![]() ![]() As mentioned, Sarah is long dead-she died as a child, and it's revealed that the circus level is a twisted mix of Max's current nightmare and her longing to visit the circus despite being bedridden with a mysterious disease. What's the level? It's Max's house, sepia-toned and shaky, and his greatest regret played out in reverse. I really don't want to know how Max's fevered mind knows this particular titbit.Įspecially when the clown of his dreams/nightmares turns out to be called "Spanky."Īnd you realise that there is in fact no 'fun' in 'coulrophobia'. The weirdness then continues as you poke around, try to work out which of the creepy carnival folk are actually malicious, persuade a strongman to show his devotion to the fire-breather Inferno (Max's wife in reality) by tattooing her name on his skin, and memorably describe rubbing alcohol as "smelling like clown breath." The circus owner, Baldini, gives her a pass to the Test Of Strength game (though this being Sanitarium it's actually an octopus you hit to squirt ink as high as you can) to win tickets. It starts off in a spooky circus, with a confused Max physically turning into his little sister-herself awaking with nothing in her pockets and her own mini case of amnesia. Brr!įollowing a quick trip back to the Sanitarium to mend a fountain for reasons that are possibly meant to be allegorical, but mostly seem to symbolise adventure game designers' love of silly logic puzzles, comes by far the best chapter of the game-and the one that made Sanitarium a cult classic. Now, the Towers of Hanoi? Those are some scary bastards. ![]() Like playing with a cute kitten, nothing's as creepy after a few minutes of casual Tic-Tac-Toe. It's a fairly creepy chapter, even if it does make you play a game of Tic-Tac-Toe at one point. possibly even to the point of Boding.Īnd speaking of ominous, where are the the adults in this village of the damned? According to the children, "Mother" won't let them talk about that, "Mother" says all adults but her are bad, and "Mother" seems to have a thing for mutilating kids and throwing anyone who complain into the pumpkin patch. It's only by talking to several of them and having sepia-toned flashbacks that Max remembers his own name-and a day as a child when his mother came to see him and carefully told him that "Sarah would like to see you now." Ominous. The journey starts in the second chapter, in a village of abandoned, deformed children left to fend for themselves-a boy with two mouths, a girl skipping on two wooden legs, another who looks like a ghoul. It's these memories that stick in the mind the most, and where Sanitarium hits its early highs. ![]() How a small word like that can completely alter a game's tone, even if she's pretty cheerful throughout. I meant of course his dead little sister Sarah. Wait, did I say his little sister Sarah? Sorry. In each, he plays someone different-gruff, arrogant Olmec amongst the Aztecs, his favourite childhood superhero Grimwall against the aliens, and most memorably, his little sister Sarah to explore the circus that really puts the 'fun' into 'coulrophobia'. Only alternate chapters (give or take) are actually set in the stone halls of the sanitarium itself, with Max spending the others Inception-ing his way into other layers of the fantasy-a circus from his childhood, an alien hive, an Aztec-themed world, and finally a mix of all them as he races to escape from his own mind. Secondly, and more positively, it's a wonderfully imaginative and atmospheric game. So, if the story's a little wooly, why do people like Sanitarium so much? Firstly, with this kind of game, you don't actually know it's a little wooly until the reveals, and by that point you've had the time to be wooed by its other charms. ![]()
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