A mortuary – and its workings – is something that is pretty much off limits for most of the population. The business of death is something we know happens, and that’s all well and good, but we don’t necessarily want to know what goes on within.
But does a room full of the dead make a good premise for a horror game? You bet it does. And it’s that which plays out in The Mortuary Assistant.Â
You play the role of a young woman, Rebecca Owens, who at the start of the game is introduced as someone in the middle of her training as a mortuary technician. After an interesting cutscene that feels like something ripped straight out of an indie horror movie, we see her at the River Hills mortuary doing her final tests. Her boss talks her through all the tests and skills, then sends her home. Later that night she gets called back to work to embalm some more bodies. But here she learns of a demon that has attached itself to her, leaving her to perform a series of rituals and embalmings to banish the demon forever…
As a set up for a narrative, that found in The Mortuary Assistant is highly original and I loved the writing. This is a game that knows its horror roots well, but takes it very seriously and I like how we get to more about Rebecca from her interactions with the demon as the game progresses. There are multiple endings in the game and it’s fun to try a few of them out, taking in the odd nice twist here and there.
The game works as a mixture of a first-person exploration horror experience and a sim-styled game. You can move around in first person and pick objects up which you then store in an inventory. But the main gameplay mechanics are heavily focused on dealing with – and embalming – dead bodies.
It’s here where you’re given a checklist of things you have to do each time to embalm a body. Get the body on the gurney from cold storage, then you check for identifying marks all over, entering them on the computer system. Then comes the gruesome part; the sewing of jaws, putting eye caps in, pumping embalming fluid into the body after draining it of blood. Basically, you’ll be left to action several things while trying not to be sick.Â
Then the demonic part of The Mortuary Assistant comes into play where you are looking for a demon to banish, attempting to find sigils after each embalming to then enter them into an ancient contraption to banish the demon. It all makes sense when you play it and it’s fun to begin with. But how quickly you get tired of doing the embalming will determine your enjoymant levels here. Luckily the game has a lot of jump scares to keep you going.
The main problem I have had with The Mortuary Assistant is in the controls; they have felt a bit clunky and not very intuitive to use. The inventory setup is just strange too, and at times I’ve been left unsure what to press or do. It could certainly have been worked better for a controller.
The visuals are good though, especially the most gory of details and the horror sections. The attention to detail is very impressive and there are some great bits of lighting. Granted, some character modes feel a bit dated, especially in regards to the small amount of cutscenes there are, but the same cannot be said for the sound effects – they are extremely scary, from the bang of a door while you’re working to the horrible squelching effects of the embalming process. There’s a good soundtrack as well, alongside some excellent voice-over work from all the performers. A demon whispering in your ear will stay with you for a long while.
The Mortuary Assistant is far removed from the usual horror fare – and that should be applauded. The sim elements mixed with horror scares and a great story help, but you may find the controls and menus annoying; they certainly dampened my enthusiasm for the game a tad.
But if you want to find out what all the streamers have been screaming about, then give The Mortuary Assistant a go.
