Sanitorium is a new game that attempts to tell an ethical asylum story
But can it avoid the tropes?
One of my biggest icks in gaming is when a horror game decides that the perfect setting is an abandoned or neglected asylum, full of the most terrifying thing imaginable: crazy people. It’s a tired trope that has a real effect on the stigma against a marginalized group, and it bothers me so much I don’t even find it scary. I just sigh, roll my eyes, and find something else to play.
Perhaps this is why I’m intrigued by a new game, Sanatorium: A Mental Asylum Simulator, created by two developers working out of Zurich and published by Sandcastle Games. This game aims to provide a relatively realistic period piece set in the 1920’s. The protagonist is a well-meaning doctor, trying to keep up with both the demands of my patients and the ever-shifting requirements and shortages of the job. There’s something off about this new workplace, and signs of shady activity are afoot.
“It’s a job simulator where the rules change,” says Sebastian Riedi, lead developer on Sanitorium, in a press briefing for Rogue. “We are not directly calling it a deck building game, because that usually comes with expectations for players. We call it a card-based workplace adventure.”