Sanitarium is an old school cult classic point and click adventure title from 1998. You play as the main protagonist, Max, who wakes up in an insane asylum with amnesia; he doesn't even remember his own name, how he ended up in the asylum, or any events surrounding his life. It is up to you, the player, to put the pieces of the story together through cutscenes and dialogue.
The main thing that Sanitarium accomplishes is giving the player an overwhelming sense of confusion at the beginning, which places players into the mindset of Max, and gives way to the emotions that he may experience due to his amnesia. The confusion slowly deteriorates throughout the course of the 13 levels as more information is obtained. It's easy to become immersed in the experience of the title, as there is absolutely no foreshadowing of events or dramatic irony present. This leaves it up to the player to continually think about what is happening from moment to moment, until the next piece of the story is revealed. In order to fully understand what is going on by the end of the game, it's extremely important to interact and talk with the other characters that will be available in each level. Unlike many other games of this nature that may leave loose ends once the game is finished, Sanitarium does a good job of cleaning them all up so that the player has solid knowledge of what really has transpired.
The port itself is exceptional, as it performs just as the original did back in 1998. There are no crashes, glitches, bugs, or lag present, and absolutely nothing that renders the game unplayable. The cinematics still have their scan-lines, which really brings out the old CRT vibe of the game. One weird thing that I did encounter is that the game does run at 15-17 FPS, but the puzzles render at 60 FPS. You can tell how much more smooth the puzzle sections are versus the rest of the game, but back in 1998 it was standard for isometric PC titles to run at 15 FPS; I'm just unsure as to why the puzzle sections have a higher output. Either way, we can thank DotEmu for another fantastic port of an underdog retro title.
The gameplay itself is simple enough, the right mouse button is held down to make the character walk and the left mouse button is used to interact with people and objects. Sometimes the walking mechanic can be mildly irritating if you're attempting to maneuver around stairs; quite often you may end up descending and ascending the same staircase by accident. Every single piece of dialogue is coupled with a voice-over, including the buttons in the main menu and the items in the player's inventory; I must say, for a game made in 98' the voice acting is superb, as are the various voice effects on creatures such as insectoids and specters.
The maps are quite small, and while some may push that this was a limitation of late 90's technology, I will point out here that Diablo was released in late 1996. While the original Diablo did not exactly have monstrous maps by any means, they were at least 3-4 times larger than any given map present within Sanitarium. This doesn't really set the game back, however, as each of the 13 levels have their own distinct map; each of which are radically diverse from one another. The visuals stand up to the test of time, and are as outstanding as they are gory. The music and sound effects are equally as captivating, and they really help to submerge the gamer into the realm of the title.
So in wrap-up, Sanitarium is an excellent cult classic from 1998 that has stood the test of time. The game has received a flawless port by DotEmu, and it's worth a pick up to fans of old point and click adventure isometrics. To those on the fence, if you've played current generation games such as Stasis and Primordial, and have enjoyed them, then Sanitarium should be a hit with you as well. While I don't believe that $10.99 CAD is too steep for this title, on sale for $5.50 is even better. If you're using a guide, the title shouldn't run more than 7-9 hours.
Rating: 5.0/5.0 - An amazing achievement, this game must be played.The Horror Network
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