The Mortuary Assistant

Lore & Background

The Mortuary Assistant was developed by Brian Clarke, based in Connecticut, who previously worked on massively multiplayer online role-playing games. His influences included creepy online videos and found footage films, especially Paranormal Activity. A prototype was released in 2020, and Clarke was surprised to find that many people wanted a full simulation of embalming. After researching embalming, he mostly implemented it realistically, though some aspects were streamlined for time, and he used archaic procedures when he thought they made scenes creepier.

Players control Rebecca Owens, an assistant at a mortuary who embalms corpses under the watch of her boss, Raymond Delver. The gameplay involves mundane embalming duties while avoiding demonic possession, with jump scares and puzzles. PC Gamer described it as 'more or less a walking simulator with some haunted scenery.' Players must correctly identify which corpses are possessed, the demon possessing them, and perform the correct exorcism to survive. The process is timed, indicated by Post-It notes showing the progress of the demon possessing Rebecca. The story is procedurally generated, but the game remembers which vignettes the player has seen and shows different ones in each playthrough.

The plot follows Rebecca as she arrives at River Fields mortuary in Connecticut. After unsettling occurrences during orientation, Raymond locks her inside for an urgent night shift, revealing a demon is trying to possess her. She must locate the possessed cadaver, perform a binding ritual, and incinerate it. Over subsequent nights, Rebecca learns Raymond keeps a possessed woman, Valery, locked in the basement and collects her blood for the binding rituals. The demon forces Rebecca to relive memories of her mother's drug overdose and her own addiction, using guilt over her father's death against her. The final ending involves Rebecca attempting to banish the demon possessing Valery, which fails, leading to Raymond revealing a sigil on his chest and a hidden chamber where his possessed mother is chained.

Reader's Guide

The Mortuary Assistant is notable for its procedural generation of story vignettes, which ensures each playthrough offers different narrative elements while maintaining a consistent core loop. Its focus on realistic embalming procedures, drawn from Clarke's research, sets it apart from other horror games that rely on more fantastical settings. The game received mixed reviews on Windows and positive reviews on PlayStation 5 on Metacritic. Critics noted its short length and rough edges, with GamesRadar+ saying its atmosphere makes up for these shortcomings, while Polygon called it 'a little clunky' but delivering 'a fun set of scares.' Rely on Horror praised its unique setting and fear of death but found gameplay repetitive with technical issues. Bloody Disgusting also reported technical problems. The PlayStation 5 version was criticized for subpar gamepad controls, with CG Magazine calling it 'vastly inferior' to the PC version, and Playstation Universe expressing a wish to have played it on PC. Despite these criticisms, the game became a bestseller on Steam and was included in lists of top horror games by GamesRadar+. A film adaptation was announced in September 2022, focusing on the overall narrative rather than replicating specific gameplay elements or endings. Shudder acquired the film and released it in March 2026.

Did You Know?

• A new ending was added to the game in July 2023.
• The film adaptation was released in March 2026 and stars Willa Holland as Rebecca Owens and Paul Sparks as Raymond Delver.
• The game's developer, Brian Clarke, was surprised that many players wanted a full simulation of embalming after releasing a prototype in 2020.