I‘ve performed my fair proportion of horror video games, and I prefer to assume that at this level, it takes loads for me to be scared, however I can confidently say The Mortuary Assistant is legitimately one of many scariest video games I’ve performed in a while. Is it a spotless gameplay expertise? No. Can it often really feel held again on account of points with controls, visuals, and the like? Undoubtedly. However is it going to scare absolutely the, ever-loving crap out of you? You recognize, it’s greater than just a bit doubtless that it’s going to.
In The Mortuary Assistant, you play as Rebecca, a younger lady who’s been employed as an assistant because the River Fields Mortuary, a creepy mortuary that’s the topic of some rumours, although not sufficient to discourage Rebecca from pursuing her skilled targets. However what begins off as a seemingly atypical job turns into one thing rather more sinister, when her boss locks her within the mortuary at night time, telling her {that a} demonic entity is haunting the ability and has connected itself to Rebecca. The one wait out now could be to go about her job, determine wat type of demon is haunting her, and attempt to do away with it earlier than it absolutely possesses her.
“Is The Mortuary Assistant a spotless gameplay expertise? No. Can it often really feel held again on account of points with controls, visuals, and the like? Undoubtedly. However is it going to scare absolutely the, ever-loving crap out of you? You recognize, it’s greater than just a bit doubtless that it’s going to.”
It’s a simple premise that also manages to have sufficient layers to it to stay attention-grabbing in a number of methods. From a story perspective, The Mortuary Assistant’s speedy narrative ropes in a number of different threads to maintain issues attention-grabbing, from the shady historical past of the mortuary itself, to Rebecca’s traumatic previous and the way it’s informing the horrors that she’s now experiencing, to the fixed rigidity caused by the approaching menace of the demonic presence itself. The sport does a strong job of feeding bits and items of recent data to you, and piecing them collectively to realize a deeper perception into Rebecca’s previous or the mortuary’s backstory stays persistently partaking.
It’s not the story, nevertheless, that serves because the star of the present right here. No, what makes The Mortuary Assistant price your time is simply how ridiculously scary it may be, and in additional methods than one. It begins off with refined issues corresponding to creepy whispers or home windows and doorways banging shut or shadowy figures which can be briefly seen within the nook of your eyes, however as the sport progresses, issues shortly develop into more and more sinister and downright evil.
Horrifyingly animated monstrosities can pop up anyplace within the environments, you’ll be able to come throughout creepy writing in numerous locations, corpses can simply rise up and begin shambling away- The Mortuary Assistant has a wholesome roster of various sorts of scares at its disposal (a number of of that are new ones which were added with this definitive version re-release), and never solely are the overwhelming majority of them legitimately petrifying, the sport additionally does a superb job of not often letting you are feeling snug about whether or not or not you’re prepared for what nightmares you could face subsequent. Admittedly, a few of the scares do repeat generally, which suggests they find yourself dropping their impression (particularly after they’re extra deeply tied to the story). Given the truth that it is a recreation that encourages a number of replays, that repetition can doubtlessly be a problem.
“Horrifyingly animated monstrosities can pop up anyplace within the environments, you’ll be able to come throughout creepy writing in numerous locations, corpses can simply rise up and begin shambling away- The Mortuary Assistant has a wholesome roster of various sorts of scares at its disposal.”
However The Mortuary Assistant isn’t only a easy strolling horror sim. What units it aside out of your common indie horror hit is its core gameplay construction. You might be, after all, working at a mortuary on this recreation, which suggests you’ll be spending loads of time getting our bodies out of chilly storage and embalming them (which, as you may think, is inherently disturbing in and of itself, particularly given how actively concerned you’re in each step of the method), and when you’re doing that, you’re additionally tasked with not solely determining what sort of demon you’re being haunted by (the place the sport feels considerably just like multiplayer indie horror sensation Phasmaphobia).
Each a part of each of those important processes can also be extremely technical. Embalming a physique is a multi-step course of that has you shifting all through the ability as you’re employed with completely different sorts of kit and objects, from figuring out the bodily marks on a physique and draining blood out of it to stitching their jaws shut and extra. Simply as concerned and technical is the method of investigating and figuring out the demon that’s haunting you, and guaranteeing that you just’re not getting any steps incorrect in every part you do is all the time important. The concerned nature of Rebecca’s work, the eye you’re required to pay as you try to find what demon is haunting you, and the sport’s unbelievable knack for persistently retains ramping up scares all mix collectively to make for some nice gameplay rigidity. Each step of the way in which, The Mortuary Assistant is making an attempt to get you to slide up below its terrifying strain.
That’s to not say that the gameplay is devoid of any and all points, nevertheless, chief amongst them being the controls. I by no means performed this recreation on PC, however I’m assuming it will have felt significantly better to manage with a mouse and keyboard. With a controller, easy issues corresponding to shifting and searching round really feel clunky and continuously inaccurate, and every part from selecting up and utilizing objects (which you’ll be doing a lot of) to interacting with issues within the atmosphere can really feel a bit clunky. Simply as problematic is the overall UI and the menus, which wrestle with points starting from points with readability to often unresponsive inputs.
“When you’re in search of a recreation that may legitimately terrify you whereas additionally delivering genuinely partaking gameplay, even with its aforementioned points, this one is effectively price trying into.”
That lack of polish rears its head in audio and visible facet of issues as effectively. The Mortuary Assistant is an honest trying recreation, particularly for a low price range indie title, however it does endure from a number of noticeable technical points, from muddy textures and continuously uneven animations to audio glitches and extra. The sport’s strengths in different areas admittedly make it simpler to miss such points, however there’s no denying that they will drag the expertise down slightly bit.
Two years in the past, The Mortuary Assistant launched on PC, and although it wasn’t an in a single day sensation by any means, it did be a magnet for a good few folks, however hopefully, it’ll see a lot wider success with its console launch. It’s positively let down by its technical points, and the second to second gameplay can really feel a bit clunky due to the controls, however at its core, The Mortuary Assistant is a extremely good horror recreation. When you’re in search of a recreation that may legitimately terrify you whereas additionally delivering genuinely partaking gameplay, even with its aforementioned points, this one is effectively price trying into.
This recreation was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
