Nightfall Mysteries Asylum Conspiracy is the prequel to The Curse of the Opera by Vast Studios. Asylum Conspiracy tells the story of an orphan girl in search of her family roots. After receiving a letter from her grandfather, Christine decides to pay a visit to the Ashburg Asylum, located on a far away island where he is held prisoner. The island is said to be cursed, and they say no one who dared to go to that place was able to come back.
Once there, Christine will explore the dark and seedy halls of the asylum sorting out a number obstacles to find out the truth about her family. Right from the beginning, you learn that something sinister is going on in that place, and you need to find it out.
Gameplay basically consists in digging into every room of the asylum thoroughly, paying attention to the cursor changes as they indicate the tasks you need to accomplish in a scene. For example, sparkles indicate a hidden-object scene, while a hand or a magnifying glass - a mini game to solve. In HOG scenes, which take place in the asylum halls and rooms, there is a typical list of objects to find. These often involve weird elements that reveal the macabre practices carried out in the place. Upon completing a hidden-object scene, you will receive special objects that can be used to solve a more complex puzzle. When you manage to solve all the tasks in a location, other rooms will be unlocked allowing you to advance in the story.
The story is revealed little by little as you go over the dark corridors, through dialogs with other characters and audio tapes that you find along the way. Clues and audio tapes will be stored in your notebook, so that you can consult them whenever you need more information. There are hints that you can use to locate an object, and also get information, when you think you are stuck.
Walking through that awful place is definitely not for sensitive people; it even includes some scary and quite effective 'jumpy' scenes.
The haunting atmosphere is complemented with a selection of music tracks resembling those musical-box tunes with ghostly noises. Thoughthe title is not really horrifying, this puzzle with a suspense story manages to keep you intrigued all the way.
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