Ashes Of The Damned: The Forgotten Ward

Developer: Crimson Cloud Games

Publisher: Crimson Cloud Games

Platform: PC

Review Key Provided: Yes

Release Date: Out Now

Games set inside abandoned mental asylums give us mixed feelings here at Indie Horror Gamer. Why? Because it’s a great setting for a psychological horror game, but an oft-used asset on the Epic Store, and when you bring that familiarity to a horror game, much of the tension disappears. You’re walking through the same building again. “What is this place?” mutters the player’s character during its initial cut-scene. “Why does it feel so familiar?” Well, exactly.

Where a developer can benefit from these pre-assembled worlds is with their story and enemies. Sadly, there’s no great innovation here, either. You awaken, with no memory, inside the building, and rather than shoulder-barge the front door into oblivion, decide to explore, taking in patient notes, collecting items and avoiding the ghosts of those left behind. These well-constructed, devilish creatures stalk and haunt the player, albeit on rare occasions; each is a former patient/inmate of the asylum. After the player character’s opening monologue, you’ll have little doubt as to your origin, too. There’s also no save option, with the game intended for one sitting.

Ashes Of The Damned’s Steam page teases a brief but powerful experience. In reality, it’s tedious, a bare-bones walking simulator where you slowly discover photos and files (mostly AI-generated), before a random jump-scare monster attack places you back at the same place, with a ten-page book explaining more of the history of the enemy who just attacked you. The game (apparently) loops, meaning you’ll need to traipse around previously-explored rooms for further clues, and that’s about as thrilling as it sounds. Fortunately, interactive items are clearly marked. You can’t run from the monsters (despite what the Steam page says) and there’s no hiding or combat.

There are further collectables, relics of each case, and ‘remembering’ these triggers an AI voiceover, explaining more of the history of the patient. Yet like everything else, they are few and far between, giving Ashes Of The Damned an empty and monotonous feel. There’s a pair of glasses to collect that give you access to a small selection of puzzles, but frankly they’re not worth the time spent searching the asylum for.

While they are never going to be top-drawer games, plenty of solo developers are using services such as Epic to produce good horror experiences. At just under six quid, Ashes Of The Damned is a cheap game, albeit one that won’t provide much gameplay value or, for that matter, many scares.

CONCLUSION

A by-the-numbers horror walking sim with some interesting ideas. Unfortunately, it utterly fails to capitalise on them, resulting in a wearisome trawl through the familiar Epic Store asylum.