Line #48 VideoGame/Sanitarium


1	[[quoteright:317:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Sanitarium_Cover_5438.PNG]]
2
3	->''"If Film/JacobsLadder was reality squared, this is reality cubed"''
4	-->-- '''J.C. Herz''' (The New York Times) on the game
5
6	''Sanitarium'' is a 1998 PsychologicalHorror PointAndClick AdventureGame developed by [=DreamForge=] Intertainment and published by ASC Games. It is set in a mental hospital, except when it ''isn't''.
7
8	More clearly, it begins with the main character being involved in an a car accident that knocks him unconscious. Upon waking up, he finds that he has lost his memories and has been instituted in a dilapidated sanitarium, while his head and face are wrapped in bandages. While he cannot remember who is, nor where he came from, or how he came to be interned in the sanitarium, fellow inmates refer to him simply as "Max". He also soon discovers that the place is run by an enigmatic figure known simply as "Dr. Morgan". Occasionally, Max finds himself being transported to strange, alternate worlds, sometimes changing his form, sometimes not. A constant feeling of bewilderment and fear follow him as the worlds he visits become stranger and stranger.
9
10	Max need to figure out many things: Why has he lost his memory? Why is he in an insane asylum? [[CuckooNest Is the asylum the "real" world]], [[OrWasItADream or is it just another dream]]?
11
12	[[SimilarlyNamedWorks Not to be confused]] with the ''VideoGame/{{Slender}}'' FanSequel ''VideoGame/{{Sanatorium}}''.
13	----
14	!!This game provides examples of:
15
16	* AbusiveParents: Exploring Genet reveals [[spoiler: Jeddah Driscoll]] to be this. [[spoiler: An incident turned him into an alcoholic, his arguments with his wife often devolved into physical altercations. His wife then passed away, and he turned the violence to his daughter Carol. His child abuse charges were subsequently dropped by the new town mayor. Carol eventually died, but nobody cared. Mother eventually stepped in to take care of things, but decided to take it up a notch.]]
17	** [[ImpliedTrope Implied]] with [[spoiler: Morgan's father]] as well, with a flashback revealing [[spoiler: his hardball and perfectionist attitude to his son, who was only showing his friend Max around the hospital's gallery.]]
18	* AccompliceByInaction / ApatheticCitizens: The reason why [[spoiler: Mother killed the adults of Genet. One of them, Jeddah, abused his daughter so much that she died while all the adults of the town turned a blind eye to his actions.]]
19	* AdventuresInComaLand: [[spoiler:Nearly the entire game, as a result of the car crash Max experienced in the beginning.]]
20	* AGlitchInTheMatrix: The "real world" starts becoming more and more unreal with each chapter.
21	* AllJustADream: [[spoiler: Barring certain sequences (which are actually Max's memories coming back to him in bits ), the game is just Max's dreams while he was in coma.]]
22	* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: The game has the penultimate subchapter called "The Gauntlet", right before the final PuzzleBoss subchapter with [[spoiler:Dr. Morgan]]. In it, you find yourself in a mishmash of elements of all of the earlier non-"real world" chapters. Not only that, but to solve various puzzles you have to [[spoiler:switch between Max and all of his alter-egos as well]].
23	* AlternateUniverse: [[spoiler: It turns out that the Morgan from Max's past is not the same Morgan that he encounters throughout the game. The former exists in the real world. The latter exists in Max's dream world.]]
24	** [[spoiler: Two of the chapters have an alternate universe version of Max's wife as well, who is a widowed circus performer.]]
25	** Then there's a [[spoiler: non-playable AU version of Max himself, who is the final boss.]]
26	* AmbitionIsEvil: Played straight with Morgan, whose desire to perfect science by any means [[spoiler: caused him to lose sight on the MERCy project and staging a murder when a leading scientist is making headway on the cure]].
27	* AmnesiacHero: Max, but he gradually regains his memories as the player progresses in the game. There's also Grimwall, but unlike Max, he never found out who he really is.
