In Ashes of the Damned, you awaken to find yourself seemingly alone in a psychiatric ward. It is up to you to collect clues and solve the mystery.

This game has some good ideas, most of which work. One of the choices made in the game’s mechanics left me frustrated.

What is Ashes of the Damned?

Ashes of the Damned: The Forgotten Ward was written and developed by Crimson Cloud Games, a solo developer. According to the game’s Steam page, the game took about a year to develop.

The description:

Explore an abandoned psychiatric ward in this first-person psychological horror. Find patient files, solve puzzles, uncover your connection to the ward, and survive the entities stalking its halls. You cannot fight back.

Features:

• First-person psychological horror with no combat
• A handcrafted, multi-floor psychiatric asylum to explore
• Patient files, photographs, personal belongings, and environmental storytelling
• Spirit Vision that reveals hidden puzzle pieces
• A photograph reconstruction puzzle leading to a safe combination
• Multiple supernatural encounters and scripted scare sequences
• Protagonist narration tied to certain rooms and discoveries
• A map and objective system that guides exploration without removing tension
• Minimal interface designed to preserve immersion
• Atmospheric lighting, environmental audio, and cinematic horror presentation
• A complete standalone story set within a planned psychological horror anthology

You Can Check In Any Time You Want…

Looking at the description of Ashes of the Damned, it seemed like it would scratch a lot of my favorite itches. I love a good mystery and solving puzzles; no combat, wrapped in horror, is icing on the cake.

When you start the game, you find yourself in an unknown room, wandering where you are, unable to remember anything. The game controls are shown on the left side of the screen and the objectives on the right. Once you are familiar with the commands, you can toggle off the HUD with the TAB key. This will give you a more immersive feel.

NOTE: I did notice that if you leave the HUD up when interacting with the safe, the safe menu and the HUD are layered and become unreadable.

The bulk of the game appears to be point-and-click; you see an object you can interact with, you click on it to pick it up and, in some cases, collect the item.

I came across one puzzle during my time in the game; it was a safe that you need to find the combination for. I was unable to find the solution to the puzzle during my time with the game.

The Design Aspects

Moving around and interacting with the environment are limited to mouse and keyboard controls. The game uses the standard WASD setup for movement. There is no way to move or reassign the controls, and no gamepad /controller support.

Visually, the game does a great job making you feel like you are in an abandoned building. The placement of the rooms and the details within are well thought out, adding to the immersive feeling.

The layout really felt like it was based on a real building. From the dining room with the “industrial” kitchen, the hospital-like sleeping areas that housed groups of patients, and the “examination rooms” where you can be pretty sure what went on was torture, not treatment.

I did like the graphic style and art direction in the game; it looks like a lot of work went into the details within each room on the ward.

The sound design is also well thought out and adds to the atmosphere of being “alone” in a seemingly abandoned building. The voice-over you hear as you read entries is very well done.

… But You Can Never Leave

As much as I liked the idea behind Ashes of the Damned, the inability to save as you progress through the game and the lack of checkpoints proved to be problematic. When I first started playing, I missed the warning on the main menu and got quite a ways in before I had to go eat dinner. I dropped to the main menu only to see that saving was not an option. So, later I started over: after a bit… a passing storm caused a power flicker.

Alrighty then, third time will be the charm, right? I started the game up. After a bit, I decided I needed to get some sleep; I purposely left my PC on and the game running. I got up the next day and continued my playthrough. I was, from what I could tell, about 75% through the game, and it crashed to the desktop.

Trapped Forever

After my third attempt to escape The Forgotten Ward, I couldn’t bring myself to try another attempt. By design, the player is expected to complete the game in a single sitting. I’m not sure how long the game is supposed to be, but in today’s world, that is a lot to ask. Although I can appreciate what the developer was trying to do, even something as simple as an autosave feature when you find a new clue would go a long way toward improving playability.

The story within the game seemed interesting and well thought out; I wanted to understand more of the events that led to where the game starts. I look forward to seeing what comes next from Crimson Cloud Games and will return to The Forgotten Ward if a save function is ever added.

Due to the fact that I was unable to complete the game, I do not feel right in giving it a score.

Ashes of the Damned: The Forgotten Ward is available on Steam

Note – A code was provided for the purpose of this impression post.