Sanitarium
Description official descriptions
Not much is known about Max Laughton at first, but it is clear that he is conducting a particularly important research and is close to reaching his goal. Eager to share the good news with his family, Max hurries home in his car. However, somebody has evidently tampered with the vehicle; failing to control it, Max gets in a serious accident and loses his conscience. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a strange tower resembling an asylum, surrounded by insane people, the shrill sound of alarm driving him mad. Max cannot remember anything from his past and is feverishly trying to escape this place. But just when he thinks he has succeeded, he is taken on delusional, horrifying trips through his subconsciousness, unable to distinguish between reality and hallucinations.
Sanitarium is a point-and-click adventure game, best described as a psychological thriller. The game is divided into nine chapters, each taking place in a different location and having its own distinct atmosphere. It is not always clear if something is happening on the grounds of the sanitarium or in the delusional mind of the protagonist. In most chapters the player controls Max himself, though in the more surreal areas drawn from his memories the role of the protagonist is given to other characters, real or fictional.
Both movement of Max and picking up items are done with the mouse. Puzzles are mostly inventory-related, with a few machine and lever puzzles. There are also a few action sequences, but even when the player dies, the game can be continued without any penalty. Talking to various NPCs will teach the player about their bizarre surroundings. The plot unfolds as Max's memories are gradually restored and the player finds out more about his past and the nature of the research he was dedicating his life to.
Spellings
- Шизариум - Russian spelling
- סניטריום - Hebrew spelling
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Windows version)
93 People (81 developers, 12 thanks) · View all
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[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Discussion
Subject | User | Date |
---|---|---|
Spine/Sides cover scans | RickTM | 2022-09-28 08:17:01 |
problems installing sanitarium | raconteurion | 2010-09-14 09:06:30 |
Trivia
Bugs
Initial shipments of Sanitarium came with a game-wrecking bug that would cause the player to get locked out of buildings in level 2. A patch is available that corrects this, but there are still reports that it appears infrequently.
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- April 1999 (Issue #177) – Best Adventure Game of the Year (together with Grim Fandango)
Related Sites +
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Crapshoot
A humorous review on PC Gamer -
Postmortem: DreamForge's Sanitarium
A postmortem of the isometric adventure game, <em>Sanitarium</em>, on Gamasutra. The article is written by the game's writer, Chris Pasetto, and deals with the origins of the game's concept, pinning down an engine, their relationship with their publisher, and several other elements that arose or had an effect in the creation of the game (Dec. 4th, 1998). -
Sanitarium Hints
These hints provide gentle nudges before the final solution is revealed, helping you solve the game without spoiling it for you. -
Windows XP Setup
Inferno's help file to get this game to run on your WinXP system.
Identifiers +
- MobyGames ID: 572
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by faceless.
iPhone, iPad, Android added by ZeTomes.
Additional contributors: Indra was here, Jeanne, Maw, Crawly, Zeppin, Klaster_1, Patrick Bregger.
Game added December 15th, 1999. Last modified February 22nd, 2023.