that was the whole idea– and we have our own to-do list as well, but the fact that folks without any prior knowledge of the game were able to complete it without handholding nor dead ends is good reason to celebrate.

  • Our length estimation is spot on! Our mod team overall spent 12-15 hours on average playing, with only someone doing it faster on purpose. And yet, someone else claims to have spent at least 30-35 hours in the game (!!). Considering that we haven’t implemented all achievements nor readable documents, it will be up to you how much you’ll want to squeeze out of ASYLUM. But it’s an engrossing and lengthy experience, that’s for sure.

Oh, and Steam users will be delighted to hear that we have full controller support implemented already, with Steam Deck compatibility coming up, so you can lose your mind on the go.

Next steps

We have more work to do. This first round of fresh feedback we received has been invaluable, but so far it presents a crucial milestone: the biggest worry for me has been the game might be too intricate, obtuse, or difficult to digest. Yet what I’m hearing is that, while further tweaks are required, ASYLUM is fun to play, the story is engaging, and keeps your interest until the end. Good exploration is hard to pull off: there’s a fine balance between giving the audience plenty of freedom and things to investigate while retaining a sense of direction and goals, to ensure the experience does not become frustrating. And it feels like we’re on the right track when one of the primary compliments I hear is that the Hanwell Mental Institute is a joy to explore. This is an accomplishment on a personal level, as the ability to explore at leisure has been the #1 thing I enjoy in games since I played King’s Quest for the first time many, many, many years ago.

I wanted to be careful before we claimed beta. We’ve said this a number of times in the past: it’s a large game, and it’s no secret it’s been a challenge to develop over the years. But, the preliminary feedback we received from dedicated fans of the genre has alleviated any pending concerns. So, we’re ready to deliver the final blow. There’s six people actively working on ASYLUM besides myself, and one or two more folks may join the team during January. The big areas of focus will be tightening the storytelling and of course fixing bugs. The plan is to roll out this beta build after a first round of polish to VIP backers (around 100 people) soon

Source

Steam News / 1 January 2024

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