The Mortuary Assistant – a terrible night at the morgue

Indie horror games have been one of the most popular video game genres almost since the first Slenderman game. They are relatively easy and cheap to make, and as a result, there is a chance to get a game that will bring hundreds of thousands of dollars almost out of thin air. Of course, such a low threshold for entering the genre has led to the fact that almost all indie horror games are not scary at all, but simply boring and bad games.

At a quick glance, The Mortuary Assistant may also seem like a cheap horror game, except that the concept of working with corpses can be interesting. However, after a few minutes of gameplay, it becomes clear that The Mortuary Assistant is one of the best and, more importantly, scariest horror games ever made. The only thing that lets it down is the technical execution.

The first version of The Mortuary Assistant was released in 2022, and in August 2024, the Definitive Edition was released, which can be considered the reference version of the game. Moreover, it was The Mortuary Assistant Definitive Edition that first appeared on Sony and Microsoft consoles. That is why we are going to talk about it in this review.

Rebecca spent several years studying the craft of embalming corpses and everything related to caring for dead bodies. When her studies were finally completed, she received an offer to work at the River Fields Mortuary. Her grandmother had warned Rebecca that there were very bad rumors associated with the place, but she didn’t really believe them. After all, she has long been accustomed to corpses and death around her thanks to her studies. But when her very first night shift turns into a fight for her life against an almost omnipotent demon, Rebecca will truly think about the value of life for the first time in years. In addition, memories that the girl has been trying to bury for a long time will begin to surface.

The Mortuary Assistant attracts with its description of the gameplay. After all, the morgue in the game is not just a setting and location, but a kind of game system that affects the entire playthrough. Unlike many other horror games, The Mortuary Assistant has almost no exploring, puzzle solving, or chasing horrible creatures. Instead, you’ll spend most of the game working with corpses.

Each night shift, Rebecca has to embalm three dead people. To begin with, she has to record special signs on their bodies, enter everything into the computer, print out a report, and only then proceed with the actual embalming. It consists of several medical and mechanical operations, which are conveniently listed in a separate document. Each action requires its own tools, which are scattered around the morgue’s operating room. When everything is done, you can return the body to the freezer and move on to the next step.

The Mortuary Assistant could easily pass for a simulation game if it didn’t have horror elements. Each stage of the embalming process is done either in the format of a mini-game where you have to move the mouse or sticks in the right directions, or by using the right items in the right places. This gameplay feature further brings the game closer to the adventurous genre. Rebecca’s job is quite monotonous, but to prevent players from getting bored quickly, the game changes the location of almost all the key items for embalming every night. Because of this, it is impossible to learn a general pattern, you will have to find all the items first every time.

But of course, the game would not have become so popular if it were a simple simulator. First of all, The Mortuary Assistant attracts with its horror elements. And coming from a person who loves the horror genre and has played dozens, maybe even hundreds of indie horror movies, The Mortuary Assistant is sincerely impressive and incredibly scary.

Many independent interactive horror games rely too much on banal screamers, loud noises, monsters suddenly appearing right in front of players’ faces, and other methods that have been boring for years. The Mortuary Assistant has a bit of this, of course. But the game becomes most frightening in those moments when everything seems to be fine. Rebecca is calmly doing her not-so-quiet job – and at that moment, out of the corner of your eye, you see a shadow running somewhere in the other room. But if you go over there, it’s gone.

The Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House was once praised for this method of interacting with fear. The titular ghosts in the show were often somewhere in the background, and the camera didn’t even focus on them. But if you do notice them, then any scene begins to be perceived completely differently. And yes, everything was done in a really creepy way.

In The Mortuary Assistant, the demon manifests itself at the most unexpected moments. He can move the corpse, knock from the street, ring the phone, change the inscriptions in the reports, and much more. The further the embalming process goes, the more terrifying the demonic presence becomes. Rebecca will experience hallucinations and other dimensions as the demon increasingly assaults her senses.