28	* ArcVillain: The game intersects Max's adventure through the asylum with other (seemingly) standalone ones, most of which featuring a separate villain that ultimately has symbolic ties to the overarching plot. In chronological order:
29	** Mother, [[TheGhost unseen ruler]] of Genet, and the only adult there. [[spoiler: She is revealed to be a [[BotanicalAbomination fungal-like entity]] behind most of the town's sufferings. Her most heinous acts include: killing off all the adults, mutates a body part of each child, then subjugates them under her will, with severe punishments for those who discovered the truth like Maria. By doing so, Mother believes she could transcend [[ChildrenAreInnocent those precious beings]] to be far superior and perfect lifeforms.]] [[spoiler: Her fixation on children and grotesque appearance could be seen as the virus personified]].
30	** Iggy, the monster who's been terrorizing the circus island (which itself has begun to fall down with dwindling vistors). [[spoiler: As payback for the inhabitants that have wronged him because of his appearance, he escaped underground. With his long tentacles, people on the surface start to disappear [[ImAHumanitarian into his stomach.]] He gets very little screen time of his own and [[SilentAntagonist never spoke a word]], building up the tension of his eventual boss fight considerably.]]
31	** Gromna, the resident MadScientist in Grimwall's episode. [[spoiler: He was considered a hero of Grimwall's Cyclops race, before performing a [[FaceHeelTurn traitorous move serving the bug aliens]]. His project has reached such an advanced status (helped by his [[VillainWithGoodPublicity unflattering reputation]]) that he is able to breed artificial combat Cyclops, and successfully captured and mutated those from the outside that have uncovered the truth. It is only with Grimwall's last-minute and secret intervention that his plans crumble.]] Tying to SignificantAnagram below, [[spoiler: Gromna is a faithful [[MirrorCharacter interpretation]] of Morgan's most irredeemable qualities.]]
32	** Finally, there is [[JerkassGods Quetzalcoatl]], who has reduced a small village (which vehemently worshipped him) to complete disarray, burning down houses and trapping human warriors who fought back in a FateWorseThanDeath in an attempt to strengthen himself. [[spoiler: His sudden appearance and subsequently anti-climatic defeat represent the final obstacle and breakthrough to developing the cure.]]
33	* ArcWords: "Seek the truth"
34	* AutomaticNewGame: The first game will start the introduction cutscene, and start in the tower. A subsequent will start at the main menu.
35	* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:During the final cut scene, it is revealed that Max's wife was pregnant during the events of the game. The end credits/epilogue shows a picture of them with their new baby.]]
36	* BackFromTheDead: A dead woman comes back to life long enough to give Max some cryptic warnings.
37	* BandagedFace: Max's defining appearance for most of the game, which leaves only his eyes, mouth, and bits of burnt skin visible.
38	* BedlamHouse: Alongside the asylum's gothic look (the tower cells and gargoyle decorations are most notable examples), the asylum is packed with lunatic inmates, unhelpful staff and a willingness to [[spoiler: lock their patients ''in a morgue'' should they sniff around too much.]]
39	* BigBad: [[spoiler: Morgan, who is also the BigBadFriend to Max. Interestingly, he is not the final boss. He gets defeated in the cut-scene after the boss is destroyed.]]
40	* BigNo:
41	** At the end of Chapter 5, when [[spoiler: Morgan [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable straps Max to an operating table]] to experiment on him, Max lets out two short ones, then a longer "Nooooo!" as he seemingly turns into Grimwall.]]
42	** Reused at the start of Chapter 7 when Max wakes up in a morgue drawer.
43	* BlackBugRoom: [[spoiler: More like Black Bug ''Universe'', but still...]]
44	%%* BodyHorror: You don't even ''know''.
45	* BoozeFlamethrower: Sarah is taught how to do this by Inferno, which is then used [[spoiler:to fight Iggy]].
46	%%* BrattyHalfPint: Billy, Jessie, and Dennis.
