Sanitarium Playthrough

[Firemans]

Some games you just have to play twice to see the entire genius of the game, therefore I'm replaying Sanitarium. Sanitarium is a point-and-click adventure game out of 1998. It's a psychological thriller as you don't know who you are, where you're from, or if you're in reality or if you're hallucinating.

 

This'll hopefully save you the boredom of watching people fail puzzles for several minutes and will give you some more insight into connections between the different chapters.

 

If you haven't played the game yet, I advice you to not read the Descriptions yet as I've put massive

(AND I MEAN MASSIVE)

spoilers in there. If you have played or finished it, feel free to comment on my ideas of the game. You can buy the game on GOG for $9,99 if you want to play it.

 

Of course I'll be doing all dialogues without skipping anything, I'll add annotations now and then to make it look more like a Let's Play, as I don't have a microphone at the moment. Here is the first Chapter, with a huge description about the first Chapter.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXgTxtyFBEM

 

The description:

 

*Massive spoiler Alert*

 

 

So in case you haven't played/finished the game yet, the first chapter is a summary of the entire game. After you've been in a car crash (caused by Doc Morgan, because you created a new cure, which would put Doc Morgan out of business) you awaken in an asylum (which is not even true, because you're actually in a coma). The game has different chapters, each of the patients you can talk to, reflect one of the chapters, the stained glass windows also show you what to expect.

 

 

 

First we got stutterman "da Don". He talks about the spirits of the fallen Temples who demand vengeance. This is Chapter 8 where you visit a village of the Aztecs. The warriors of this tribe have been killed by a wizard called Quetzalcoatl and they need your help (you're in shape of a God) to destroy him (Quetzalcoatl, referring to Doc Morgan). Don says he's hiding from Him, else he would die as well. (Doctor Morgan conducts experiments on his patients, according to Chapter 5).

 

 

 

Then we got Lenny. Who talks about the pumpkin patch (which we will see in Chapter 2). I'm not quite sure what this refers to yet, in terms of Doc Morgan's research (I think the Pumpkin patch is the laboratory or mortuary). For now we can only compare to it Chapter 2, where the pumpkin patch is off-limit for the children of the town. "Mother" (Lenny says Mom) tries to change the children by changing their form (Doc Morgan's research focuses on changing DNA, as far as I could tell). They shouldn't search for their real parents (trying to go back to the old form, or to their true nature) which refers to progress at the cost of anything (I believe, this is just my idea behind the game). We'll leave it at that for now.

 

 

 

Then we got Martin, Martin I tell you! He refers to Chapter 6: The Hive. Martin says Doc Morgan will destroy the bugs together with Martin, while in fact he forms a conspiracy with the bugs in Chapter 6. In Chapter 6 Doc Morgan is referred to as Gromna (Gromna, Groman, Morgan, it's that simple!). He forms a pact with the bugs (the disease that you are trying to cure) to take over the planet (to prevent your cure). In Chapter 6 he grants the bugs technology ("These be robots") to take over the world (thus preventing a cure). More about Chapter 6 when we're actually at Chapter 6.

 

 

 

Then we got the guy we see fall down as soon as we come near him, however we can hear him talk: "Watch the death defying spectacle keep your eyes on the high wire, never before has any circus presented such an amazing keep of balance". He refers to Chapter 4: The Circus, where you play as Max's sister (you are Max, but you don't know your name yet in the first Chapter), Sarah. Who died of the same disease that you're trying to find a cure for. I'm not going to spoil everything about Sarah yet, but Max has the feeling he's responsible for her death. Sarah wanted to go to the circus, but was too ill to come along. She then asks Max to get her doll Mr. Clown from the circus they visited the year before, from her toy box. Max cannot find it and when he gives up searching for it/can't find it, Sarah passes away.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy, I'll be doing another chapter each week (I hope).

[Firemans]

Alright I've finished Chapter 2, a bit earlier than I thought, it took around two hours (ofcourse I knew exactly what to do). I've cut out the long boring walks, so it's an hour and a half now!

 

In this Chapter we meet Mother who's trying to change the children of the village and has sent all the parents away, but to where?

 

And who are these children, who are the parents, how does this fit into the story? what the f*** IS GOING ON?!!?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TghTHr7vyJo]

 

Some good quotes:

"Great, a bratty kid with two mouths"

"Stupid Mister Orange-poop, you must have boogers for brains! Statues don't move!"

"I don't mean to be rude... BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE!?!!?!?"

"Ehm... I have a ball.... I can bounce it"

"You have the same name as his, but you're not my cousin!?!?!?"

"... those nasty birds, black wings, they pecked at my eyes... it hurt a lot!"

 

Here's the description with massive spoilers (if you're planning on playing the game, don't read it!):

 

 

 

So this is one of the longest chapters, the creepiest and probably the best-written one. It's also the one where I find it hard to find out who is who and what's exactly going on in reality.

 

One thing that is quite clear is that the children in this village are the patients (not the mental patients, but the patients with the disease that you are trying to cure). Mother seems to represent Doc Morgan trying to cure the children of their disease, but in doing so, slowly killing them.

 

They have been tricked/brainwashed by Doc Morgan into believing that his treatment will make them better. However during his treatment a girl named Carol died, which is most likely the girl you see later in the Laboratory chapter (the one in the bed). The tombstone of Carol in the cemetery says: "Missed by Mother".

 

The parents of the children have been murdered and locked up in a school house because Mother thought they should learn to raise their children and that "their pride leads to their destruction". The question is, what do the parents refer to? The caretakers of the children maybe or test subjects used by Doc Morgan (basically the predecessors). This would make the schoolhouse refer to the mortuary, where the patients who passed away after being killed by Doc Morgan lay, because they couldn't be saved from the disease.

 

The Pumpkin Patch would be the laboratory in that case. If you didn't obey Mother (Doc Morgan) you'd be put in the Pumpkin Patch (laboratory) where you would be punished (tested upon). The gouged out eyes of Maria Santiago could refer to blindness, caused by Doc Morgan's experiments in the laboratory.

 

Now if you remember Lenny (Chapter 1) you will remember that he said he ate Pumpkin Pie from the Pumpkin Patch. Which could refer to a medicine from the laboratory.

 

Let's see, we got the car on the left side of the map, which is actually your car which you drove off the cliff due to Doc Morgan sabotaging your brakes, I'm not sure why it's here (other than you needing the gas to destroy Mother, but that's not a REAL reason).

 

Then we got the circus posters, which refer to Chapter 4 as well. If you read the description on Chapter 1 you'd know that the Max's sister dies before they could go to the circus, which she was looking forward too. We also see a cutscene in this Chapter where Max is reading Grimwall, his favorite comic book. You actually play as Grimwall Chapter 6: The Hive. There's also a tomb in the cemetery which has Aztecs mark on it and a rotting corpse in it. This most likely refers to Chapter 8 where you talk to the spirits who were killed by Doc Morgan's "magic". That's all I've got so far, expect another list of stuff soon.

 

 

Enjoy!

Edited October 9, 2011 by Firemans

[htomsirveauxjr]

I vaguely remember playing a demo of this game when I was a kid. Waking up inside the nuthouse with all the doors open. Creeped me out. Wish I could watch these videos but on a phone in the middle of nowhere? Not happening.