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Sanitarium is a point-and-clickadventure game developed by DreamForge Entertainment and published by ASC Games, released in 1998 for Windows. This is a single-player game.

Sanitarium is a psychological thriller that was well-received by critics; it was praised for its atmosphere and originality. But some critics considered that it was a particular game and highly criticized it.

The game tells the story of Dr. Max Laughton, who is stricken with amnesia, trying frantically to unveil the details of his institutionalization in a terrifying asylum.

The search for his own identity, and the truth, takes place within the grounds of the sanitarium and in the main character's delusions and flashbacks, as he confronts the ghosts of his past.

The flashback presents Max s past. The first one was in his childhood, when his sister Sarah died due to an incurable illness, caused by the DNAV Virus, when he was bringing out a carnival toy for his sister before she became ill.

Years after that, his father wanted Max to pursue a career in medicine in the hope that he would be able to one day find a way to avert the tragedy of his sister s death. When he was at medical school he befriended Dr. Morgan, the creator of the hope Treatment, a means of prolonging the time it takes for the DNAV Virus to claim a patient s life.

Eventually, Max was able to work with Morgan and find a way to create his own cure. This, however, would render Morgan s treatment obsolete. Morgan, afraid that Max will take away his prestige, tries to deter him but fails, and so in a last resort attempts to murder Max.

The cure was successfully created after he learned about how the Aztecs survived a plague without modern medicine. But when he left the lab, the car brakes failed from sabotage and Max was left in a coma.

In each world from each of the 9 chapters carries a distinct atmosphere that presents either the real or imaginary world of the main protagonist. In many cases, it is unclear to the player which of these worlds the game is currently in play.

At the beginning of the game a short cut scene reveals you what happen to the main character who is leaving work and getting into his car to drive home along a dangerously winding road in the pouring rain.

Then he calls a friend and announces he has finally made the breakthrough after many years of hard work, then promptly demonstrates his stupidity by speeding and crashing the car.

The main question within the game is to know if your character is mad or not. The game takes you in various different environments and makes you solve various inventive puzzles, collect items that will help you throughout the game. You will also note the various crazy, half-sane or half-dead non-playable characters that you need to talk and interact.

Sanitarium reviews