47	* BreatherEpisode: In chapter 3, the horror takes a backseat to...comedy? The game switches POV to Sarah, and she visits a circus island full of fun and games, with most of the chapter involving hanging around the island and interacting with its inhabitants. That said, the chapter has its own relevance - [[spoiler: Sarah and Max goes to the circus as a yearly tradition, and the inability to find a circus prize in time for Sarah caused Max considerable grief. Through viewing the dream circus in hellish visions via Sarah's shoes, Max is subconsciously trying to move on from her sister's death.]]
48	%%* BuriedAlive: In pursuit of the truth, you come across quite a few people who are tied up alive.
49	%%* TheChessmaster: Morgan [[spoiler: (both of him)]] and Gromna.
50	* ChekhovsGun: You come across radios multiple times, and can turn them on to listen to music or various bits of news about [[spoiler:a DNAV virus that is deforming and killing children around the world]] which becomes a crucial plot point later on.
51	* CircusOfFear: {{Playing with\|ATrope}}. The circus is very unnerving, but only two of the staff members are dangerous and, of those two, only one is actually evil.
52	* TheCloudCuckoolanderWasRight: Don, Lenny, and Martin in the first chapter. See {{Foreshadowing}} below.
53	* CombatTentacles: Iggy sports a long pair of those, both to capture island denizens from miles above him and to attack trespassers.
54	* CoolBigSis: Having never been able to raise a family of her own, the fire breather Inferno warms up to Sarah quickly, and is more than willing to pass down the techniques to her.
55	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: [[spoiler: Morgan is much happier [[WithholdingTheCure TREATING the deadly DNAV virus]] that's killing children world-wide, rather than helping Max develop the cure, because "[[Film/JohnnyMnemonic treating the disease is more profitable than curing it]]". When Max discovers a breakthrough (thus taking away most of his work), Morgan is glad to sabotage his car, and later poison Max in his coma.]]
56	* CircusOfFear: Subverted. The circus itself is harmless, but it's also left stranded by a flood, leaving everyone at the mercy of a SeaMonster of an escaped circus freak. Most of them are jaded and rude, though that's hardly surprising under the circumstances.
57	* CorruptChurch: The preacher in Genet is...spiritually and morally wanting, to say the least.
58	* CreepyCathedral: The courtyard chapel in Chapter 3 plays this straight, contrasting the church in Genet. It's filled with mannequins that Preacher Bob thinks are his congregation, along with his helper pacing back and forth with his hands and knees tied together.
59	* CreepyChild: Most of the children in Genet, due to their mutations and the general eerie vibe that the town has. {{Subverted}} in terms of personality, as most of them still act like normal kids.
60	* CreepyCircusMusic: Fitting with the derelict appearance of the circus island, Chapter 4's main tune is greatly distorted with a tingling of sadness and dread.
61	%%* CreepyTwins
62	%%* CuckooNest
63	* DaddysGirl: Sarah and Eileen
64	%%* DarkandTroubledPast
65	* DarkWorld: While many levels are explicitly surreal, others look ''almost'' normal, but there's still something wrong about them (especially the "real world", which gets increasingly unreal with every chapter).
66	* DeadManWriting:
67	** In Genet, Max can find a diary records the author's thoughts on her abusive father, who have broken her family apart. That diary belongs to [[spoiler: Carol, Dennis' secret hide-and-seek weapon. The secret comes from the fact that she had been BuriedAlive (thus not allowing any players to win the game), and Max only finds her [[{{Squick}} as a rotten skeleton]].]]
68	** In the Morgue, someone carved out a strange message inside their compartment. [[spoiler: With their glass eye, it turns out to be a poem describing how to talk to a living tree outside.]]
69	* DeadpanSnarker: Max, when the situation calls for it.
