This is a nice little old fashioned “text only” adventure game made in 1991. In the current day and age of super-duper graphics where you need to sell a kidney just to afford a PC powerfully equipped enough to run a game at its highest spec, there is something strangely relaxing about sitting down with a cuppa on a Sunday afternoon and tapping instructions on screen.
The game starts with the usual request to “input your name” as per many old text adventures.
I like this – it kind of makes you feel like you are actually part of the game. Another nice touch is the % complete entry in the corner of the screen so you know exactly how well you are doing and how much progress is yet to be made.
Asylum starts with you sitting in a car next to your female friend – Nausea (great name). You are parked outside the Asylum which forms the basis of the game and your subsequent adventures unfold rapidly as you frantically type commands into the keyboard – always wondering what wonderful response will come up on screen.
The game doesn’t give you any background whatsoever as to what you are doing at the Asylum
so it is very much a “find out what’s happening as you go along” affair. I must admit that I found this quite frustrating, but things do get easier the more you play. The puzzles are good, and the parser is fairly advanced for this era, although you do have to be quite specific for it to accept your commands.
The very basic premise and object of the game is to explore the Asylum and find out what is happening to the Inmates and in particular – “The Doppelganger.” I can’t really add anymore than this because that really is what’s involved!
In order to progress in the game you need to think very laterally – e.g. to open the Security Door with a pass you can’t type “use pass on door,” but in fact use “put pass in Cardlock.” You can also do an Inventory check on any of the Inmates or Staff and steal items from them, but beware – they can do the same to you!
In order to save your game, you can simply type “Save” at the prompt. I never had to do a load, but I assume you can load in the same way by simply typing “Load.”
In all honesty there are much more superior Text Only Adventure Games from this era, but if you fancy whiling away a couple of hours to test your puzzle solving mind, find out what response you get from typing things like “eat your own hand,” or simply practice your grammar then Asylum is worth a go – I’d give it 9 out of 10!
