Insane 2

In late 2023, UMEPLAY handed the Quest Art series (the “tapes”) to a designer who was a previous member of “westworld” (another series that now belongs to UMEPLAY also) and had never took part in the making of the Quest Art works. This shift in human resource brought us into what was refered to as “post-ume-era” among the community, including VISAGE, ABEILLE, GATEMAN, REVIVER 2 and INSANE 2.

This new desiner has a great comfort zone in mystery stories, a personal style that he brought along into the new games. Yet only from INSANE 2 had this mystery vibe finally rooted in the classic story of INSANE.

In 2019, INSANE opened the gate of immersive theater games for the Chinese community, and is therefore acknowledged as a brief milestone in the industry ever since. A few years later, the first version of INSANE’s sequal was released in Saint Petersburg. However upon experiencing the Russian version, UMEPLAY decided that this version is not suitable for the Chinese market, and that their best strategy is to design their own version of INSANE 2.

Just as mentioned above, INSANE 2 is a perfect demonstration of how westworld’s mystery style is merged into a classic story. The whole plot was set before the story of INSANE, and provided a brand new point of view of the characters in the story.

During the whole process, the designer adapted many “flashback” sessions or, in this game specifically, “Heart to Heart” sessions. In the westworld games, this technique is used to present images of the crime scene while in INSANE 2 it’s used in two different ways.

The first is to present images at a speeding pace, creating the mysterious vibe or some jumpscare effects. The second is to have players “share” the characters’ point of view and get to behold some more intense experience, including motion mechanisms and stunt actings.

Other than “Heart to Heart” sessions, INSANE 2 also used some pretty simple yet effective devices and techniques such as projection and a optical effect similar to Pepper’s Ghost, accomplished with single-sided mirrors. These delicate effects provided a truely cinematic sense.

There is no doubt that INSANE 2 is an outstanding sequal as well as a work for fandoms. As the plot happened before the previous story, it’s totally okay to experience INSANE 2 without prior knowledge.

But as long as you are a fan of INSANE, this work will absolutely blow your mind. Seeing the already familiar characters in a whole different setting is definetely a refreshing experience.

In the finale where all the characters finally returned to the classic looks from the original story, it’s the time to welcome all the fandom tears.