Leave “True Philippine Ghost Stories” or shows like “Nginig” and “Kakabakaba?” by the nostalgia vault. This video game here is your latest nightmare fuel. And guess what? It’s a thesis project by student video game developers from Caloocan.
Made by Underdog Games from the University of Caloocan City – Computer Studies Department, “Ang Ospital” is a survival video game making rounds on Reddit and Facebook. Gamers on the Reddit thread have voiced how similar it is to “Outlast,” a game where a freelance journalist explores the horrors of an abandoned hospital. But if we’re being frank, it’s also a hot take on our public mental hospitals in the country.
The video game is set in 1920 at the Bridgerough National Institute for Mental Health in Baguio, where they aim to help patients with mental conditions. But the hospital shut down in 1979 after reports of abuse and neglect among their patients spread in media. In the game’s trailer, we see that they touch on child abuse, medical malpractice, and more related topics.
As revealed by MIMS Today, there are only 700 psychiatrists and a thousand psychiatric nurses in the country. The government budget allotted for mental health isn’t that high either. “The funds set aside for mental health is a pittance-just five percent of the health department’s total annual budget,” they explain.
“Although there are mental health care facilities—both public and private—in the country, these are scant and poorly linked. The majority, however, are still within the National Capital Region, making accessibility a challenge for those in faraway places.”
These true horror stories on how the Philippines addresses mental health is the real nightmare fuel of the game. But if works like this can shed light on how much mental health needs attention, then “Ang Ospital” is doing the Lord’s work even though the gameplay has scarred me for life.
“Ang Ospital” is still on beta-testing for now but as Underdog Games revealed on Facebook, they will release the final stages of the game real soon. Here’s the gameplay if you want to see it for yourself. Trust us, it’s not for the faint heart.
Still from Underdog Games