Sanitarium (1998 Video Game) User Reviews

Excellent Quest game

[PeteRoy · 10/10 · 1 September 2004]

This game is excellent.

It is about a person who had an accident and forgot who he is, now he must go through many places to find out his identity, with flashbacks coming more and more he is getting closer to the truth and the closer he gets, the more dangerous he is in.

This game is made perfect, it has many interesting developing locations to venture, many interesting characters and the story itself is very interesting.

I recommend this game to anyone who love adventure/quest games.

10/10.

An excellent game!

[RealHanzo · 10/10 · 5 November 2009]

I have been playing video games for more than 25 years, and I have seen a lot of them. One thing that I have learned is that you may like games for different things, and not always the same. Some have great stories, some awesome graphics, some cool effects, some terrific soundtracks, etc. Another thing that I have learned is that a game should be evaluated by its own characteristics and not against other games characteristics. Sanitarium is an awesome game, an excellent game. By the time it was released, the game looked kind of old fashion, however the environment was perfectly set, with wonderful details and amazing backgrounds. At the beginning, it seems like a cliché. A guy losing his memory and trying to get it back... Please! It's been used for ages! However, the story develops in a way that this cliché turns into a deeper and disturbing story just perfect to keep the player going on trying to find out what happens. Some of the scenes seem to have been taken out of a bad dream, which is a perfect setting for this game. The player actually adapts to this weird dreams or hallucinations accordingly, which is also a neat detail. The story itself is very interesting, with ideas maybe borrowed from different sources, but nicely adapted to give them a different meaning. The game is a mix of suspense and terror, with some unique aspects making it a nice to play game. It hooks you and pulls you to keep on playing until the end. This is one of the games once you play you can not forget. I have not after more than 10 years...

Bizarre, atmospheric, eerie.

[henrik-langmark · 10/10 · 15 May 2006]

Many times, you can hear yourself saying about a game "this is one of the very best games I've ever played". Yet then you remember fifteen or thirty-so other games that you maybe liked a bit more. And so the saying means nothing.

Sanitarium is, if not THE greatest game I've played, on my definite Top10 list - together with Half-Life 2, Grim Fandango, Starcraft, Mafia, Monkey Island, Icewind Dale and other (you get the point of what I like; it's very mixed).

The game has an original concept, one where you play a doctor getting afflicted by amnesia after a car accident. Flashbacks from his past life are an important event in this adventure where the 'point-and-click' feature is extremely very well baked into the story.

The down-tuned (and excellent) actors' voices make the mood very unnerving and bizarre. The graphics might be a bit old on today's screens, but back in the 1998 it was an extremely detailed and beautiful game indeed.

Very, very well worth a few minutes of detective work to find it on the net.

very engrossing game.great graphics(1998)

[anniecapek · 10/10 · 17 July 2021]

I played this game when it came out,in1998,and was immediately a fan. The story is interesting,the quests are not too easy,and the general appearance of the town,the sanitarium,and the residents are very well created. The game is not too scary,but you can't just fly through it,or you will miss the intrigue. I would like to go back andplay it through,if it is available on Windows10,or Twitch. It is a terrific game,I think.

Engrossing, depth, wish we had more like this

[goldberri · 10/10 · 9 December 2019]

Love Sanitarium! Played it when it first came out and just had immense joy replaying it. Fully developed and interesting story, extremely creative settings and characters, fun puzzles, and you get a ton of story and game for your cost. A really smart creative work. Exactly the right amount of dark. I really wish there were more games like this.