The Mortuary Assistant quickly became a viral sensation among YouTubers and streamers thanks to its atypical approach to scaring players. Following the story of Rebecca Owens as she battles her figurative and literal demons during a shift as the titular mortuary assistant, the player will experience a range of unsettling and scary encounters that vary from the subtle to the dramatic. In fact, The Mortuary Assistant takes a significant step away from the overuse of jump scares endemic to the horror genre, especially among indie games, which could explain why it surged in popularity.
This departure could therefore be indicative of a return to earlier horror game mechanics that focused on subversion and discomfort rather than shock and gore. The most infamous example of this lies with Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem which became popular through its "sanity effects," seeking instead to scare players through similar subversive means that ranged from in-game hallucinations to fourth-wall-breaking events. If The Mortuary Assistant could help encourage future horror games to embrace a like-minded ethos towards its scares, then this could finally pave the way for a long overdue revival of Eternal Darkness.
The Mortuary Assistant's Horror
To claim that The Mortuary Assistant doesn't utilize jump scares whatsoever would be inaccurate, but instead, the game moves away from these and incorporates a broad spectrum of methods to unsettle or frighten its players. Some are plainly obvious, often the result of hallucinations that see Rebecca being attacked by her grandmother to being back in her apartment when she was an addict. However, others are less overt and subtly use visual and auditory scares designed to be in the players' periphery. These can include corpses moving or speaking to creatures peeking from around corners only to then disappear once noticed, all heightened by The Mortuary Assistant's macabre setting.
What adds to The Mortuary Assistant's fear factor is the necessity for the player to not just endure these scares but actually pay attention to them. While The Mortuary Assistant has multiple endings, in order to successfully beat the game and get the "good" ending, players must correctly identify the demon targeting Rebecca and exorcise it. To do this the player must locate runes around the mortuary to identify the demon and select the correct corpse to burn, both of which are recognized by the increased haunts that indicate to the player whether they are making the right decisions.
In short, The Mortuary Assistant forces the players' hand and makes them engage with its horror, including both the overt and the subtle scares. The only detriment is the game's insistence on multiple playthroughs, should players want to see all five of its endings, and though scares are randomized it's clear that they can lose efficacy after seeing them several times over. However, The Mortuary Assistant's limited scope and push to be a horror game with replay value like others of its kind can be forgiven, as in spite of its size, the indie game still provides a decent horror experience with a good amount of story.
Hope For Eternal Darkness
Despite being celebrated by fans and critics as one of the greatest horror games of all time, Eternal Darkness currently remains just a cult classic. While studios have attempted to remaster Eternal Darkness, continue the franchise, or just outright create a spiritual successor, so far there hasn't been any luck. But as Nintendo continues to renew the Eternal Darkness trademark, fans remain hopeful that someday there could be a return to the franchise. With the success of The Mortuary Assistant, this could finally be made possible due to the core similarities between the two games.
It's likely that other indie games could follow in The Mortuary Assistant's footsteps, inspired by its horror and the popularity it generated, and the increased interest around this style of horror game could make its way back to Nintendo and other larger developers. The Mortuary Assistant and Eternal Darkness are a lot alike in how they attempt to scare and unsettle the player, using similar mechanics ranging from breaking the fourth wall to causing hallucinations. Since Eternal Darkness' trademark is still active with hopes for an Eternal Darkness 2 on the Switch, then there is every chance that the franchise could return through The Mortuary Assistant's success.
The Mortuary Assistant is available now on PC.