Wired Productions has announced that it will be bringing psychological horror The Town of Light: Deluxe Edition exclusively to the Nintendo Switch this spring both digitally, and physically.
The Town of Light, originally released on PC in 2016 and other consoles in 2017, is an historically inspired exploration of mental health and its treatment in the mid-20th century. As Renée, a 16-year-old girl who suffers from symptoms of mental illness, players must search for answers to the many questions of her past, while exploring and uncovering the place where she spent most of her youth. Being based on extensive research and inspired by real facts, this is a first-person psychological story-driven adventure game set in the Volterra Psychiatric Asylum, based in Tuscany, Italy.
This Deluxe Edition builds on The Town of Light’s 2017 console release with a collection of exclusive documentary content, allowing inquisitive players to learn about the hospital at Volterra, and the lives of its patients, for the first time within the game’s release. You can check out a brand new accolades trailer for the game below.
Luca Dalcò, Studio Head at developer LKA, has said that the team "created The Town of Light to talk about mental health", with the aim being to discuss things that no one really talks about, rather than focusing on the horror element.
If the game's focus on mental health is presented in an accurate, helpful, and useful way for people to better understand what others might be going through, we whole-heartedly commend the idea. We'll make sure to keep a close eye on this one when it launches later this year. Will you be giving this one a go?
Comments 34
The picture and the discription don't seem to mix.
It hasn't reviewed well on other platforms. And it won't be long before we're getting actually good horror games like Layers of Fear, Detention, Outlast, etc.
I want actual horror games, like Resident Evil 7, Remake, etc. But I hope this game will be good.
@Ralizah Uh, looking on Steam it seems to be fine.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/433100/The_Town_of_Light/
You can get a good feel for the kind of game. I am also noticing a lot of negative review stop playing around 3-5 hours while the positive ones play a lot more. So maybe there is some kind of turning point for people.
Also, I would love to Nintendo Life to link to the steam page of any coming game that has one. Steam Reviews can be a good tool to judge the game. They're by no means perfect but I have generally been okay with games that trend on the positive side more than not.
That image reminds me of "Sadness". Does anyone remember that infamous Wii vapourware?
@tebunker Look on metacritic. It has a sub-70 average on every platform it released on. Both user scores and critic reviews.
Moreover, regarding the playtime:
https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=34947
It takes 3 - 5 hours to fully complete it.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE We got so much tosh on the Wii it was a shame. I recall there being some really good underrated horrors on the Wii too that just got buried.
Never heard of that one though !!
@XenoShaun It never released or showed a proper gameplay trailer.
Sadness Wii Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnBp8j4BscI
@SLIGEACH_EIRE Wow.. yay for motion gimmicks. No wonder it didn't release.
Once again, no game play in the advert :s
So what is this? A point and click?
@noobish_hat Me too, buddy. Portable REmake is the dream.
Didn't enjoy this when I played it, so won't be getting it on switch.
@Kalmaro How so? It's a psychological horror game that involves mental health issues, and we see a woman in a straight jacket in the picture. Seems pretty relevant and logical to me...
Playing from the perspective of a mental person could be nice, you get to see and experience what typical normal people usually don't see.
So I played the original one on PS4... it's not good. Has some original ideas but the gameplay is horrible and its not that scary.
For those asking about gameplay... you wander and empty mental hospital... don't see a single person or thing and interact with things in the environment. They use a ton of sound to make the game seem scary... like creaking doors, rustling leaves, etc.
@Bunkerneath Well, here you go then:
And as you can see, there actually IS gameplay footage in the trailer, since all cut scenes and so on are in-engine.
@Deathwalka It kind of is, although I'd rather go with "3D interactive adventure". Point and click reminds me more of those 2D side scrollers that always had half the screen occupied by standard commands, such as Secret of Monkey Island and Simon the Sorcerer. Those are relatively static compared to this one.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE that’s actually the first thing I thought as well.
@ThanosReXXX The description in the overview almost puts the game in a positive light. As if this is more of a game designed to just inform of what goes on and less about anything scary.
But the first picture is of some woman being handled by beefy nurses while screaming hysterically.
Tried the demo on PS4 way back when, left intrigued. Glad to hear it'll be available here now!
@Kalmaro
That sadly actually goes on all the time.
@SetupDisk Yeah I've heard. Those places terrify me.
Interested!
@Kalmaro Well, the positive thing is that it tries to bring mental health care to the attention of the average Joe, and quite a bit of the game is based on actual events, only the names of the people have been changed.
So, I'd say it could even be categorized as an educational adventure game. Personally, I don't think it should be classified as a horror game, although there are some intense moments in it, from what I've seen so far, but that is actually more along the lines of sadness and disbelief when you hear, read and see how people with these diseases were treated back then.
In my opinion, this is not for horror fans, but for people who are genuinely interested in a realistic story, and in getting into the head, no pun intended, of someone suffering from mental diseases, if only to gain some understanding. It being so niche might also account for the average rating it gets. People might be expecting another Resident Evil or Layers of Fear, but this game is nothing like that.
And besides the sad and horrifying bits, the game could actually also be quite calming to play, both because of the setting, and you being the only person in the game. If you'd allow yourself to do so, you could actually become completely immersed in the story and the world. And you can play it in whichever way you want: explore every bit of scenery, or just go from A to B and perform all the given tasks.
And all that is probably also recognized by the reviewers that pass by in the accolades trailer accompanying this article.
Knock yourself out, I find nothing calming about being in a mental institute.
@Kalmaro Well, it's not really a mental institute anymore: you're exploring the ruins of a former institution and getting flashbacks of all that happened there.
If the topic itself doesn't interest you, then fair enough, which means this game just isn't for you.
But having said that: it can be quite mesmerizing to get absorbed in the story, and it being based on actual events, might even make it a bit more involving than the average adventure.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE It was actually one of the games I was most interested in.
@ThanosReXXX It's just me. Anything related to mental institutions bring up some dark thoughts.
@Kalmaro No problem man, just like I said: that's fair enough, then this game just isn't for you.
"originally released on PC in 2016 and other consoles in 2017"
So I guess the Deluxe Edition is the Nintendo Switch "exclusive" then?
This is 100% not for me.... I hope it's good though as a new kind of game is never a bad thing
Honestly, the horror of how people with mental health conditions have been and sometimes continue to be treated is worse than the "horror" of the conditions themselves. It's just chemical imbalance and "faulty wiring".
I think it's great that it's out in the open a little more as a topic for reflection. Pre-ordered physical.
I hear this is no longer coming to Switch.
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