ASYLUM

Asylum is a horror video game developed by Senscape, an independent video game developer located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The game was authored by Agustín Cordes, who previously designed the game Scratches for the now-defunct developer Nucleosys. Taking place in a fictional insane asylum called the Hanwell Mental Institute, players are able to fully explore the institute, which is partially based on elements of real asylums. The clinic is built according to Kirkbride's plan, which is mentioned several times during the game. This type of mental hospital architecture was actually used in the past. The game was described as having "twisty storytelling" and "horrifying revelations", and an atmosphere-focused style of horror, much like Scratches. The game was officially announced on July 9, 2010 after a previous viral marketing campaign that involved a series of online videos posted on YouTube alleged to be posted by an escaped inmate called Leonard Huntings. A fake website for the Hanwell Mental Institute was also created. The first official screenshots were posted on August 12, 2011. On January 29, 2013, Agustín Cordes opened a Kickstarter campaign to raise US$100,666, which would be used to accelerate the game's development. On February 28, 2013, it successfully raised US$119,426, thus securing additional fundings to port the game to iPad and Android. On October 31, 2024, It was announced that Asylum is currently scheduled for a March 6, 2025 release. The game was officially released on March 14, 2025.