Asylum: The Video Game
Asylum is an upcoming survival horror computer game from Senscape that will be released sometime in 2011 (so it can’t be too long now, unless the release is pushed back to 2012).
Almost nothing is known about the story except this: you explore the sprawling, intricate, nearly opulent-looking Hanwell Mental Institute, and the horrors that the inmates underwent. The main character is an ex-patient who has returned to the asylum “to understand why he is suffering from bizarre hallucinations.”
There’s a lot of focus on the actual exploration of the building – as creator Agustín Cordes claims, “Each single room matters and even the bathrooms are brimming with details,” and “The overall consensus is that exploring the Hanwell building feels eerily realistic and is filled with ‘touchably crisp textures.’” About the premise, “I will only say this: Asylum is supposed to feel surreal, like there’s something horribly wrong going on inside Hanwell as soon as you set foot inside the place. Don’t try to make any sense out of it, at least not until you’re halfway into the game.”
More words from the creator:
An aspect that has become very apparent during our testing is that Asylum, unlike most first-person adventures, is really fluid. There are virtually no loading times, control is quick and smooth, navigation is easy, you have an amazing deal of freedom of movement — all in all, everything feels just right. At times it feels like a first-person shooter actually, which is pretty cool if you ask me — after all, adventures should test your creativity and intuition, not your patience with the controls. In this regard I believe that we have definitely achieved our goal because Asylum feels, in one word, “modern.”I love anything to do with old insane asylums, especially in the context of horror, and if the teaser (showing the decayed and sinister corridors of the institute, and cells in which inmates are suffering in horrific, bloody ways) is anything to go by, this should be interesting and imagination-piquing.
A gameplay trailer was released last month, which is quite amazing.
Tags: decaying architecture, horror video games, insane asylum aesthetic, psychological horror, surreal, survival horror video games, trailers
Another trailer for Alice: Madness Returns
Here is a trailer, featuring gameplay, for Alice: Madness Returns, which was released earlier this month (making it the fifth and final trailer).
Alice: Madness Returns is released in the U.S. on June 14, and in Europe on June 16, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
I’m so looking forward to this!
Tags: alice in wonderland, american mcgee, colorful, cute n creepy little creatures, dark fairy tales, dreamscapes, gloomy color schemes, hauntingly beautiful, horror video games, innocence/menace, insane asylum aesthetic, insanity, madness, neo-victorian, psychological horror, surreal, trailers, victorian
Trailers for “Alice: Madness Returns”
Several months ago I posted the short teaser trailer for Alice: Madness Returns, the upcoming sequel to American McGee’s Alice which will be released on June 14th of this year. Here are three more trailers which give an enticing taste of the game:
Tags: alice in wonderland, colorful, dark fairy tales, dreamscapes, hauntingly beautiful, horror video games, innocence/menace, insane asylum aesthetic, insanity, madness, neo-victorian, psychological horror, surreal, trailers
Five Dark Romantic Fashion Designs
Design by Evmorfia Bethanis
(Click to enlarge) 
via toxicnotebook on tumblr
Design by Bibian Blue
Bibian Blue
Design by VeconaRelated posts:
+ “Before the Tide Comes In”: A Fashion Editorial by Zhang Jingna + Mother of London
+ MishMash [002]: Well-Dressed for the Apocalypse
+ Vecona Clothing
+ “1.1 Negredo: The Raven”: A Short Fashion Film
+ “Anatomarie: The Autopsy Dress”Tags: avant-garde goth, bibian blue, corsetry, dark romantic, fashion photography, futuristic, haute couture, insane asylum aesthetic, military/warrior chic, neo-victorian, red, renaissance, ruffs, vecona
Twisted Kingdom: Otherworldly Costume Designs by Katarzyna Konieczka
Katarzyna Konieczka, sometimes known as Kasia Konieczka, makes the most incredible avant-garde costumes with a dark-conceptual bent. Encased in plastic, strapped into body-cages, wrapped in wire, and torturously beautiful, her costumes give off impressions of dark, twisted kingdoms, space-age worlds, daemonic sci-fi medical fetish suits, and labyrinthine strapped insane asylum couture.
