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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_town_of_light.png]]
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3->''"It wasn't fear anymore, it was madness. And when you're mad, you cease to exist."''
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5''The Town of Light'' is an EnvironmentalNarrativeGame with elements of PsychologicalHorror, developed by LKA and released in 2016 for Platform/MicrosoftWindows, with UsefulNotes/Playstation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne versions following in 2017.
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7Renée is a 16 years old girl who gets locked up in the [[BedlamHouse Volterra asylum]] in Italy as the girl represented a danger to herself and others and a cause of public scandal. During the course of the game, the player explores the modern-day asylum in all of its [[SceneryGorn crumbling glory]] to retrace Renée stay in the asylum, learning her story and the horrors she had to live through.
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9It is VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, set at the Volterra Psychiatric Hospital, a former psychiatric hospital in Tuscany, Italy, that was once home to more than 6,000 mental patients. It was shut down in 1978 after Law 180 was passed, closing all psychiatric hospitals in Italy.
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11!!Tropes present in this game:
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13* AbandonedHospital: We enter the hospital in 2016, almost forty years after it was closed down. [[SceneryGorn The decay is beautifully captured]].
14* AbandonedPlayground: One can be found right at the start of the game if you walk off to your immediate left. You can even try out the [[https://youtu.be/42ryII_Nouw?t=6016 merry-go-around]].
15* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: Renée's father is never mentioned in her recollections.
16* BedlamHouse: Volterra asylum was infamous for its cruel treatment of patients including electroshock therapy. The hospital was called 'the place of no return' because patients supposedly never returned home. Thousands of patients were held in the tightest of spaces. The tragedy is thoroughly explored in Renée's flashbacks and through documents scattered around.
17* ChildByRape: A caretaker at the asylum molested Renée (and others) repeatedly which led to her having an abortion.
18* CreepyUncle: Onofrio, a friend of Renée's mother, supported the family but apparently also molested Renée.
19* DownerEnding: The story ends with a doctor narrating that the long-term recovery for Renée post-surgery is unclear but it doesn't look good.
20* DrivenToSuicide: After several years of [[INeverGotAnyLetters communication censoring]] by hospital staff, Renée discovers that her mother died and tried to take her own life on multiple occasions.
21* ElectroconvulsiveTherapyIsTorture: A flashback shows Renée undergo electroshock therapy. The scene plays out like a NightmareSequence and [[FadeToWhite fades to white]] when the procedure begins.
22* EyeCam: The first part of the [[spoiler:lobotomy surgery]] is seen through Renée's eye where her eyelids open and close as she watches up from the operation table.
23* FadeToWhite: Going with the idea of ''light'', the standard chapter transition is to a LoadingScreen consisting of just a white background.
24* {{Flashback}}: Renée walks the corridors of the derelict asylum which triggers flashbacks of both her inpatient stay and circumstances prior. Sometimes takes the form of a FlashbackCut when we only see a flash of a memory bubbling up like when she was making love to a stranger in the greenhouse or [[https://youtu.be/9pM2S9m2MlA?t=209 took a visit]] to the DepravedDentist.
25* GhostButler: Some doors are plot-sensitive and open on their own once you have unlocked a new chapter.
26* HowWeGotHere: The game opens with Renée waking up at the asylum in 1942, right before the [[spoiler:lobotomy surgery]] was to take place. But then we cut to the present day and explore Renée's time leading up to that scene.
27* HystericalWoman: Renée's story is one where her womanhood was pathologized. It makes you realize how long of a way we have come in understanding how the human mind works and how mental illnesses can be treated effectively. It doesn't help that Renée [[RapeAsBackstory was molested as a child by different men]].
28** An alternative interpretation is that Renée's suppressed homosexuality turned her into a PsychoLesbian. In the 1930s, homosexuality was considered a mental illness and could land someone in a sanitarium.
29* INeverGotAnyLetters: Renée discovers that correspondence from her mother did not reach her.
30* {{Lobotomy}}: In the final scene, [[spoiler:Renée is undergoing lobotomy surgery, presumably turning her into an EmptyShell for the rest of her life.]]
31* TheMaze: Chapter 13 leads you to through a [[https://youtu.be/_pCRWZHUT6Y?t=1429 garish maze of a house]] with hideous wallpapers.
32* MonochromePast: Flashbacks are composed of mostly black and white imagery.
33* PedophilePriest: One of the paintings in TheMaze level depicts Renée with Don Gino who frightened her. We can only assume that he was lusting after her.
34* ThePlace: ''The Town of Light''.
35* PromiscuityAfterRape: Renée developed unhealthy sexual behavior in her youth which may be related to experiences she had with her CreepyUncle and a PedophilePriest.
36* PunishmentBox: We learn that delinquent patients were held in isolation rooms.
37* RapeAndSwitch: Downplayed. Renée was molested as a child which may have led to her pursuing a homosexual relationship (imagined or not) at the asylum.
38* RapeLeadsToInsanity: One explanation for Renée's mental instability is that she had unresolved trauma from sexual abuse in her childhood.
39* SecurityBlanket: Renée had a doll called Charlotte who provided her some comfort in the harsh times at the asylum.
40* SentimentalMusicCue: The song "The Town of Light" plays over the closing scene of Renée sitting on a bench in front of the hospital.
41* ShearMenace: In a cut scene, you stab yourself in the stomach with a pair of scissors. You do the same to your doll if you fetch it from the cemetery.
42* ShowerOfLove: One flashback shows Renée and Amara making out in the showers.
43* SilentCredits: The end credits roll in complete silence.
44* StoryBranching: On the basis of your DialogueTree choices, the story will develop in different ways.
45* ThousandYardStare: Renée's absent-minded look in the closing scene, a result of the lobotomy surgery.
46* TraumaCongaLine: Renée's stay at the asylum is this from start to finish.
47* UnreliableNarrator: Renée's recollections are often at odds with the official hospital documents.
48** She describes herself as a frightened, depressed but otherwise composed girl while doctors paint a picture of a delinquent, hallucinating and violent person.
49** In reality, Renée's and Amara only met for a short time but in her memory, they maintained a close bond for years.
50* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The story is inspired by real facts and events though the main character is entirely fictional.
51* WardensAreEvil: According to Renée, the nurses were pretty insensitive and brutal. She even got sexually abused by a male caretaker.

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