Die Anstalt - The Asylum

What is the game about?
The Asylum is a casual Point-and-Click game where the player is expected to analyze the odd behaviour of abused cuddly toys and solve their deep-rooted problems. The player is expected to to work their way down the checklist of therapies and get to the root of each toy's unique problem by making choices on the forms of therapy listed on the clipboard given to them.



How do you play it?
You start of in the lobby of the clinic, and have to go into the Patient's Lounge. Upon entering, one comes across a group of stuffed animals for u to choose from. Each animal shows various signs of mental disturbance and the player has to pick one to begin with. After choosing your character, you can then proceed into the therapy room to attempt to help them.


As shown in the screen above, you, as the doctor, have a few courses of action to choose from on the clipboard.

Many of the actions vary from plushie to plushie, but the courses of action that remain constant are;

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Medical Examination: This is a general physical examination to see the condition of the plush toy.

Dream Analysis: This involves putting the patient under hypnosis, and then using their dreams as a way of interpretation.

Therapeutic Interview: In which a third-party element (in this case, a sock puppet), is introduced to help to make the plushie open up.

Administration of drugs: A somewhat extreme resort to turn to when the patient is showing extremely erratic or agitated behaviour.

Professional Assistance: This is a journal that you can refer to in order to get hints to help reveal the order in which you are supposed to do the actions.

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The rest of the activities vary, but all of them help to trigger flashbacks in the plushies that may help to unravel their problem.


There is also a Therapy Progress bar located on the clipboard, to help you monitor the progress of the patient. A right decision will fill the bar, whereas a wrong decision would cause the progress to go into decline. Once it hits zero, the patient is considered to be completely frazzled and it may be necessary for you to use electroshock therapy to "shock" them out of it.





What makes this game so compelling?
The Asylum is one of the most emotionally moving interactive narrative experiences I have ever come across. It makes the player empathize with the stuffed toys and form a bond with them. After seeing

Is it fun?
I think that it's very fun, because there are not many games that can engage you on such an emotional level. You actually begin to feel sorry for the plushies and begin to actually feel the need to help them out of their funk. Another drawing point of this game is the fact that it actually requires you to THINK, rather than to just DO.

Is it hard?
To a certain degree, yes. Alot of the decisions you make are actually based on guesswork, and you have to solidly rely on the "Professional assistance" button and the Therapy Progress bar to make sure that you're on the right track.

Synopsis
- Casual point-and-click game
- You play a psychiatrist, who has to analyse the psychological problems of abused stuffed toys to help them recover.
- You have a list of actions you can take, and they will either have a positive or negative effect depending on what order you do them in.
- Once the Therapy Progress bar is filled, the patient is considered as recovered and can be released.


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