When it comes to stories surrounding the morgue, there is something that innately draws a horror perspective to it. Horror is a flexible genre that can easily fit into many types of narratives, and although it fits well with stories surrounding the morgue, it didn’t fit in Autopsy Simulator. It’s the aspect of the game that initially drew me in, but was the part that ultimately left me wanting more. This review for Autopsy Simulator will be spoiler-free.
Autopsy Simulator releases June 6th for PC.
See also: Alone in the Dark Review: Welcome Back to Derceto (PC)
Story: Jane Doe Has a Name
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Autopsy Simulator. Based on the title and knowing that there are horror elements, I suspected that there be some sort of main mystery surrounding the death of someone where the player would have to piece together how someone died. That is partially correct. Autopsy Simulator’s narrative spans over a few chapters. We follow Jack, a pathologist who works at the morgue performing and documenting autopsies for his students. He is stressed and on medication following a tragic event in his life. And as you might expect, odd things begin to occur at the morgue.
Seeing Jack descend into hell is quite interesting at first
The story is pretty straightforward. I do like the narrative structure of Autopsy Simulator. Jack performs an autopsy each day as a pathologist, inspecting different clues of each patient. It was super interesting to see the story of each patient and Jack’s descent into madness. Due to his narration, we get to know Jack quite a bit and although you can piece together what more or less happens, I found him to be an engaging and enjoyable character to follow. I just wish the story leaned more into the horror elements. It feels like a complete afterthought and I struggle to believe that this abrupt ending was the intended one. Autopsy Simulator takes about 5 to 7 hours to complete but it could have been longer to help flush out that story.
The Horror
Unfortunately, that horror element never really works here. Although there are some tense moments such as when the lights go out in the building, the tension slowly fizzles out. Nothing really happens, and as the player, you’re not given much of a reason why you should care. Part of you already knows what is happening, making the mystery behind the scares less potent. There is also just not enough of them. Players will go through long segments of the game without anything happening besides some spooky noises. It’s a narrative that feels almost designed to be spooky, but mixed with the gameplay structure it has, Autopsy Simulator seems unable to formulate anything meaningful.
Gameplay: Engrossing Simulation
The pacing in Autopsy Simulator is brisk, almost immediately showing players a corpse and asking them to find the cause of death. Jack goes through the deceased’s police file, makes visual observations, and proceeds from there. Each patient has a seemingly dark story to them and each has a different way of dying. The gameplay here pulls you in because of how detailed it is. There is an entire investigatory side where you’ll be putting together clues, and performing these small mini-game-like puzzles. Woodland Games, the developer, even sought out professionals to help with this part of the game. This gameplay loop is easily the best part of Autopsy Simulator. Part of me wishes that the game focused exclusively on this aspect because of how entertaining they were.
You’ll have a selection of various tools to solve each case
The player will bounce back between the various autopsies and the mysteries Jack encounters outside the lab. This gameplay loop works well for the most part, with the segments outside of the lab serving as a break in the gameplay to further the narrative. As the story goes on, however, some nuisances start to rear their head. Some parts become repetitious such as the constant backtracking between various rooms to collect an item that your character has forgotten for the 10th time. It doesn’t ultimately add anything except an excuse to introduce unfulfilling horror elements that feel thrown in last minute. The breaks also start to become less of a eerie mystery, and more of a “what is Jack going to go crazy about today” sort of thing.
Graphics and Audio: Dark and Lonely Place
The morgue, where most of the game takes place, looks fantastic. The dim lighting and cold color palette do most of the heavy lifting for the eerie atmosphere. The only thing I found weird, and maybe it’s just me, but I thought the actual bodies didn’t look nearly as good as the environment. I’m obviously not a doctor but you can typically tell when something seems a bit off, and I felt that with some of the corpses. It was nothing that took me out of the game, but it was something I noticed.
You’ll become familiar with this hall
Another element that helps with the eerie atmosphere is the audio. Again, I do wish there were more horror elements in the game overall, but the few encounters that do play are amplified heavily by the audio. I thought the voice acting was also pretty good too. I could have done with less swearing, however. I’m not against it, but the main character was swearing and yelling for everything that happened. There is a reason for it, I know, but it was still excessive.
Does Autopsy Simulator interest you? Have you played it? Do you agree with this Autopsy Simulator review? Let us know!
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- Where the bulk of your work will be done
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- Everyone has a past
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- What was the cause of death?
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- These extra environments were well received
Autopsy Simulator was reviewed on PC with a code provided by http://honest-pr.com
