The Mortuary Assistant Review (Xbox Series X|S & PC)

The Mortuary Assistant struck a chord within me, making me feel as if I was back at the funeral parlor as a teen working under the wing of one incredibly tired Dad. It all felt ominously familiar—the murmuring of the morgue, the silence that was so dense that you couldn’t cut it with a butter knife, and the general sense that you were never truly alone despite being in the loneliest occupation in the world. I knew that feeling. I also knew of the stories that would frequent the mind. Safety should have been a given, yet being in the wake of death, mortality would never feel more frail. Something always felt two steps too close for comfort, and oftentimes, it was neither the living nor the dead.

Morgues are naturally eerie places, that much is true. It makes for such a fitting centerpiece for a horror game, in fact, that it’s almost impossible to frame it incorrectly. Frankly, it doesn’t require a great deal to get the nerves tingling and the hairs on the back of your neck on end. If the dead are in the building, then you can guarantee that there’ll be a paranormal event hanging in the balance. The Mortuary Assistant, as an ambassador for exaggerated morgue stories, simply leans into these perpetual fears to make the most of what it has in the casket. It just happens to go a little further than the conventional supernatural flick.

The Mortuary Assistant centers its short two-hour runtime around Rebecca Owens, a newly appointed, well, mortuary assistant who decides to brave the dismal confines of a sleepy hollow facility. In the first several minutes, the character is taught to embalm, as well as juggle various tasks within the morgue itself. A direct call from the boss later, and she soon finds herself locked in the morgue, alone, without an exit, and, rather inconveniently, with several demons who just so happen to know more about the morgue than the one being paid to manage it.

Unsurprisingly, the game is all about banishing the mischievous ghouls that loom in the darkness. Given its procedurally generated world, however, something so simple isn’t always as easy to pull off. Embalming corpses is one thing, but learning how to eradicate supernatural entities that go beyond conventional science is a whole different ballgame, naturally. It just happens to be you, the air-headed trainee with a cotton ball, who has the monumental task of footing the bill and keeping the demons at bay — literally.

With a few pieces of advice from the boss and a wing full of corpses prepped and stacked for embalming, The Mortuary Assistant scoots you on your way and has you completing a wide variety of jobs and “simple” procedures. And when I say simple, I mean, tasks that you would expect to perform in a mortician setting. For example, during each shift you have the duty of checking corpses, using embalming fluids, and, on occasion, filling out the usual paperwork. And to be honest, that’s mostly what The Mortuary Assistant is about: prepping bodies, rolling them into their final resting places, and then signing along the dotted line.

To tell a lie, The Mortuary Assistant isn’t just about ferrying the dead; it’s also about coping with a lot of paranormal events that frequent the morgue. See, the primary objective of each shift is to spot the ripple in the atmosphere—the supernatural force that causes certain things to take place each night. A door, for example, can swing open, or a body can animate itself to lunge out and knock you senseless. In other cases you may find yourself roaming around in the dark, searching for breakers and restoring the power. But, for the most part, it’s all about identifying the weak from the chaff—the bodies that can be moved on, and the possessed demons that can be cremated.

While most of The Mortuary Assistant is heavily reliant on generic walking simulator tropes, the game does often require you to think on your feet. In some situations, you may need to complete your duties a lot quicker than others, especially if there is a demon that hangs a little too close to your shoulder. And it’s the little things like these that make the game the bone-chilling horror that it is. Even without action, it brings a good deal of unnerving excitement to the world. The fact that you never quite know what will happen next, or even where the next demon will sprout up from, for example, all make for brilliant, albeit mentally taxing affairs.

Of course, there is a lot going on in The Mortuary Assistant. Given that the world is procedurally created and in receipt of dozens of random events, you never truly know what is happening around you. But that’s all part of the fun, weirdly. You begin your shift, and you simply follow standard procedures, often unaware of what each stint will bring to the cold room floor. It’s chilling, unpredictable, and above all, a frighteningly good time, all things considered.

Given the subject matter, you can definitely expect your fair share of gore and grotesque elements here. Conceptually, it’s dark, twisted, and yet, surprisingly on the right track. And I suppose that’s a good thing, as it shows that the developer has undergone a lot of research to capture the essence of a morgue setting. It might not be to everyone’s liking, but it delivers a palpable sense of horror that fits the scene incredibly well — and that counts for a great deal here, truly.

If not for its procedural complexity and jack-in-the-box jump scares, The Mortuary Assistant could be seen as a bog-standard simulation game with deeply rooted embalming and post-mortem gameplay facets. Fortunately, though, there is a little extra meat on its bones, so to speak. with a storyline, a well-rounded, albeit disturbing routine, and a well-orchestrated atmosphere that has the brittleness and depth to shed shivers down your spine. And so, as a horror game, it checks all of the right boxes.

Verdict

The Mortuary Assistant keeps the concept of isolation at the workplace on ice and instead opts to inject a thick, supernatural substance into the bloodstream of a psychologically charged vessel. With thanks to its vast procedural structure and tender atmosphere, its well-timed jump scares and its in-depth embalming gameplay, DarkStone Digital serves a one-of-a-kind fear fest that, while still niche, has the potential to blaze a trail for future psychological horror stories.