70	* DeathOfAChild: There's a strong theme running throughout the game of child endangerment. One of the first chapters takes place in an [[GhostTown abandoned town]] where all of the adults have disappeared and left the children alone, who are slowly being turned into deformed abominations. That same chapter features the story of a young girl who was killed by her abusive father while the townspeople turned a blind eye. Another chapter has you play as a young girl in a CircusOfFear, and other chapters feature things like alien babies being thrown into a furnace. As the game progresses and you learn more about the main character, you find out that [[spoiler: he and his wife had been searching for a cure for their unborn child, who is suffering from a fatal disease. This is compounded by the fact that the protagonist was severely traumatized by the death of his little sister when he was a boy]].
71	* DeathOfPersonality: The Cyclops-Bug hybrids are shown to be suffering from this, as a consequence of experiments Gromna commited on them. The mutations gradually incapacitate their consciousness, speech patterns, and eventually character. The one who managed to keep most of her marbles (and give Grimwall the ExpositionDump) mentions she can't hold on to it much longer.
72	* {{Doppelganger}}: Max's shadow and [[spoiler: the two Morgans]].
73	* TheDragon:
74	** [[spoiler:Dream World Morgan is unwittingly this to Real World Morgan, due to him thinking they are the same person.]]
75	** [[spoiler:The scarecrow]] to Mother, who keeps trespassers away from her.
76	* DyingDream: [[spoiler:Both Morgans try (and fail) to invoke this trope for Max while he's in a coma by keeping him confined and confused (Dream World Morgan) and slipping him poison (Real World Morgan).]]
77	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Max recovers from the wild coma-inducing journey, foils Morgan's attempted murder (and his plot to monetize the vaccine), the world is saved by his discovery, and he gets to reunite with his family, now grown larger by one healthy baby]].
78	* EasterEgg: In Chapter 2, entering the empty hut with a fish painted on it [[GuideDangIt and clicking a particular feather on the angel statue]] will transform Max into a bird, allowing him to fly. Flying to the bottom right corner of the area will reveal a picture of the game's producer.
79	* ElvisLives: One asylum patient thinks ''he's'' [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis]], anyway.
80	* EvilGloating: [[spoiler: Morgan in all of his forms is quite fond of these]].
81	* EvilLaugh: [[spoiler:Dream World Morgan and The Scarecrow]].
82	* TheFaceless: A big part of Max's arc. His face is covered in bandages. When he is seen in flashbacks, his face is always hidden. The one exception is a flashback from his childhood. [[spoiler:Fully [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the ending, which shows a family photo of Max standing happily with his wife and newborn child.]]
83	** This is one of the rare VideoGame examples where the protagonist (who isn't a [[FeaturelessProtagonist blank]] [[FirstPersonGhost slate]]) pulls it off for most of the game.
84	* FaceHeelTurn: Gromna is repeatedly mentioned to be FamedInStory, and a major heroic figure in ending the war between the Bugs and the Cyclops. What eventually causes him to switch allegiances to the former's race is unknown.
85	* FalseWidow: [[spoiler: Played with. Inferno isn't exactly lying about her widowhood, but since she's a part of Max's dream, that means that her dead husband never actually existed in the first place, and her real-world self is ''Max's'' wife, and he's quite obviously very alive.]]
86	* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:Max's Shadow. You [[PuzzleBoss don't confront it outright]], and must outsmart the being before [[TimedMission time runs out.]]]]
87	* FindTheCure: [[spoiler:Max works with Morgan at MERCY corporation in order to find the cure for the DNAV that is deforming and killing the children of the world, after numerous failures he finally discovers a working cure. MERCY also develops a cure - HOPE, but it turns out it [[FromBadToWorse kills children instead of curing them]]]].
88	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The first chapter contains a room of babbling loons who each talk about different worlds...worlds that you will travel to throughout the rest of the game. Then there's [[spoiler:the stained glass windows in each segment of the sanitarium, Zippy the Clown's predictions...]] really, a second playthrough of the game can be seen as a grand conga line of FridgeBrilliance.
89	* FreudianExcuse
90	** Hinted that this is at least part of Morgan's motivation. [[spoiler: His overbearing father's attitude likely bleeds into him, causing him to become more aggressive, amoral and efficient [[ForScience in the name of science]], eventually losing scope of why MERCY existed in the first place.]]
