The Mortuary Assistant is a creepy jaunt through embalming bodies during a night shift at a mortuary. Developed by DarkStone Digital, you play as a mortuary assistant doing overtime at River Fields Mortuary. What starts as an already morbid endeavor, alone, in the dead of night, becomes a race against time as you find yourself slowly being possessed by a demon lurking inside one of the corpses.
Related
The Mortuary Assistant: Every Ending, Ranked
One shift as the mortuary assistant is harrowing enough. But to discover the full truth, you’ll need to go back and do it again and again.
When starting your first shift, there’s a lot to get to grips with. The main conceit of the title revolves around the spinning of two tasks: completing your corpse-embalming duties and sussing out which body has which demon in it, so you can burn it. There’s plenty to learn about the game that will lessen the need to reach for the nearest towel to dab away your fear sweat.
Updated on December 10, 2024, by Jon Eakin: The Mortuary Assistant remains an excellent horror game, consistently finding new players through word of mouth. To keep up with the steady flow of new players we’ve updated this list and added new entries to better help you be the best possible morgue worker you can be.
14
It’s Okay To Tap Out
No Prizes For Bravest
Many horror games aren’t really all that scary. They’re horror games by virtue of atmosphere or the usage of tropes, but The Mortuary Assistant actually is a scary horror game. If it ever becomes too much for you, it’s okay to admit it.
Take breaks, turn a light on, play with friends or during the day. Do whatever you have to do to make sure you’re still enjoying the game, because otherwise there’s just no point in playing at all.
13
Don’t Rely On Guides
Yes, Ironic
You can use guides for lots of things in The Mortuary Assistant — they’re great for general tips or helping with gameplay mechanics.However, elements are randomized on every playthrough, so a walkthrough won’t ever be completely accurate.
Enjoy this, it’s a feature more games could make use of and is especially effective in horror. Titles in the genre that retain solutions across playthroughs lose some of their edge, and there’s no risk of that here.
12
First Thing First… Don’t Dillydally
Keep Your Pace Up
The first thing you need to realize is that during your mortuary duties, you need to remain aware that you’re possessed. And this demon will slowly start to mess with you the longer you spend on the shift.
Speed is the aim here. You’re going to need to work fast in all your tasks and banish the demon before it banishes you. Plenty of hearty horror moments will attempt to stall you, but if you keep your head down and focus, you’ll make it through.
11
Keep Checking The Paper
It’s Like A Health Bar
It’s a mighty unfortunate predicament you find yourself in. You can’t just embalm cold dead bodies in peace due to the fact a demon has latched onto your soul. Thankfully, there’s a way to check just how close you are to a full demon takeover.
At the reception desk, you can pick up a stack of sticky notes with a pencil. You should periodically keep checking this paper by interacting with it on the main inventory screen. The more satanic the scribbles become, the closer you are to exorcist mode, so act fast to avoid a grisly game over.
10
Memorize Where Things Are
Check Once And Don’t Forget
Each time you start a new shift, it’s best if you learn the location of all your equipment. Since these never change places, memorizing where everything is can be the difference between an apprentice and a master mortuary assistant.
As soon as you enter the building, make sure all the necessary cabinets and drawers are kept open so you can quickly get to your stuff. The quicker you can get all the embalming done, the faster you can detect the nasty demon squirming around inside you.
9
Listen For Vocal Cues To Save Time
Pay Attention
Even though you’re possessed, the work of a mortuary assistant must go on. One of the first tasks is to record abrasions and marks on the corpse and input this information into the Record System database.
Theirs a nifty little time save you can listen out for to get this task done in a timely fashion. Once the final blemish has been identified on the corpse, Rebecca will make a remark. It’s a clear indication that you can now start to put that data onto the computer.
8
Pick Up As Much As You Can
Fill Your Pockets
Speaking of equipment, there’s no harm in picking up the smaller items until you’re maxed out. With a lot of equipment needed to complete the checklist of embalming tasks, it’s best to carry as much as you can.
