Leaving the opening scene of Sanatorium – A Mental Asylum Simulator running while you start structuring the review will send anyone to the loony farm. Set in ‘the roaring 20s’, before even reading the setup, the repeated sounds of cars honking, without any other ambience, created the sensation that I was about to be committed. However, in this simulation from Zeitglas and Shoreline Games (Onirism), you are a journalist, not a patient.
Muting the incessant horns, our story begins with a letter supposedly from Auntie Patty, reminding you about the time you were happy. You remember those days: nobody abusing AI to the point where writing is no longer the path you once believed it to be, or chancers stealing content. Ahem. I digress.
Sanatorium – A Mental Asylum Simulator kicks in from an investigative journalist’s point of view. You’ll be infiltrating an asylum to understand what happened to Patty and perhaps find a scoop that’ll clear all those bills sitting back at home with their feet up on the table, waiting for you to return, then subsequently break your legs. This ain’t no Agent 47 role, you’re going deep – psychologically deep.
Adopting a Mitch Hedberg pseudonym, doctoring my degree means I’m hired as a professional and immediately working a caseload. Patient files are dragged onto your desk. Opening the dossier reveals some symptoms that have to be diagnosed. Working in the mental health profession, I immediately noticed some traits and wondered whether the restraints of the 1920s would hinder my progress in Sanatorium – A Mental Asylum Simulator – a game that rewards you with progress based on the accuracy of your diagnosis and understanding of phrenology.
Sanatorium – A Mental Asylum Simulator is a kind of card-based game, mixed with visual novel elements. Place a card down to use up action points, and it’ll reveal new characteristics to help with your diagnosis, all the while, a conversation with the patient appears within their file. It’s really interesting how accessible real terms are available within the game, only it’d be so much better if the tool tips didn’t cover the explanations, ruling the tutorial and all guides obsolete. Instead of sorting out symptoms into categories of the brain based on process, the game felt more like ‘insert the missing word’ as dialogue boxes covered them.
After completing a diagnosis, you place the file in the treatment pile and then get assessed on how well you did. Remember: you’re a journalist, not a professional, so ignore the imposter syndrome. Alas, the game takes place 100 years ago, so when it comes to treatment, it’s a little archaic, such as leeches, drilling into the skull, and burning any and all witches. I’m being facetious now, but just know that at the end of each assessment, you will be administering some sort of treatment to ‘cure’ the patient of their ills.
Of course, there’s a story with Sanatorium – A Mental Asylum Simulator (finding out about Auntie), though you might as well earn a few pennies while here, and as accommodation is catered for, the money you earn for successfully treating patients can be used to buy new treatments and upgrades. In addition to this, you also earn Prestige – the levelling up element, which is essentially your reputation. If you have none, don’t expect to stay within your role for long, which ended up happening after a couple of days at the asylum, and effectively being evicted by the police and thrown into a cell for impersonating a professional.
As your professional relationship builds with the patients, you start to recognise the symptoms and syndromes and can properly diagnose for more cash and prestige, in turn, replenishing your inventory to effectively treat everyone, discharge them, and find out what’s happened to Patty, what with all the breadcrumbs she’s left around the place for you. Something’s a bit… off.
The visuals in Sanatorium – A Mental Asylum Simulator are pretty nice, like an illustrated European picture book, and the music is alright. It’s a little like a Victorian fayre and makes you want ice cream for some reason. The highlight for me in terms of presentation was the Rorschach transitions. Very subtle, but effective when switching between patients and downtime in your quarters to worship the devil, which is what we all do, right? On that note, I have an appointment with my shrink. Feel free to hang around a bit, and if you have an analytical side and want to do work that’s meaningful, even though you aren’t remotely qualified, give the mental health profession a look-see. Before they call the cops.
