Sanitarium (1998) PC Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A beginning to end playthrough of ASC Games’ 1998 graphic adventure Sanitarium. This game is still nearly as good as it was when it came out 16 years ago. The story (especially for the time) was well told, presented through a mish-mash of seemingly disparate elements slowly tied together to reveal the overarching metadiagetic narrative that drives the core of the plot. It’s freaky, odd, and sometimes off-putting in the imagery that it uses, but it’s amazing how effectively it conveys its particular brand of psychological horror. Just as, if not more, compelling than other genre contemporaries (most notably Phantasmagoria and Harvester), the game will freak you out and make you cringe from the most sympathetic places you can imagine. The graphics also hold up shockingly well. Even though it only runs at 640x480 in 256 colors (hence the dithering if you scrutinize the images too closely), the characters are all pre-rendered CG sprites being superimposed over impressively detailed (and at times incredibly b