With its chilling atmosphere and supernatural undertones, The Mortuary Assistant has made quite an impression on the horror gaming community following its original release on Steam in 2022. Two years later, the game is now available on PS5, and we’re diving into this dark and unsettling title to see how it fares on Sony’s console. Join us as we explore the depths of this terrifying experience, where the line between life and death blurs and every shadow holds a sinister secret.
Storytime
The Mortuary Assistant follows Rebecca Owens, a promising young intern whose career prospects take an unexpected turn. Despite being highly regarded, she finds herself without a job at the end of her internship. Just when things seem bleak, she’s offered a position at a different location by the mortuary owner. However, this new job is anything but ordinary.
In this eerie and unsettling environment, Rebecca’s tasks go beyond the typical duties of prepping bodies for their final goodbyes. She’s also confronted by malevolent demons intent on possessing her. These entities aren’t just out to spook her; they dredge up traumatic visions and hallucinations, forcing Rebecca to relive parts of her past.
These memories are wielded like psychological weapons, aiming to break her spirit. But the game offers more than just a battle of wills; it’s a battle of wits. By confronting the demons and deciphering cryptic clues, Rebecca has a chance to banish these dark forces and survive another day.
One of the most intriguing aspects of The Mortuary Assistant is its multiple endings, each shaped by the choices you make during Rebecca’s shifts. The unpredictability of when and how the hallucinations will strike keeps you on edge, while the process of piecing together fragments of Rebecca’s life adds a rich layer of depth to the narrative.
The game cleverly weaves these elements into a story that feels both personal and haunting. However, be prepared for some endings that may leave you wanting more or reveal only small pieces of the overarching story. The game excels at storytelling, even if not every conclusion ties everything together neatly.
Gameplay
When it comes to gameplay, The Mortuary Assistant does have its moments of frustration. While the majority of the mechanics are straightforward, I have to admit, I was initially clueless about the ability to run and crouch. This led to me trudging slowly through the first two shifts, making the experience far more tedious than it needed to be. It wasn’t until my other half decided to give it a go and immediately discovered these crucial moves that I realised how much easier my life could have been.
That minor gripe aside, the rest of The Mortuary Assistant tutorial does a decent job of easing you into the game. However, it doesn’t prepare you for everything. Your first shift mainly focuses on the basics of embalming bodies, which is relatively simple: you inspect bodies for marks, gather the necessary tools, and perform tasks like wiring the mouth shut and draining the body.
But, as with any game, not everything goes as smoothly as you’d hope. The use of analogue sticks for certain tasks can be a bit finicky, often requiring a bit of extra fiddling to get things done just right.
But embalming is only half the story in The Mortuary Assistant. The real challenge lies in identifying which body is hosting a demon, and subsequently burning it to banish the entity. This is where the game gets really interesting—and nerve-wracking.
You need to be hyper-aware of your surroundings: does a body twitch unexpectedly? Have mysterious new marks appeared? These are your clues to identify the possessed body. To identify the demon, you’ll use special strips that ignite when near a demonic symbol, revealing the runes you need to spell out the demon’s name.
Once you’ve pieced together all the clues, it’s time to mark the body with the demon’s name and wheel it into the furnace. This concludes your shift and reveals one of the game’s multiple endings. A minor complaint here is that you can’t run while pushing the gurney, which can slow the game’s pacing unnecessarily.
There are also some additional tasks and hidden areas to uncover, but discovering how to access them is part of the fun, so I won’t spoil that for you. It’s a unique twist on the horror genre, blending body preparation with puzzle-solving. Even though some of the mechanics can feel a bit stiff, the game’s atmosphere and concept make it a gripping experience.
One thing I found particularly intriguing is that The Mortuary Assistant doesn’t rely heavily on jump scares. Sure, you’ll hear unsettling noises, see lights flickering, and experience all the usual paranormal activity. But then there are those moments when you catch a glimpse of a figure standing ominously in a corridor, only for it to vanish when you look again. There’s one scene where you see your grandma at the window—creepy doesn’t even begin to describe it, especially if you’ve seen the first episode of From. The game excels at building tension in a way that feels fresh and genuinely unnerving.
Bug report
Despite The Mortuary Assistant delivering an impressively immersive experience, it wasn’t without its technical hiccups. While playing on the PS5 version, I encountered several graphical bugs that occasionally broke the immersion. One notable issue occurred during the inspection process. After placing the artefact on a corpse, I’d lift the shoulder only to see the artefact oddly clipping through the body. While not game-breaking, this visual bug felt sloppy, especially during such a critical moment in gameplay.
In a few of the more unsettling vision sequences, where you revisit old memories, I was greeted with solid pink walls instead of the intended environments. Whether this was a rendering error or an intentional stylistic choice, it didn’t feel right. These graphical glitches disrupted the atmosphere and pulled me out of the otherwise immersive experience. Interestingly, I didn’t notice these issues in streams of the PC version, so this may be a platform-specific problem for The Mortuary Assistant on the PS5.
Overall thoughts on The Mortuary Assistant
Overall, The Mortuary Assistant for the PS5 offers a terrifyingly tense horror experience that stands out with its psychological depth and unique gameplay mechanics. The game’s atmosphere is undeniably its strongest asset, with moments of genuine dread that will keep you on edge. However, the technical issues and occasionally clunky controls detract from what could have been a flawless experience. Despite these setbacks, the narrative and multiple endings offer enough replayability to make it a solid entry in the horror genre.
The Mortuary Assistant was developed by DarkStone Digital and is out now. You can grab this game on the PlayStation Store, Xbox, and PC.
