Hello there! I come from the darkest depths of a dilapidated mental institute bearing news: for the past couple of months, weve been circulating a completable build of ASYLUM to our group of community mods, and its been an extraordinary success. This is was the first time people outside the Senscape team played the game all the way through, with barely any input from us.
Takeaways and general comments are as follows:

• Actual quotes: its an instant classic, the writing is engaging, music is amazing, environments are creepy, love the small nods to Scratches and just like it, Asylum has that beautifully eerie exploration feel, mood and atmosphere is unmatched. Also: This will be the game everyone remember and use as an example of classic exploration horror point & click adventure game. Wow!
• No show-stopping bugs! Yes, of course we received bucketloads of feedback that was the whole idea and we have our own to-do list as well, but the fact that folks without any prior knowledge of the game were able to complete it without handholding nor dead ends is good reason to celebrate.
• Our length estimation is spot on! Our mod team overall spent 12-15 hours on average playing, with only someone doing it faster on purpose. And yet, someone else claims to have spent at least 30-35 hours in the game (!!). Considering that we havent implemented all achievements nor readable documents, it will be up to you how much youll want to squeeze out of ASYLUM. But its an engrossing and lengthy experience, thats for sure.

Oh, and Steam users will be delighted to hear that we have full controller support implemented already, with Steam Deck compatibility coming up, so you can lose your mind on the go.

Next steps

We have more work to do. This first round of fresh feedback we received has been invaluable, but so far it presents a crucial milestone: the biggest worry for me has been the game might be too intricate, obtuse, or difficult to digest. Yet what Im hearing is that, while further tweaks are required, ASYLUM is fun to play, the story is engaging, and keeps your interest until the end. Good exploration is hard to pull off: theres a fine balance between giving the audience plenty of freedom and things to investigate while retaining a sense of direction and goals, to ensure the experience does not become frustrating. And it feels like were on the right track when one of the primary compliments I hear is that the Hanwell Mental Institute is a joy to explore. This is an accomplishment on a personal level, as the ability to explore at leisure has been the #1 thing I enjoy in games since I played Kings Quest for the first time many, many, many years ago.
I wanted to be careful before we claimed beta. Weve said this a number of times in the past: its a large game, and its no secret its been a challenge to develop over the years. But, the preliminary feedback we received from dedicated fans of the genre has alleviated any pending concerns. So, were ready to deliver the final blow. Theres six people actively working on ASYLUM besides myself, and one or two more folks may join the team during January. The big areas of focus will be tightening the storytelling and of course fixing bugs. The plan is to roll out this beta build after a first round of polish to VIP backers (around 100 people) soon to gather more feedback and impressions. As we get closer to launch, we will share another build with the rest of our Kickstarter backers.

In other news

2023 has been quite an exciting year for Senscape. Its hard to believe all that took place! Were about 40 people now remotely working across Latin America as well as a bunch from Spain.
One of the big developments was our involvement in the Virtual Production department for the horror movie When Evil Lurks, from acclaimed Argentinian director Demin Rugna. You might have caught Terrified in Netflix, a great entry in the genre, but When Evil Lurks blows it out of the water. Great story, sublime production and cinematography, and outstanding gore effects that rival the very best from Lucio Fulci. Have a watch if you enjoy horror, and pay attention to a number of interior shots of trucks in the road the environments were designed by us in Unreal Engine to match real life locations. [previewyoutube=O-6Q8EzBJKA;full][/previewyoutube] Last, but not least, our involvement creating cinematic content in the interactive horror series Silent Hill: Ascension from Genvid was disclosed earlier this year. The series demands hours and hours of footage spawning over the course of several months. Its like a community-driven Bandersnatch or TellTale Game (in fact, we get to work with wonderful ex-TellTale folks!). Heres one of my favorite scenes so far Im very pleased with its mood and choreography: https://twitter.com/SHAscension/status/1720148103234572544 The show is currently in the mid-season break and set to resume in early 2024. And thats all, folks. As always, thank you for patience and sticking around. I think this year was only the beginning of a new era for Senscape, and we have a very exciting 2024 awaiting us.
Until next time, and Happy New Year! Agustn