So often, it can feel like horror is preying on fears of mental illness. How many video games are set in abandoned psychiatric institutions? What about deeming antagonists “criminally,” or otherwise, “insane”? Sure, I love Until Dawn, but I don’t care for its takes on psychotherapy. I am put off by Outlast, despite its clever mechanics and tight design. Comstock’s House in BioShock Infinite somehow made the game worse. And what’s more: horror doesn’t need these tropes to survive. There are plenty of spooky things to go bump in the night, and sometimes the most interesting work can come from interrogating the media we love.
Enter The Asylum Game Jam, which celebrated its fifth birthday in 2017. The organiser, Lucy Morris, is taking a break this year, but she’s facilitated an impressive number of games in the meantime. The jam took place all around the world and challenged devs to make games which didn’t rely on stereotypes of mental illness. Over five years that’s a lot of games. I took the time to play some from each year — and here are a few of my favourites. (more…)
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