The recent renaissance of horror games has led to all manner of new experiences both large and small finding success on livestreams and let’s plays. For a while there, it seemed like every week brought with it a new horror game that was taking Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok by storm. Two years ago, The Mortuary Assistant was most certainly one of those games. Now in 2024, The Mortuary Assistant: Definitive Edition is here on PS5 with added lore, a new embalming-only mode, new haunt events, and a seasonal event in February, along with the promise of new achievements, bodies, and performance improvements. Does this embalming simulator with a dash of the demonic stick the landing, or is it dead on arrival? Let’s find out. A Unique and Gripping Horror Experience The Mortuary Assistant: Definitive Edition is a unique and capable horror game for a number of reasons, but it all starts with the story. As the name implies, you play as the new assistant for a mortician, but it quickly becomes clear during your first shift that you’ll be doing more than just embalming corpses. As it turns out, the mortician you’re working under is also someone who fights demons. Specifically, the kind of demons that are looking to enter our world by possessing one of the bodies you’re embalming, or possibly even you. The premise is simple, but it’s paired with a number of different endings that expand upon the overall lore of the world, as well as the backstory of the main character, Rebecca. The story would have been serviceable if the game had been about a no-name protagonist fighting demons. However, adding a character with a dark past allows the story to take center stage as part of the potential scares and, of course, the possible endings. The game plays out in “shifts,” each session consisting of a single night. You’re tasked with embalming three bodies while also using various tools and observations to figure out which one is playing host to the demon that’s stalking you. Each shift can end in several different ways. There are good and bad endings, but others require you to go beyond your nightly duties to see additional lore about your world and even a resolution for Rebecca’s past struggles. It’s a compelling setup that ties directly into the gameplay. It’s not the most in-depth story, nor particularly deep, but it establishes a great atmosphere and premise for everything you’ll be doing. At the end of the day, a horror game lives or dies based on its atmosphere. At the end of the day, though, the story is not why you’ll check out The Mortuary Assistant. No, the unique gameplay loop and randomized horror elements made this game the success it is today. For those who haven’t played it, The Mortuary Assistant’s gameplay has you navigating several rooms within a single building, including a morgue, embalming room, front office, and janitor closet, and others. You’ll do so in first-person, using a … Read More