The Mortuary Assistant Review - DROP EVERYTHING AND PLAY THIS!

Well, I finally found the game that lives under my skin rent free...

When we think of horror in gaming it usually comes in the form of a pretty blonde dude, with a gun, blasting zombies in abandoned police station.

Or an old town with secrets buried beneath the fog of its sins, cults and disfigured scalpel-wielding nurses.

And while you wouldn't be wrong with that frame of thinking, I do believe the landscape of horror in gaming has moved away from that and into a more "indie" style scape of horror - while still borrowing from those entities.

Things like Visage, Martha's Dead, Madison - great examples of effective new takes on horror more akin to this generational style of cinematic influences; The Babadook, Hereditary, The Autopsy of Jane doe - just to name a few.

And let's not forget two other great chill inducing franchises like Outlast and Layers of Fear, who's take on horror really inspired a small boost in horror walking-sim titles for a couple years.

I've played them all, beaten them multiple times, and indulged in their world building, details and character compositions that built those intricate realities.

They're simple, run just long enough - and really put the story at the forefront. Sometimes that's a solid change of pace from games, that now a days, tend to overstay their welcome with uninteresting open world layouts, filler mission structures and characters void of any development. Now that's not all games, but a big chunk of them.

I'll admit most of those horror games I've mentioned have one thing in common - simplistic game mechanics, that after your first play-through, and after you've experienced the story and the scares, there's very little reason to revisit these titles. Granted, I'm horror-whipped and return to those titles routinely, despite those downfalls. But I do take into consideration the downfalls of games that stick to this structure. The goal is ultimately to push you forward toward the inevitable boogieman, or the scripted scare. And that's not for everyone.

But what if I told you I found the game to correct this on almost every spectrum, whilst still remaining short, sweet, and magnanimously replayable.

The Mortuary Assistant should usher in a new standard for horror gaming. Now, put your pitchforks down and hear me out, if you don't like what I have to say then you have my permission to tenderize me over a toasty fire.

As far as scary locations in gaming go this takes the triple decker cake. A Mortuary. Does that even need further explanation?

You play an everyday character, nothing special to her, nothing significant - like us just trying to make ends meet, goals and aspirations in hand, just like you and I. She's called in to do a late night shift, embalm three bodies, put them away and go home. Oh, but also, one of them is possessed - identify the body possessed and burn it, then you get to go home. If you fail, you become possessed yourself.

Welcome to your first day on the job.

What impressed me most is that the game takes place all in one location. This space has two parts, the office and the morticians lab where the bodies are embalmed, detoxed and prepped for storage. And then there's the eerily suffocating hallway that leads to both. The game uses these spaces to full degree, utilizing every inch of real estate to create atmosphere, dread, tension and scares. While I don't want to give away too much, in hopes that you'll experience it on your own, I will say a lot of these have stuck with me long after I finished my first playthrough. There is not a wasted scare and these are not jump cheapened jump scares.

The way sound is used here really got to me, creating silence in a way that induces paranoia. There's no music for most of it, it really isolates you, giving you those "I'm not alone" sensations usually associated with a night shift - and an empty space where your only perceivable companion is a corpse. The rain hits the glass window, and the hallway creates distance between you and that sound as you walk to the next room - this kind of spacial awareness really makes you listen, and when you hear something that doesn't belong it creeps the living hell out of you. You're supposed to be alone afterall. The game does this with creaking doors, knocking, dull moans and more. I'll admit I looked over my shoulder once or twice, wondering if that sound I heard permeated from my reality or the games. That's immersion.

But the blatant scares are something of another realm. You'll catch shadow figures from the corner of your eye, you'll see demonic faces peering at you just for them to disappear when you double take, or for them to stare in turn only to skip out of frame as soon as you move. These things aren't worried about getting a loud reaction from you - they know you know they're there. They want to unsettle you, they want to unease you. And I'll tell you what, that shit is effective.

At one point there was a face outside the blurry, water-drenched window - and it politely pleaded for me to let it in, I can't tell you how dreadful it was to have something inhuman mimic a human, and speak in a way that let you know there was something else behind those eyes waiting to be let in.

It works. On so many levels this horror is unattainable by most horror titles because, unlike this game, they depend too much on making sure you're always stimulated with a fright; but once it's happened the dread doesn't linger, and you await the next horror set-piece.

This familiarizes you with a location, familiarizes you with your job - which in itself can be its own game. Detoxing the bodies, embalming them with the right chemicals, mixing them, looking for scratches and bruises on the victim's body - these things require thought, and a few cycles of practice to grow comfortable with. It asks that you focus, like you're really on the clock....and then...once you've grown confident - you notice alterations to the body you're examining. New bruises, new scratches, sigils burned onto the skin. Suddenly your routine is less routine, and you're caught off guard by the horrors that build. Your familiar space is slowly a place of torment and you notice minor shifts in the placement of shadows, things, sounds - IT IS A NIGHTMARE! It gives you comfort only to completely take it back.

But the game also asks you to uncover the mystery of this space. Your hiring manager. No spoilers but damn was it a good twist. You have access to a demon's database, it asks you to study, and be vigilante - there are docs that go on and on about the demon hierarchy, apparitions, items of exorcism. It just didn't need to go this hard. This game has 5 different endings, and with each playthrough taking anywhere from 2 to 4 hours you can bet halloween came early, well, at least for the weekend.

This is a masterpiece and a new standard of horror for me! I need more!