User:ItsMackie/The Mortuary Assistant

The Mortuary Assistant is a 2022 horror game developed by DarkStone Digital and published by DreadXP. Set in 1998, the game follows Rebecca Owens, a recent graduate of mortuary science who, upon the first day of her apprenticeship at River Fields Mortuary, must identify and exorcise a demon that has possessed one of the bodies she is tasked with preparing for burial before it possesses her instead.

DarkStone Digital, whose only member is Brian Clarke, developed The Mortuary Assistant in Unity over a period of two years. After a free game demo was released via itch.io and Steam in October 2021, The Mortuary Assistant was fully released for Microsoft Windows via Steam on August 2, 2022. Upon release, the game has been well received by critics, and has been featured in multiple "Let's Play" YouTube videos.

Gameplay
The Mortuary Assistant is a first-person horror game with point-and-click elements. The player takes control of Rebecca Owens, a recovering drug addict who has recently celebrated ten years of sobriety. Prior to the beginning of the game, Rebecca graduated from mortuary school and has accepted an apprenticeship at a mortuary operated by her former teacher, Raymond Delver.

Over the course of The Mortuary Assistant's primary gameplay loop, Rebecca must embalm three randomly-generated bodies. Each step in the embalming process is performed using various mouse movements and quick time events.

During the embalming process, Rebecca must determine which body is possessed by a demon, determine the name of the demon possessing the body, bind the demon to the body using a tablet given to Rebecca by Delver, and finally, cremate the body and banish the demon. As the embalming process progresses and Rebecca gets closer to determining the demon's identity, it will begin disrupting the process using various jump scares and puzzles that Rebecca must solve in order to proceed. If Rebecca does not banish the demon by the time an in-game timer runs out, or if she gets the name of the demon or the body wrong, the demon will possess her.

Development
Brian Clarke, the lone member of DarkStone Digital, began developing The Mortuary Assistant in Unity in October 2020, following the release of his previous game, Kohate. In a 2022 interview with Bloody Disgusting, Clarke said that he felt that deathcare was an underutilized setting in video games. He researched human embalming and how mortuaries operate, ending up with "a weird combination of modern and slightly archaic" techniques in order to make the embalming mechanics of the game more gruesome.

Following the release of a free game demo on itch.io and Steam in October 2021, The Mortuary Assistant was released for Microsoft Windows via Steam on 2 August 2022.

Reception
- Eurogamer article about sense of dignity when it comes to the mundane aspects of gameplay.

- Ed Smith of PCGN found similarities with FNAF. Meanwhile, Luke Winkie w/ PC Gamer found it hearkened back to the Lets Play era of YouTube.

- Harrison Abbott from Bloody Disgusting found the game rough around the edges, but inventive with "flashes of brilliance".

Two days after release, The Mortuary Assistant appeared on the Steam best seller's list.

Movie announced.