Tags: alien beauty, asymmetrical clothing, avant-garde, corset lacing, corsets, fashion photography, headdresses, high fashion, insane asylum aesthetic, leather, medical-themed, post-apocalyptic
Trailer for “Sanatorium Altrosa”
This is a delightful trailer/short film for Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows‘ remix album Sanatorium Altrosa (Musical Therapy for Spiritual Dysfunction), which came out in 2008. It features the brain behind Sopor, Anna-Varney Cantodea, dancing to aurally enticing clips from the tracks.
Someone once asked me, regarding Anna-Varney, “Why do you like that guy? He’s so freaky.”
Hmm…okay, Anna-Varney Cantodea may be one of the more bizarre-looking artists out there, but I think she has a sort of strange beauty which is exactly her own, and isn’t just conventional beauty dressed up in macabre trimmings; she is able to evoke the deepest recesses of human anguish and horror; and her music is quite different from anything else out there. She is one of the rare musicians whose music actually has influences from what I imagine medieval and Renaissance music to have sounded like, and it has such an old-world, dark romantic vibe, with poetic, exquisitely melodramatic lyrics. Also, she is not “that guy.” She is just Anna-Varney.
And while we’re on the subject, some illuminating quotes by Anna-Varney:
“I grew up in a painfully ‘straight’ environment with straight women and straight men, where there was nothing whatsoever in between. I felt like an alien that had crash-landed on a hostile planet inhabited by carnivorous primates (and as it turned out: I was bloody right).”
“You have to understand that from my point of view it is complete nonsense to write any material in order to help other people. It’s totally pointless, because all I can really do is to write about myself, honestly and to a certain degree even ruthlessly.”
{On the rumor that she is infatuated with Darth Vader…}
|
“But seriously, the blame is on some (French, I believe, though I cannot quite remember) independent magazine I did an interview for years ago. They tried to be creative, I suppose, so they closed their questionnaire adding a brief game of ‘making-free-associations’ by throwing this totally clever (ahem) list of words at me. The first concept they came up with was ‘black’…and I immediately was in complete awe of such overwhelming and totally unmatched creativity. ;-)
Now, as a good Goth, what was I supposed to reply? DEATH? Deprrrrrression? DARKNESS, even??? Grrrrrr…please! Give me a break, boys! So, instead, I decided to play clever bitch and gave them Darth Vader as an answer. Unfortunately, I had no idea that this would officially turn me into a Star Wars fan. But that’s what ‘Wank-a-pedia’ now says, so I suppose it must be true then. ;)”“A good album should be (amongst other aspects, that is) kind of like a tombstone…a sepulchre, where a part of the artist lies buried.”
Tags: anna-varney cantodea, dark romantic, insane asylum aesthetic, lovely quotations, neo-victorian, neoclassical music, retro, sopor aeternus & the ensemble of shadows, trailers, victorian mourning
Emilie in Her Wheelchair
This is one of my favorite live pictures of EA.
from her “Erotic Medical Burlesque” show at KinKats, Munich, March 2009Isn’t she divine?
Awesome wheelchair, too.
Tags: burlesque, emilie autumn, insane asylum aesthetic, medical-themed, steampunk, wheelchair
The Lunatics Are Taking Over the Asylum
I just like this image.
Photograph by Gregory Brown
Tags: art nudes, black and white, dilapidated structures, insane asylum aesthetic, medical-themed, wheelchair
Vecona Clothing
Vecona is a German couturier that makes Victorian-inspired, long-skirted, many-petticoated, tattered, Frankenstein-esque wisps of affairs. Their style ranges from historical gowns to deathrock-inspired clothing, but the Victorian influence is definitely a heavy, prominent one. Vecona outfits various musicians such as Anna-Varney of Sopor Aeternus, Lucas Lanthier of Cinema Strange and The Deadfly Ensemble, and Emilie Autumn. Most of the pieces in their collections are separates that match and layer to create a perfectly extravagant, many-parted outfit with hoops, bustles, and all. Visit Vecona’s site here. I have exactly one piece from Vecona, but wish I had so many more.
