[HN Gopher] Sanitarium
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       Sanitarium
        
       Author : doppp
       Score  : 41 points
       Date   : 2024-08-23 16:22 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.filfre.net)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.filfre.net)
        
       | integricho wrote:
       | I played through Sanitarium for the first time just last year,
       | even though I saw the game for the first time more than two
       | decades ago. It is a superb adventure, with an intriguing
       | storyline that is unfolding in a satisfying pace. The
       | environments are really creative and each one entirely different
       | from the others, creating a very captivating atmosphere. Not many
       | of today's titles are able to capture my attention as Sanitarium
       | did. Kudos to the creators for this mastetpiece!
        
       | tzot wrote:
       | My wife is definitely not a gamer. Although she plays some
       | console games now and then, even recent (and recent-ish) Zeldas
       | --passing the controller to one of our kids for the boss fights--
       | she rarely turns on a console to play a game on her own. But
       | there have been two occasions, before we were married and before
       | having a gaming console in the household, when I woke up in the
       | morning and found her still playing a game at the computer. One
       | was Virtual Pool 3D, and the other was Sanitarium.
        
       | leshokunin wrote:
       | This is generally considered one of the most well written games
       | of all time. The developers wwre writers, who wanted to have a go
       | at multimedia. This would be their only game.
       | 
       | We regularly talk about it on /r/adventuregames!
       | 
       | I also highly recommend I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.
       | Similarly psychological horror, excellent writing. Brilliantly
       | voiced by its author.
       | 
       | Both among a small handful of games that have made me cry.
        
         | Etheryte wrote:
         | Disco Elysium matches a similar description, writers using a
         | game as their medium of choice. I feel like it fell just a bit
         | short of greatness on the main story line, but it was a
         | mesmerizing play nonetheless with lots of interesting world
         | building. I recommend you try it out.
        
           | runevault wrote:
           | I've never played Sanitarium, but Disco Elysium is the
           | closest thing I've ever seen to a Literary novel turned into
           | a game, and the fact they did it well is wild.
           | 
           | I'll be curious to see if anyone else explores the thought
           | cabinet or the skills as mind stuff again because it seems
           | ripe for further experimentation. There's still a chance the
           | former ZA/UM devs do, but having to start over makes that
           | harder.
        
       | akozak wrote:
       | I had somehow completely forgotten about this game, but I
       | remember being absolutely absorbed. It was in a separate class of
       | storytelling at the time. Come to think of it, you can probably
       | draw a line from it to Disco Elysium.
        
       | majewsky wrote:
       | I played this with a friend at 9 years old. If there weren't
       | articles like this, I would just assume the memory to be an
       | actual fever dream.
        
       | jFriedensreich wrote:
       | I loved the game, though it did not feel like much of a
       | challenge, it was just pure atmosphere and perfection regarding
       | horror settings and storyline, felt more like a movie with me
       | choosing the pace and being allowed to look at details and the
       | artwork however i want. My biggest wish that will probably be
       | unfulfilled unless AI advances much more would be to have an
       | adventure set in diablo 1 tristram the same way sanitarium works.
        
       | nottorp wrote:
       | One of the few great adventure titles that didn't come from an
       | entity specializing in them.
       | 
       | [Clickety click] Oh, it's on GoG and I already have it there.
       | Good.
        
       | debo_ wrote:
       | I played the demo once as a kid for an hour. I still have visions
       | of an inmate bashing their head against the wall, and the sound
       | it made.
       | 
       | I'll have to add this to my backlog.
        
         | mrcode007 wrote:
         | I share a similar experience and have recently completed the
         | game on the iPhone.
         | 
         | Next up, harvester.
        
         | ideasphere wrote:
         | I have the exact same memory! Demo from a cover disc and all
        
       | COAGULOPATH wrote:
       | Sanitarium is one of those Bad Mojo-esque games that's worth
       | playing for how unique it is.
       | 
       | The isometric viewpoint never really worked for me, and undercuts
       | the immediacy of the horror. Things aren't happening to _you_ ,
       | but to a little human figure the size of a game piece. Maybe this
       | is a hot take but horror games generally need to be first person.
        
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       (page generated 2024-08-23 23:01 UTC)