91	** Mother [[spoiler: saw the treacherous sins on children the most prominent adults of Genet committed and decided to take matters into her own hands.]]
92	** Inverted with Max, who used his own past tragedy as motivation to become a doctor and help people.
93	* GameBreakingBug: Although it has since been fixed, originally one could get permanently stuck in Chapter 2 due to a typo in the game's code relating to the ''animation of a particular crow taking off from and returning to its nest.''
94	* GivenNameReveal: Max's name is fully revealed as [[spoiler: Max Laughton, during a recollection of his first day joining the HOPE cure's development project]].
95	* GoAmongMadPeople: Most of the game. [[spoiler:Except not really-turns out it's a BlackBugRoom caused by Max being in a poison-induced fever dream.]]
96	* GoodIsNotNice: The Aztec god Olmec certainly isn't a pleasant being. He reacts rudely to being summoned, addresses villagers by lowly denominators (and does not enjoy being called names back by a justifiably angry mason, whose daughter is trapped in a temple devoted to him), and initially disregards any threats that might have happened in the village. Yet, he gradually comes to see their plight, does the best he can to salvage the situation (such as rescuing the aforementioned mason's daughter) and ultimately defeats Quetzalcoatl.
97	%%* GraveHumor
98	%%* {{Greed}}
99	* HappierHomeMovie: Watching these comes into play in the "Mansion" sub-chapter.
100	%%* HauntedHouse
101	* HeartbeatSoundtrack: The ambience to the final level, "Morgan's Last Game" consists of your heatbeat mixed with the tones of an EKG monitor. [[spoiler: This fits, considering the poisoned IV dripping down during this sequence. It also [[{{Flatline}} flatlines]] when Max pulls out the IV.]]
102	* HideYourChildren: Horrifically adverted. Children are mutated, enslaved, experimented on, dissected. [[spoiler:Perhaps the game gets away with it because it's all happening in the hero's head.]] That being said, there ''is'' a plague in the game that infected the young, [[spoiler:and the audience never gets to see this happening in the real world]].
103	* HybridMonster: Iggy, though it depends whether the human head and torso on top of his squid head is actually part of him or a body of a victim that somehow got stuck up there.
104	%%* ImAHumanitarian: Vera
105	* InstitutionalApparel: Max wakes up in the asylum wearing teal patient scrubs with [[BandagedFace his head swathed in bandages]].
106	* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler:[[AmnesiacHero Max]] does this throughout most of the game. In the penultimate Gauntlet, he does this on his own volition. Each one also isn't random, and ties to crucial elements of his past: Sarah was his sister, Grimwall was his childhood comic book hero, and Olmec was a god he researched as part of his trip to the desert. With one exception, each of his forms has a different voice actor.]]
107	* IronicNurseryTune: "Don't go into the pumpkin patch. 'Cause if you do, you won't come back. Mommy says to stay way...if you want to play another day."
108	%%* JerkAss:
109	%%** Dennis
110	%%** Morgan's Father
111	%%** Olmec
112	%%** The Clown with the Balloons
113	* KidHero: Sarah saves an entire circus island from a tentacle monster with only her bravery and ingenuity fire breathing tricks!
114	* LargeHam: Grimwall
115	-->"Now that ''evil'' machine will be silent for a while!"\
116	"No More Genocide Today!"\
117	"Grap!"
118	%%** Olmec
119	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Most of the music in Chapter 3 comes from a record player that Dr. Morgan hooked up to the P.A system, with four songs to pick that each affect a different patient in the courtyard. The record player also makes a [[RecordNeedleScratch scratching sound]] when a record is removed.
120	* LotusEaterMachine: After the Maze, [[spoiler:Morgan]] attempts to trick Max into believing he's in the real world and just had a nasty bump on the head, and dreamt everything. [[spoiler:Max breaks out of it when he realizes SARAH IS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, even though she's alive and living with him and his wife. Still a kid. And levitating.]]