Tags: bloomers, hoopskirts, insane asylum aesthetic, lacy, neo-victorian, tattered, vecona, victorian undergarments
3 Style Icons
I guess they’re kind of a holy trinity for me.
What I admire about them is their ability to create an image for themselves, to forge and strike a visual identity from the inert mass that flares for a pretty near eternal instant.
Descriptor: Vintage VixenMmm, Dita. What I love about the burlesque queen is that she’s always impeccably dressed, and preserves the glamor of the Golden Age of Hollywood while putting her own twist on it. She has a very distinctive, consistent style, which is complete and cohesive. She goes for the elegant and glamorous side of retro rather than the kitschy. And she does it through and through. She doesn’t dress casually even to go to the supermarket. With her signature black curls, vividly red lips, and lily-white face, she can be dark, bold, vampish, yet she’s feminine, delicate, and always elegant. She infuses the more mundane, casual present with some of the fascinating and voluptuous glamor and the tightly-controlled, put-together beauty of the ’40s and ’50s. I think Dita is a perfect example of self-transformation and creating beauty through styling. Her retro look of wickedly defined, bright red lips, jet-black sculpted hair, and clear white skin, is an immortal classic. Dita’s book, Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese, is gorgeous and a lovely read.
Descriptor: Experimental EpidemicThe multitalented Destroyx AKA Amelia Arsenic, vocalist for industrial/alternative band Angelspit, is another one of my style heroines. Her blog, www.destroyx.com, is all kinds of goodness. Her ability to style and adorn herself absolutely blows my mind. She combines cyber, fetish, gothic, and retro looks with daring, elegance, and innovation, to create an edgy, sophisticated, and utterly unforgettable image. Even though she takes elements from so many different styles, I think that above all, her style is really only her own and one of a kind. I love the complexity, eclecticism, elaborate accessorizing, and layering that go into her outfits. She is a makeup guru. Her looks are bold, gorgeous, and original. She represents the pinnacle of achieving interesting effects through makeup and styling – becoming something more than just yourself visually. Angelspit’s got amazing visual design and aesthetics with her influence, and Destroyx and ZooG (the other member of Angelspit) make a powerful creative duo.
Descriptor: Wayward Victorian Girl/Insane Asylum InmateEmilie Autumn is a quirky solo musician who makes self-styled “Victoriandustrial” music. She has a lovely style all her own, which is a kind of bastardized-period, feminine, torn, tattered, wispy, layered, ribbony, very pink-themed goth look. Her hair is divine, a very beautiful shade of pink and/or red. Aside from the Victorian influences, there are fey influences and influences from the Elizabethan period, which show in her music as well. Her style is light, ethereal, and fairy-like, as well as grungier girl-punk with the requisite studded cuffs and tattered fishnets. Bloodstains, hearts, and teatime are recurring elements. Emilie has an incredible ability to create an image, and this can be seen in all the artwork, design, extra features, and images on her Opheliac album – a testament to her creativity and styling genius. She is charming, alluring, and promises to take you beyond the mundane, into a secret world of melodramatic madnesses, anachronisms, oppression, and trauma. Her whole aesthetic concept revolves around the “Asylum.” Her style is very coherent, but has lots of variety and potential. Her very basic and most replicable look is something like a tattered white tank top with a heart patch, or a tea-stained corset, with bloomers, red-and-white stripey stockings/asymmetrical legwear, and of course, her heart makeup.
Tags: 1940s, 1950s, avant-garde, destroyx, dita von teese, emilie autumn, insane asylum aesthetic, latex, retro, victorian, vintage
Categories
Search
Contact
© 2009-2013 Synesthesia Garden