In part, the game can even be perceived as a metaphor for work, during which you are constantly distracted by something. Very soon, you will be nervous about every action. All horror elements appear in random order, so you can expect anything. Some of the demon’s tricks are so subtle that they begin to flirt with the player’s mind. Did you close that closet or did someone else? Was the body really lying in that position? Where are the tools that were right at hand until recently?

The Mortuary Assistant is frightening on many levels, with its sounds, images, sensations, and the very structure of the gameplay. This is an outstanding horror game, almost a model for all other developers. Even the typical horror storyline with a family, which usually feels superfluous and tense, in The Mortuary Assistant is quite concise, appropriate, and even touching. Absolutely everything from the horror side of the game is in place and works perfectly.

But the game is not limited to embalming corpses mixed with scary moments. Rebecca’s main task is to defeat a demon hiding in one of the corpses. To do this, she needs to find out the demon’s real name, perform a special ritual, and burn the correct body in the crematorium. The demon’s name consists of four sigils that can randomly appear in different places in the morgue. You need to not just find all the sigils, but arrange them in the correct order on a special talisman. And to find the right body, you’ll have to be very careful to watch out for manifestations of the supernatural and carefully examine the dead, as a clue may be hidden somewhere right on them.

That is, The Mortuary Assistant also has tangible elements of a detective story. Rebecca’s boss has been hunting demons for a very long time, so he has accumulated a huge database related to them. You need to study it carefully and constantly check it to make the right choice of body. Be prepared that even with all the hints and auxiliary items, this is a rather difficult task. Therefore, it is highly likely that you will choose the wrong body on the first night and lose the battle with the demon.

But there’s no need to worry once again, because The Mortuary Assistant is designed for repeated playthroughs. There are six endings in the game, and the conditions for some of them are rather unclear, depend on luck, and require careful study of the environment. However, this will help you learn even more about the game’s plot. The Mortuary Assistant scenario has a surprisingly large number of nuances for a relatively chamber game. So be prepared for surprises. And don’t forget to read a variety of records. What can you do, the conventions of the genre.

After all this, it might seem that The Mortuary Assistant is the perfect horror game. Scary, unusual, with an interesting gameplay that can captivate for a long time despite its relative simplicity. Even the obsessive repetition of the same gameplay cycle feels appropriate. So what could be wrong?

As is often the case with indie games, it’s all about technical execution. This applies to both bugs and errors and the overall experience of the gameplay. We would like to remind you that the text refers to the Definitive Edition version, which is presented to players as the most polished and complete. On the other hand, the development studio DarkStone Digital is actually just one person who created The Mortuary Assistant almost entirely on their own. Two years and one person for a project of this level is a very short period of time. And you can easily see it in the game.

For example, the animations and overall physics engine in The Mortuary Assistant are very mediocre. While clumsy movements are fine for demonic manifestations, they create the effect of an “eerie valley” with human characters. Visually, the main characters also look poor. And due to the physics of the game, some items are very easy to lose or throw into some inconvenient corner. By the way, active points also often require excessive accuracy from the player, which can make them difficult to activate.

From time to time, the scripts of certain scenes will stall, making it impossible to understand whether you are doing something wrong or the game is not working properly. Menus and inventory lack visual and audio feedback. Some sounds can also be distorted or not played at all. And for horror, sound is one of the main elements. In short, there are plenty of problems. And they can spoil the experience.

We can only be glad that The Mortuary Assistant generally allows adequate gameplay even with all the problems. After all, this is a truly magnificent horror that will make the blood run cold even for fans of the genre. And non-fans will be scared at every single scary moment. Because fear works perfectly in DarkStone Digital’s creation.

And more importantly, The Mortuary Assistant is not just a horror game with additional interactive elements, a walking simulator, or anything like that. It is a full-fledged video game with elaborate mechanics, systems, and nuances. This makes it even more valuable for players.