Sanitarium

Pros: - Excellent story - Most of the game is quite creepy and atmospheric - Puzzles are not too difficult - Can be pretty emotional at times - Very varied locations to explore Cons: - Voice acting isn't the best, especially Max, the main character - Movement can be a little slow and annoying - Combat wasn't really necessary in a game like this Overall thoughts: Sanitarium is split into several chapters that see Max (the protagonist) travel through many seemingly disconnected worlds, each with their own little stories and objectives. This makes the game a little more interesting as you're never in the same set of locations for too long. It also adds a little more mystery to the main story as you're trying to figure what each little segment means. Sanitarium also not just a standard horror game. It may be creepy most of the time, but throughout all of it you'll feel happiness, sadness, and even disgust. The first section (the village) definitely sticks in the minds of anyone who's played this game thanks to that emotional impact it makes. Unfortunately, the voice acting can be pretty sub-par, especially that of the main character, Max, which is a shame since he has so much dialog. I also mentioned that the game contains combat (only 2 or 3 times if I recall), but it's mostly just a time-waster since you can't really die. I suppose you can treat each one as another little puzzle. If you enjoy point & click adventure games and would like to play an adventure game with a serious(ly great) story, I highly recommend Sanitarium, as it is one of my top 3 adventure games of all time (others being The Curse of Monkey Island and Broken Sword 1). You won't regret it!

This has to be right up there in my top five games list due to the intriguing, bizarre story telling and original detailed artwork. The level of immersion in this game is fantastic. It holds up even by todays standards. I have not seen many games that approach the level of creativity that the dev created for this story. The voice work is rather good but you can fast forward thru the spoken and just read the text. The puzzles are not just random puzzles plopped down into the game to make it longer, but make sense for the scene of the time. Some of the puzzles are quite difficult, some easy. There is a little backtracking to find parts as well but nothing like its modern adventure gaming counterparts. Its a rather unforgiving game, no puzzle tips, no hint buttons, no sparkles or arrows to show actionable spots, no quick travel. On my win7 64bit computer the game did crash numerous times, but mainly around animation scenes, so it is wise to save often to avoid having to backtrack or redo complicated puzzles. The main faults for me was how actionable spots/items blended into the scenery and without a walkthru there was no way I would have found them. Which leads to my other complaint, no fast travel, when you are stuck like i was in several places of the game, you have to back track and pixel hunt for some item or spot and its just dreary due to the slow walking pace of the characters and maze like maps. There is some clunkiness with certain action scenes regarding fight sequences against monsters as well. all faults are forgiving due the complete charm of the game, from the eerie menu interface voiced by an etheral girl, to the imaginitive depiction of madness, to the incredible artwork and easy inventory access. a real joy to play

I first played the demo version of this when I was 13 or 14 years old. It marked me then and I vividly remembered the beginning to a fault. It's even better now. Definitely not a game for children or the faint of heart, this gem keeps its magic. It aged incredibly well and the atmosphere is gritty, dark and astoundingly well crafted. As someone above me said, you'd have to be crazy not to try Sanitarium. Truly an amazing experience.

A great surprise, I found myself really interested in this game and I even played while taking notes when I heard or found something that could be important and it was a great help. At first the controls will surprise you as this isn't a point and click. You hold down the right mouse button and move it a bit in the direction you want the character to go, release it and he stops. You'll quickly get used to it and it works well. The game is long enough, I'd say at least 10 hours. On the difficulty side , you usually know what or where you need to do or go and if you're stuck you most likely missed a spot where you can interact with. There's a hotspot system so you know when there's something you can interact with you don't have to guess. And a tip I found out, when you're trying to use an item, if it doesn't glow on the spot you want to use it, you won't use a item there ever. If it glows, you might not have the good item but you'll eventually need one. It makes thing a bit easier when you're stuck. The only times I was really stuck where when I missed something on screen and not because of a illogic puzzle. I'd say it's not a very hard game and if you're looking for an hard game don't look at this one. And on the compatibility side, I read a lot about difficulty with windows 7 BUT it never was the case for me. It never crashed on me and everything was smooth and fast. Running 64bits even! There's a good number of cinematics, much appreciated ! Don't buy if: -you don't like talking to NPCs -you don't like surnatural ,gore and such

Sanitarium is very much a product of the 90s. The graphics look terrible at times, and the game is both extremely dark and sort of hokey at the same time. These might seem negatives, but they are very much the integral part of the game's charm. It's creepy and it has a surprisingly mature overall storyline. It's creative as hell, and they put you in situations which reach increasing levels of insanity right after another. Sanitarium is one of the most unpredictable games that I have ever played, and this makes it very entertaining. The one negative aspect of the game is the walking speed. It is so slow that I actually grew old and died and my son had to finish the game for me. And to add insult to the injury, you are able to walk faster, but only for a little while. But still, a great experience and a great adventure game.