Sanitarium

if you like strange trippy horror without the need for jumpscares, this is for you! Its old, it's clunky, theres no sprinting, but when I play this game it's like being transported back in time. The audio, the graphics, the controls, they're not perfect, but the vibes are immaculate.

This game has vibes of "I have no mouth and I must scream" and a bit of "Atlantis 2". Graphics is something in between of the two. Compelling, intriguing and touching story. Some puzzles, pretty good ones and not too complex. Crappy movement system (hold RMB to move in that direction and try not to bump into loose pixels). Nice cut-scenes. All levels are done in different styles, and it feels good. It is weaved into a single slowly unfolding story, though the ending could be more impressive. The plot is linear, so it is enough to play the game once to mark it completed - no story forks, no multiple endings (that's not a drawback, in my opinion).

This is quite a different style of adventure game than usually got made. It stands out visually and has it's own look, but it is one that takes a bit of getting used to if you are used a more cartoony style. The story is fairly interesting; confusing at first but pieces fit together as you play through. The whole thing is unfortunately ruined by a terrible control interface and horrendous voice acting. The puzzles remain pleasantly logical throghout, and in that respect is quite refreshing. What stumped me many times was the fact that objects blend into the background too much, and there are times when you are required to click on an exact part of a piece of scenery/object - you really have no idea that you are meant to do this and it is so easy to miss things. The worst one was a room with a furnace in: there's a level panel on the side of it but every time I clicked it I would get a "I can't do that" message. I thought I had missed something, but as it turns out, I needed to click on a very specific part of the tiny level panel - things like that were poorly thought out. Overall, a refreshing change of adventure game with some disturbing story elements. It really doesn't measure up to most other point-&-clicks released in the 90's, but I'm glad I experienced it.

Suspenseful plot, nice graphics, iffy movement controls "Sanitarium" is a point & click adventure with a very engaging and creative storyline and nicely painted graphics, which is somewhat hampered by dodgy movement controls and "pixel hunting". It begins with a bandaged man waking up in an insane asylum, with no memories of who he is and how he got there. The answers to these two questions quickly take a backseat since this wing of the asylum is about to blow up. Then, the apparitions start. The story really holds one's attention, keeping the player as much in the dark as the game's protagonist. Is he insane or are there indeed supernatural forces at work? You will eventually find out. User interaction is mostly mouse-driven, with a handful of useful (and optional) keyboard shortcuts to speed up progress at a late point in the game. The quickload keyboard shortcut doesn't work, making the quicksave option mostly useless. The protagonist can't run, he will doggedly walk the direction you drag the mouse. He will occasionally get stuck around corners, making navigation somewhat frustrating. The environments are displayed in a fixed isometric perspective, much like Syberia and other adventure games. The graphics mix renders with hand-painted graphics. The results look good, sometimes even striking. When the main character seems to spiral into madness, it makes for some pretty spectacular settings and a few left-field puzzle solutions. Puzzle solutions are rewarded with pre-rendered cut scenes which are displayed in interlaced mode for performance reasons. Some puzzles are frustrating due to the fact that you first have to locate small, unremarkable items within a busy environment. This is often derided by adventure gamers as "pixel hunting": You have to move the mouse cursor across the whole screen, looking for a spot where the cursor changes form to indicate an object which can be picked up or used in place. I had to resort to a walkthrough twice after overlooking crucial items in the second level of the game. Due to game's low graphics resolution, system requirements are fairly modest. I played the game on a netbook with Nvidia's ION LE chipset under Windows 7 (32-Bit) at a resolution of 1366 x 768, where the upscaling looked rather good. Some initial problems at game startup were resolved by closing background applications which try to keep their windows in the foreground. The game crashed once during a cut scene. Otherwise it ran very well, even without resorting administrator rights or other tweaks. To remove distortion, I had to change the upscaling method in the Nvidia control panel, though. Overall, Sanitarium is an entertaining adventure with great voice acting, a suspenseful plot and a satisfying resolution. A few of the puzzles are hard to solve, but most are fair. I liked this nearly as much as the two Syberia games.

I LOVED this game as a kid, couldn't figure half the puzzles out but the whole atmosphere and EVERYTHING about this game rocked. Totally worth the price of admission. Seriously folks it's a damn steal.