Whether you enjoy claustrophobic horror, or you simply always wanted to work in a morgue (no judgement), The Mortuary Assistant has something for you. Developer Darkstone Digital’s atmospheric puzzler has you engage in the macabre monotony of the embalming process, with added supernatural terror.
You play Rebecca Owens, fresh out of mortuary school and starting her job at River Fields morgue. The head mortician takes her through the paces of embalming a fresh cadaver, before leaving her to fly solo on the first night shift. That first shift doesn't quite go as planned, as Rebecca learns that her real job is to banish demonic forces from the host bodies they inhabit.
After a shaky start, with clunky dialogue and fiddly controls, The Mortuary Assistant takes a serious turn into one of the most atmospheric horror experiences on PS5.
At the start of each shift, the clock is ticking as Rebecca is slowly possessed by one of the many randomised demons inhabiting the morgue's deceased residents. Scribbling on a notepad in the inventory will reveal her current level of possession, as will the severity of the strange occurrences around her.
Defeating a demon is a multi-stage process that will require you to find out the name of your possessor and cremate the corpse it hides in. As you go through the motions of embalming bodies, you’ll have to search the office and handy demon database for clues. All the while you'll be harassed by visions, a UI you can’t trust, and several haunt sequences that need to be experienced without spoilers.
The scares are so effective that we were shocked to discover, after a few nerve-shredding shifts, that the game’s 'haunt aggression' slider was set to low.
The story has multiple endings and there's a wealth of secrets to unravel if you can evade the demons long enough to poke around.
Not since P.T. has PlayStation seen such an effective single location horror experience. With its simple setup, looping story, and inventive scares, Mortuary Assistant is borderline essential for genre fans.
Comments 18
Played this on PC last year, they did a great job with a very limited setting. Highly recommended for any fan of psychological horror games. Not quite the standard of Visage but very close.
I usually play PC games on controller, but unfortunately the controls were so clunky on this one I had to change to mouse & keyboard.
I hope I gets a VR adaption someday, as it would undoubtedly be one of the scariest games ever on that format.
@WhiteRabbit I didn't have the courage to use headphones, but the sound design is fantastic. Some of the scripted sequences have frequent jump scares, very effective ones.
It's a shame that the graphics aren't as good as the PC version.
I like horror games but I’m universally terrible at them, how’s the difficulty on this - are you likely to be dying and replaying long sections regularly if you’re not amazingly effective under terror?
@Jimmer-jammer Interested in this title? I'm on the fence about this one atm! 😜
@Hyena_socks It’s kind of designed for you to fail and learn how to identify each demon efficiently. Also, the success/failure loop is very quick. You might get it right first time and see the basic ending within 10 min, then the next shift could be much trickier.
@WhiteRabbit Yes and Yes. Some of the jump scares really aren’t stuff that pops out at you either you turn around and something nasty is there that wasn’t a second ago it really messes with you.
@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN Wasn’t on my radar at all but I’m certainly intrigued now. If I’m feeling adventurous, I may just go for it.
Yes!! I love the sound of this.
"That first shift doesn't quite go as planned, as Rebecca learns that her real job is to banish demonic forces from the host bodies they inhabit."
I hate it when a job turns out to be nothing like the advert
I am going to give the demo on Steam a go this evening.
Glad to know it's actually scary. I may have to buy it if the demo pushes all the right buttons.
@kendomustdie great, thanks for the heads up - sounds like a roguelike almost, I might pick this up when winter rolls around!
@Colour How good is visage? Been hoping they put it on plus for ages.
Beat the game, getting all endings and it’s very good. Gave me chills a few times actually. My only complaint is that the scares start repeating quite quickly and while it’s not such a big deal with the smaller ones (demons/ghosts hiding or watching you) because they always get me, it does get a tad annoying seeing the same story scares throughout the multiple playthroughs needed for all endings. The ones that make you stop what you’re doing to view them and won’t let you continue until it’s over.
@atthegates I tell every human who has even a passing interest in horror games PLAY VISAGE AND DARKWOOD. Both of those games got pretty severely overlooked and they’re incredible. Visage has a few weaker points but the atmosphere is 10/10 all the way through and it’s such a blast to play. On PS5 worth every penny sale or not!!!
@Colour Righto will have to give them a blast then. Cheers 👍
Glad this is finally getting a playstation port
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