This Asylum Remembers You. Demo Now Live
Crimson Cloud Games, in partnership with indie.io, has released a free demo for Ashes of the Damned: The Forgotten Ward, now available on Steam.
The demo presents the opening slice of the game, introducing its tone, core mechanics, and narrative foundation. Set inside an abandoned psychiatric ward that loops endlessly, the experience focuses on exploration, environmental storytelling, and sustained psychological tension rather than combat.
Players awaken in the ward with no direction and no answers. The halls repeat, the lights fail without warning, and something unseen reacts as more of the space is uncovered. As the demo progresses, the environment begins to feel increasingly unstable, reinforcing themes of memory, guilt, and unresolved pasts.
What the Demo Features
The demo offers first-person exploration within a handcrafted, looping asylum environment, supported by layered fear design that combines scripted encounters, ambient scare beats, and ongoing tension.
A central mechanic introduced is Spirit Vision, accessed through a pair of glasses. Spirit Vision reveals hidden elements in the environment, including collectibles and clues connected to a safe puzzle. Hidden clues briefly flash red when viewed through Spirit Vision, encouraging careful observation and exploration.
The demo also introduces the game’s primary threat through a reworked, scripted encounter designed to build tension gradually rather than rely on sudden scares.
Demo Scope
Playtime varies depending on player approach:
The demo covers only the beginning of the full game and is designed to leave players with unanswered questions. There is no demo-exclusive content. This is a representative slice of the final experience, though pacing, scare frequency, balance, and overall polish may evolve before release.
About the Game
Ashes of the Damned: The Forgotten Ward is a standalone first-person psychological horror game centered on memory, guilt, and consequences that refuse to stay buried. The experience features no combat, minimal UI, immersive audio design, and narrative-driven exploration.
The Forgotten Ward is the first entry in a planned four-game psychological horror anthology, with each title telling a different story within the same shared universe.
Availability
The Ashes of the Damned: The Forgotten Ward demo is available now for free on Steam.