121	* MadScientist: Morgan, [[spoiler: the dream world version. Given the real Morgan's personality, it isn't a stretch to see why Max thought of him this way.]]
122	%%* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident
123	* MamaBear: Mother '''thinks''' she is this - a protective mother doing her best for the children. [[OneBadMother In reality]], her [[BlueAndOrangeMorality warped morality]] caused irreparable harm to the town, and [[OnlySaneMan Maria]] doesn't think her ascension will do the children much good.
124	%%* ManChild: Lenny
125	%%* ManipulativeBastard: Morgan
126	%%* MentalWorld
127	* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: [[spoiler:Multiple shape-shifting events]]
128	** At its most extreme with Olmec, who is almost the exact opposite of the kind, compassionate Max.
129	* MindScrew: A good example is the pumpkin children. In fact, there's a lot of unexplained symbolism.
130	* MonsterClown: [[AvertedTrope Averted,]] shockingly. Some of the clowns are unfriendly, but none of them are dangerous. The scariest one is a living measuring pole, and it's helpful to the player.
131	* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: Made extra disturbing by the fact that it's a kid.
132	* MundaneHorror: The more realistic levels feature tons of this. A seemingly normal American town which has no adults and is full of disfigured children, a mental asylum with friendly guards and patients, with one of them cheerfully telling you that she "ate her husband with carrots and rice", etc.
133	* NiceGuy: Max and Timmy O'Toole. Mr. Baldini is also very accommodating towards Sarah, who has no money to spend in his circus.
134	* NoPartyLikeTheDonnerParty: In Chapter 3, Morgan is conducting an experiment in the asylum's courtyard, by playing music and observing the patients' reactions. The first track that plays is called "Donner Party Waltz", and a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibal]] patient named Vera is the only one who likes it.
135	* TheNthDoctor: [[spoiler:Max's shapeshifting (except for Grimwall, who sounds different but is still played by Max's actor).]]
136	%%* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Morgan]]
137	* OnlySaneMan: Maria Santiago among the children in Chapter 2. [[spoiler: The reason she's considered the most rebellious child by Mother, with being continuously punished, is because it's more or less clear she knows what's really going on with them. She's also the only one willing enough to give Max useful information, and the only one who doesn't get mad at Max for warning them about Mother's intentions, to the point Mother [[MindRape possesses her mind into submission.]]]]
138	* OminousPipeOrgan: Played both ways. The church in Chapter 2 has a relatively calm organ piece while inside, though the chapel in Chapter 3 plays it straight for horror.
139	* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: Seems to be a running theme with [[spoiler: Morgan/Gromna/Quetzalcoatl]].
140	* PlantAliens: [[spoiler:Mother originated from a vine seed that fell from the sky. The mayor of Genet insists of letting it grow, even when it is clear something is wrong with those vines.]]
141	* ThePlague: [[spoiler: The DNAV which deforms, cripples and eventually kills its victims, which are exclusively [[NightmareFuel newborns]]]]. Genet provides [[spoiler: how Max interprets this virus as through Mother]].
142	* PorkyPigPronunciation: One of the inmates, Don, has a pronounced stutter, so he is prone to this:
143	-->'''Don:''' The doctor here has resource-resource-re-s-s... He's very good!
144	* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler: Sarah has died years before the game take place, and gets 10 minutes of total screen time to herself. Despite this, she remains a central component of Max's altruistic character; reinforced by the playable version of her seen ingame, a mental reconstruction of her appearance in her final moments by Max, doing the thing she likes most - visiting circuses.]]
145	* PreacherMan: Preacher Bob takes himself seriously but is a comical instance of this trope. In addition, Chapter 2 makes mention of an influential small-town preacher.
146	* RedHerring: Three ''literal'' red herrings. One is a red fish painted on the roof of a building. The main character even comments that he was sure he would find something inside.
147	* TheReveal: A whole lot
148	** Chapter 2: [[spoiler:"Mother" is an alien, and is behind most of Genet's horrible happenings]].
149	** Chapter 3: [[spoiler:Max was called by his parents because his sister was dying]].
