The Town of Light
12 March 1938. Renée, 16 years old, is ripped out of her world, locked up and deprived of everything. Her only fault was that she didn't know what her place in the world was. "A danger to herself and others and a cause of public scandal" wrote the police headquarters. The only horror you will find in this game is the truth: a blow to the solar plexus, much more intense than any supernatural presence The Town of Light is a psychological adventure told in the first person. The story is set in Italy in the first half of the 20th Century in a place which really existed and has been meticulously reconstructed. Exploring and interacting with the environment you will relive the history of the main character through her confused viewpoint and on the basis of your choices, the story will develop in different ways. Characteristics: Realistic 3d graphics Based on real facts and events. Strong narrative component No zombies or supernatural presences. Original sound track.
Steam User 35
Forget Resident Evil and its monsters, Silent Hill, Souls games with their punishing mechanics.
Here you'll find the real horror, the infinite terror and anguish. This game, on the technical side, could seem just another walking simulator.
You'll find instead the heartbreaking story of an Italian girl in a mental hospital in Tuscany, just before WWII.
You slowly dig in the experience, in the reasons, and in the hellish environment of mental insitutions before the war.. and it's honestly the scariest and most brutal game i've ever played.
You feel so close to Renee, you live her life through the years and the place that was her home for decades. And while at the beginning some things may be left to the player's imagination, at some point
one specific thing is not only shown, but explained in all its gruesome details.
Sincerely, i've cried, i've felt her anguish, and at that specific scene i had a sugar drop and almost fainted. Literally.
This game is awesome, a gut wrenching punch into reality. If you play it, you DON'T forget it, guaranteed.
Steam User 15
Engaging story. Between madness and reality you will have to explore a psychiatric hospital to understand what happened to the protagonist. Excellent soundrack and good storytelling. vote 8/10
Steam User 12
This isn't a game. It's a Walking Sim, and just a Walking Sim. There are no puzzles, no QTE's, no fast-clicking, and no jump-scares. This is to help you better focus on the story being told. You will have decisions to make throughout your experience, and parts of the game will change based on your decisions.
The location is a psychiatric hospital in Italy. The time period is today, but with plenty of memories and flashbacks of the late 1930's to mid 1940's. You are Renee. (At least you're supposed to be her. By the end of the story, however, you'll be questioning that, as a couple of things about the ending makes it near impossible for you to be her).
In 1938 you were committed to this horrible place by your mother, with help from the local police. You were 16 then. Now in present day (2016), you have come back to the hospital, which is long abandoned and much dilapidated, and are walking through trying to piece together your past. (Of course, this would make you around age 94, which adds to the impossibility of this scenario actually happening).
Renee has a diary (at least she will after you find the 8 pages), plus her memories. However, since Renee IS actually mentally unstable, you can't always trust the diary or the memories. You will also find medical records and reports. However, as the hospital often had to cover up "unfortunate incidents", you can't always trust those either. Who, or what, do you trust? These are the decisions you'll have to make, which I mentioned earlier.
The psychiatric hospital in this story really existed. It has been painstakingly recreated here, which I think is absolutely phenomenal. When walking around outside, especially the courtyard, it's amazing how beauty can be found in such desolation. The graphics are great (or at least were for 2016). The story is very compelling. It ranges from mildly disturbing to outright disgusting. Towards the end is a medical procedure which I wish I hadn't seen.
The voice acting is top notch. The woman who voices Renee sounds vulnerable most of the time, adding to the realism and story immersion. Many antique items in the game can be picked up and inspected. Old photos, posters, and newspaper headlines are also included. I really love the historical aspect being shown here. The background music also really adds to the ambiance.
I only have 2 gripes. First is that you only have walking speed. This makes things take a lot longer than they should, as you will be doing a lot of going back and forth between 2 floors, with 2 wings on each floor and several rooms in each wing. (Tip: The elevator is a pain in the butt. Taking the stairs is a lot faster).
Second is that the hints aren't always so obvious. I spent way more time than should have been necessary aimlessly walking around trying to figure out what to do next. Pushing 'H' is supposed to give you a hint, but it doesn't work 100% of the time. Plus, I didn't even know "H = hint" until I was in Chapter 7. From reading the forums, I found multiple people had this problem, thus the hint system should have been more publicly and obviously declared.
Social Commentary
This is a horror story, but not supernaturally. The horror here is in the truth. It's in the things that humans willingly do to each other. Psychiatric hospitals were where society put many of it's "undesirables", even though some of them weren't actually crazy or mentally unstable in any way. Patients were tortured in the names of medicine and science. Patients, especially females, were repeatedly raped by orderlies.
Ironically, and hypocritically, nothing has changed in almost a century. Our society still puts away it's "undesirables" in psychiatric hospitals, only we now call them mental institutions. The new name sounds nicer and more polite; a more palatable way of assuaging our own guilt for the blind eye we turn towards them. It helps us to believe we're more civilized now.
Yet patients are still abused, and still raped. Cover ups are still routine. Once in a great while you'll see a news article where an institution, or one of it's employees, gets caught. But we pay no attention as long as it doesn't involve us or any of our loved ones. As long as it's happening to somebody else, then it's not important. And that makes me wonder who the crazy ones really are.
Steam User 4
Excellent exploration game from the makers of Martha is Dead, about the torments of a young girl in a mental health institute during the 2nd world war. The story is based on true events and is extremely shocking, sometimes even sickening, but also very well translated into a game. I can definitely recommend this unforgettable experience.
Steam User 4
This game is based on real occurrences in a mental health facility in Volterra, Italy a few years before the 2nd World War. The facility is remarkably well reconstructed (visuals are gorgeous) and the story is narrated beautifully at its own pace. This game will not be everyone's cup of tea and is more about the story than everything else. It will leave you with disturbing thoughts at the end and grateful that mental health treatment has come a long way since then.
Steam User 3
Another extremely uncomfortable game personally for me, and even more than McGee's Alices. Fears of the past of events than (most likely) never happened but *could* have happened and which I was afraid of.
I guess slogan of (surprisingly fitting name) Lobotomy Corporation "Face The Fear, Build The Future" works the best here.
Or I am just a masochist.
Steam User 3
After experiencing this, I think of part of a bible verse, "....having compassion, making a difference". My mom worked in a nursing home and I saw people there in very similar circumstances of being trapped in a system that makes you totally depended on the goodwill of those around you. Sadly, most of my moms coworkers did not show compassion, did not fight for those they were trusted to serve well. Most died lonely and afraid, with my mom and a couple others to help make it at least a little more bearable. After all these years I think my mom let me experience her ministry to these people to teach me compassion and mercy to those who may have no one else to show even a bit of kindness. She taught me to pass it on. Learn to show compassion and mercy to those in the greatest need of it in your life. It will cost you something in this life, but reward you in eternity. And thanks mom, for helping me understand not just this game, but the lives of others God has placed in my journey. I hope I have passed it on well to my children to continue the legacy you started.