A woman is dragged away by the guards, howling pitifully, and suddenly I'm thrown into The Stone of Madness headfirst. Playing as imprisoned Father Alfredo Martin as he navigates this crumbling monastery and the dark secrets within – including its dual-functionality as an asylum – my first mission is to rescue her.
But the path to her chamber is fraught with all manner of dangers. As a "patient" in the asylum, locked up for trying to expose the horrors behind its walls, Alfredo needs to use stealth to his advantage as well as holding tight to his sanity, banishing spirits (imaginary or real?) known as ànima, and leading his small group of renegade inmates to freedom – or die trying. The mechanics of this RTT adventure will be familiar to any fan of Desperados 3, Shadow Gambit, or similar Mimimi Games' titles – but Blasphemous developer The Game Kitchen goes the extra mile when it comes to incorporating some seriously spooky themes into the mix. All of these elements work together to create a brilliantly tense narrative experience, hewn together with clever stealth tactics that reflect its unique world and transform the scenario into something even more high stakes – and that's just the first hour.
Style and substance
The smooth blending of theme and function is one of the things I'm enjoying most about The Stone of Madness. As a stealth strategy experience set in a very well-articulated world, the developer reshapes genre staples to abide by a new set of rules that constantly remind the player of where and what they're playing. An example of this? The ever-present vision cone.
To spot the enemy vision cones, it's a matter of swivelling the right Nintendo Switch joystick. A small arrow appears at the base of my character, and pointing it in a given direction reveals not only any nearby enemy (in the early game's case, usually an asylum warden) but a green cone indicating their field-of-vision. Usually, getting caught in one of these is the worst thing you can do in the best stealth games – but here's where The Stone of Madness starts doing things a little differently. Wardens, tasked with monitoring inmates throughout the monastery, don't react to Alfredo's presence all of the time. In certain areas where he is meant to be, like the gardens or other communal areas, passing through their vision cones is totally acceptable – unless he is trying to steal something or sneak off to a restricted zone. But of course, to reach that crying woman from earlier, I have to send Alfredo into one of these restricted zones – and right past one of his greatest fears.
The more I uncover about The Stone of Madness, the more the intrigue eats away at me.
The Stone of Madness's fear and sanity system is tied to the "negative disorders" each protagonist suffers from, corresponding to their personal traumas. As a holy man, Alfredo fears corpses and violent situations, while gentle giant Eduardo's fear of the dark is a result of his many years spent in solitary confinement. The longer a character spends exposed to their fears, the further they chip away at their precious sanity, which adds even greater friction to the already tense stealth systems at play. Still, with Eduardo now in tow, Alfredo's mission to rescue the crying woman is that much closer to completion, all thanks to the mute man's set of Revelations.
These special skills, held by individual protagonists respectively, vastly increase your chances of success when used in tandem with others. Alfredo's lamplight is useful for finding hidden clues around the monastery, for example, exposing hidden passageways. Meanwhile, Eduardo's brawn allows him to push crates and clear said passageways for the group to progress. It's thanks to this strength that I see the duo distract a guard to sneak past them unnoticed, and all it took was chucking some rubble down the stairs.
Narrative and historical context clues start piling up as I unlock more protagonists, shading in each character's personality, backstory, and suggesting their differing experiences of life in 18th century Spain.
After stepping into a rec room as Eduardo, for example, searching for said rubble to throw as a distraction tactic, I position him in front of a nearby sign and discover that he can't read. He's still vastly more respected than newcomer Alfredo in the eyes of the other inmates, who are much friendlier to Eduardo and will readily turn a blind eye to his sneaky acts. Meanwhile, feisty Leonora has no qualms about knocking out a guard or two with her trusty plank of wood, vengeance for the ill treatment of women being held in the facility, though she does feel a twinge of guilt when she must assassinate them. It all speaks to how thoughtfully each character has been integrated with the story and its context, this characterization further established in short animated cutscenes peppered throughout the adventure in refreshing, cinematic bursts.
The more I uncover about The Stone of Madness, the more the intrigue eats away at me. It's a slow and steady mystery to uncover, your patience rewarded with each layer peeled back and each new character recruited. It's my favorite kind of Nintendo Switch experience, perfect to pick up and play between the litany of new games yet to come in 2025, and I can't wait to see how the story plays out – and where exactly this crying woman is hiding...
Here's all the upcoming PC games coming in 2025 and beyond.