150	** Chapter 4: [[spoiler:Morgan is behind everything]].
151	** Chapter 8: [[spoiler:Everything other than the opening and the flashbacks was a DyingDream resulting from Morgan trying to kill Max; also, there are two Morgans; the one who sabotaged Max's car and the one who exists in the dream world and tries to prevent Max from making any progress]].
152	** Chapter 9: [[spoiler:Max's wife [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking is pregnant]]]].
153	%%* RhymesOnADime: Vera
154	* RotatingProtagonist: Every few chapters have the spotlight swayed away from Max to instead focus on other characters' [[HeroOfAnotherStory unrelated adventures crushing evil]]. [[spoiler: However, all playable characters are just manifestations of Max's mind, and those sideplots ended up relevant to the main story in one way or another, shedding light on the backstory, or adding symbolism to the overall theme.]]
155	* ScaryScarecrows: A scarecrow can be found chilling out on a crucifixion in the pumpkin field of Genet. While he is slightly hampered by how far he can reach you, his foreboding appearance, evil crackling and gruesome death more than makes up for it.
156	%%* SeeYouInHell
157	* SignificantAnagram: [[spoiler:Gromna = Morgan, who both are amoral scientists and for some reason, very good publicity.]].
158	* SongsInTheKeyOfLock: One of the doors in the Hive has a lock with keypad buttons that produce individual musical tones.
159	* SurrealHorror: The game takes place in an asylum that gets increasingly stranger and disturbing. In-between are other strange worlds with juxtaposed deformed visuals, creepy characters and unnerving atmosphere. [[spoiler:Subverted near the end when it turns out it was AllJustADream, which explains away all the outlandish stuff.]]
160	* ThemeNaming: All of the cyclops have names beginning with "GR."
161	* TimeShiftedActor: Frank Schurter plays Adult Max while Paul Crocker plays him during his childhood flashbacks.
162	* TokenEvilTeammate:
163	** While the other player characters tend to be on the nice (or at least polite) side, Olmec ''really'' isn't, especially considering one of his puzzles is solved by threatening a grieving father.
164	** Dennis in Chapter 2. Unlike the other children of Genet, he seems completely aware of what's ''really'' going on and has no problem with it.
165	* TownWithADarkSecret: Genet, the setting of chapter 2. The first thing that seems out of place for the town is that no adults are around, and all children are somehow [[BodyHorror physically mutated]]. Then you dig deeper, and find out [[spoiler: an alien has wiped all adults out after the beloved town priest,
166	%%* TheUnreveal: The [[spoiler:Cure]].
167	* UnusualEuphemism: Grimwall's favorite exclamation, "Grap".
168	* UnwittingPawn: Arguably [[spoiler:Dream World Morgan.]] He believes that [[spoiler:he and Real World Morgan are the same person and doesn't realize that his fighting Max and enabling the poison to work its way through his veins will actually kill him along with Max.]] The example has the oddity of ''both'' the pawn ''and'' the manipulator being unaware of the manipulation [[spoiler:due to Real World Morgan being unaware of Dream World Morgan's existence]].
169	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler: Morgan and Gromna]].
170	* WakingUpAtTheMorgue: The 7th chapter begins this way, with [[LockedInAFreezer the air turned lethally cold]].
171	* WalkingSpoiler: The player characters other than Max are difficult to talk about [[spoiler:without revealing that Max starts shapeshifting in the middle of the game, and Max's sister Sarah ties to his DarkAndTroubledPast]].
172	* WickedCultured: [[spoiler:Morgan.]]
173	* WithholdingTheCure: [[spoiler:Morgan cuts the funding to Max's department, sabotages his department and even tries to poison Max who is in coma in order to stop any possibility of development a cure for DNAV]].
174	* WombLevel: The Hive is unpleasantly organic, with beating veins as floors and walls meshed with machineries.
175	* YouAreNumber6: In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cutscene, Max's patient number is "[[JennysNumber 8675309]]".

Context VideoGame / Sanitarium