The Town of Lightis a psychological thriller in which the player takes the role of Renee, a 16-years-old girl who struggles with mental illness. All the characters depicted in the game are fictional, but the asylum in Tuscany where the entire game takes place is real.
In order to make the best representation of how asylums used to work, theindie developersconducted numerous interviews. They brought all the testimonies and information they acquired during their research into the game in order to try and makeThe Town of Lightthe most accurate representation of a real societal ill possible.
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How The Town of Light Represents Asylum Horrors
Renee is taken from her home in 1938 after disrupting the peace with behavior caused by her mental illness, most likely schizophrenia. The asylum that the player visits is based on a real psychiatric hospital in Tuscany called Volterra, despite the fact that the characters are made up. Volterra was forced to close its doors in 1978 after its practices were deemed too cruel.
Unlike other games set in asylums, there are no jump-scares or crazed enemies to be found. It’s not as outlandish asOutlast; insteadThe Town of Lightdepicts the reality of vulnerable women being abused by those who are supposed to help but don’t know how.The Town of Lightisn’t just about the specifics of institutional abuse in this one place at this one time; it’s about the disappearance of the sick and those who cause discomfort. While some people were deliberately targeted, others were simply misbehaving at the wrong time.
Renee is a composite character with a backstory created based on research on actual inmates. There’s a danger that her story could become a compilation of every extreme, a catalog of the worst-case scenarios aboutmental health. On the other hand, she appears to be a canvas on which suffering has been painted in all of its shades. As the punishing treatments and horrible situations pile up, players could suspect she might have been too much of a composite. Yet players will come across different documents during their journey as Renee, and will discover that everything they experience is accurate to real-life history.
Patients may exhibitschizophrenic tendencies, but they could also be epileptic or depressed and end up on the same ward. This is due to the fact that the diagnosis – and thus the treatment – could vary from day-to-day. People were often labeled and treated based on their moods, and it’s possible that the treatment they received the day before contributed to the mood that required treatment the following day.
Many, if not the vast majority, of those committed would have spent decades in an asylum. They had no liberties or rights, and their families were sometimes relieved to see them go. However, if no one was willing to accept responsibility for a patient who was about to be released, they could be kept in the asylum indefinitely. There was no social reintegration, and for manic or overly active patients, treatment often consisted of sedating them for extended periods.
True to its mission statement,The Town of Lightcreates a game that explores the social history of these institutions without bringing the horrors to life as shadow creatures or deranged doctors and inmates. The truth, or at least this version of it, is terrifying enough.
The Town of Lightis available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
