Following The Town of Light’s release on PC, Italian developer LKA.it has announced that the psychological horror game will be headed to the PS4. In PlayStation Blog post, LKA.it art director of screenwriter Luca Dalco confirmed that the game’s move to PS4 will happen later in the year, but an official release date has not been confirmed. Dalco also explained some of the historical aspects of the game. The trailer can be seen below:
What’s different about The Town of Light is that it is based on true events. It takes place in the Volterra Psychiatric Asylum in Tuscany, Italy. The Volterra Psychiatric Asylum was an actual mental health facility that ran for over 100 years before closing down in the 1970s.
“Through extensive research, we hope to give our players a glimpse into the treatment of those suffering from mental illness throughout the mid-part of the 20th century,” Dalco said.
You play as a resident of Volterra Psychiatric Asylum called Renee. As Renee, you explore the asylum in order to piece together her past.
“The game has some difficult moments making it unsuitable for children, but moments which we felt were important to include, doing justice to those who suffered at the hands of a system which was clearly overwhelmed and itself didn’t know all of the answers,” Dalco said. “Today, things are of course very different as great advances in the care for those with mental illness have been made around the world.”
The PS4 version of The Town of Light includes a “number of enhanced features” like improved visual effects and “new story and gameplay elements” in order to help the game be “more immersive.”
According to Buzzfeed, the Volterra Psychiatric Asylum was closed down in 1978 in part because its practices were deemed “too cruel.” Allegedly, electroshock therapy was used on residents and residents were also chained to their beds in straight jackets. You can see some pictures of what the Volterra Psychiatric Asylum looked like in the same Buzzfeed article.