Related
10 Horror Games Set In A High School
School is already a nightmare, but these horror games make it worse.
Anything used on the corpse is automatically discarded (unless it needs to be used again), so learn exactly which items you need in the correct order. This efficiency is vital if you want to survive a complete demon takeover.
7
Dropping Things
Large Items Work Differently
Theirs a lot of different equipment you’ll be using when working on a corpse. The inventory spaces are plentiful when it comes to the smaller items, however, larger items are stored in a separate slot and limit you to only holding one at a time.
The shortcut inventory is what you’ll be using the most, but there is no way to drop the large items from this screen. To drop these bulky items, you have to head to the main inventory screen and locate the drop button. It can be a little difficult to spot amongst the cluttered UI, but the large item will be dropped where you stand if it was mistakenly picked up.
6
Utilize Any Downtime
Don’t Waste A Moment
During the embalming process, you’ll need to utilize the pumps to drain the corpse fluids. Once the machine is turned on, you can’t really do anything embalming-related until it runs its course. This is the time to switch your attention to demon hunting.
Whip out the Lettering Strips. You can collect them near the computer and search for those symbols or any other hidden mysteries the game has concealed. You’ll know you’re near a sigil once that paper begins to smolder.
5
Symbols Could Be Anywhere
Keep Your Eyes Open
One of the first steps to identifying the pesky demon is learning its name. Luckily, symbols will periodically hide in the environment waiting to be found with the aforementioned Lettering Strips. Walking about with these papers in hand will eventually cause them to burn up – indicating a sigil symbol is nearby.
This is your cue to check absolutely everywhere around you at the point the paper burned away. The symbol could be anywhere, large or small, on the ceiling, behind a door, inside a drawer – anywhere. Leave no stone (or office folder) unturned.
4
The Sigil Of The Covetous Demons Screen Is The Most Important
You’ll Always Need This
The night shift database is your go-to computer resource for all things demonic. It’s full of reams of information regarding the whole possession situation you find yourself in. Reading all the occult stuff is a lengthy ask, but there’s one screen you’ll definitely need to use the most.
Related
19 Most Atmospheric Horror Games
A perfect atmosphere is one of the key elements of a horror game, and here we look at the best titles with a suitably scary environment.
Since you must learn the demon’s name, it makes the most sense to have the Sigil of the Covetous Demons screen open at all times when surfing the night shift database. This makes it quick to cross-reference the found symbols with the database to deduce the demon’s name faster.
3
Use The Matches And Cremation Bags
Let Them Light The Way
The matches and cremation bag are tools that can further help identify which corpse houses the demon. The matches can be found in reception next to the door leading to the mortuary and the cremation bag is on a shelf in cold storage.
To use the items, first, gather some ash from below the furnace by using the cremation bag. Then, douse a body with the ash and use the matches. If a sigil appears, it’s a good tell what demonic house the demon belongs to – narrowing down the search for the all-important demon name.
2
Every Shift Is Slightly Different
They Always Change
If you successfully burn the correct body marked with the correct demon name, you can pat yourself on your demon-free back. But returning for another shift won’t play out exactly the same as the previous one.
New story beats and mysteries will trigger as the night goes on. You can use these opportunities to discover more of what the game has beyond the surface level. Just be brave when you find out what’s in the basement.
1
There Are Multiple Endings
So Play Multiple Times
The more shifts you complete, the more confident you’ll be in becoming an embalming, demon-vanquishing mortuary master. And you’ll notice that there is a multitude of different endings to be viewed.
In between embalming and demon investigating, take a moment to explore your surroundings carefully. You might end up stumbling into the game’s many narrative set pieces that reveal hints towards a different outcome of the night shift. Good luck finding them all!
Indie Games
Adventure
Simulation
- Released
-
August 2, 2022
- Developer
-
DarkStone Digital
- Publisher
-
Dread XP
- Engine
-
Unity
- ESRB
-
m
- How Long To Beat
-
2 hours
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Strong