The Mortuary Assistant looks terrifying and disgusting, but it’s flying up the Steam charts
The horror indie title joins Stray on Steam's top sellers list, but for very different reasons
The new indie horror title The Mortuary Assistant, which sees players undertake gruesome tasks whilst fending off vengeful spirits, is climbing up the Steam charts.
If you've ever wondered what it would be like to work in a haunted mortuary, do we have the game for you. Despite only releasing a couple of days ago on August 2, The Mortuary Assistant is already sitting high up on Steam's top sellers list alongside the likes of Stray, Marvel's Spider-Man: Remastered, and the new Dead By Daylight dating sim Hooked On You.
What makes The Mortuary Assistant stand out amongst the other titles though is that instead of swinging around New York City, channelling your inner cat, or meeting horror villains in romantic settings, you are instead embalming corpses and trying to survive a series of hauntings at River Fields Mortuary. In the first-person horror game, players must do all of the usual things a mortician does, except with the added stress of fighting off demonic spirits while you're trying to work.
The trailer for The Mortuary Assistant is enough for me to realize I do not want to play this game, but if you're less of a scardey cat than I am, you should expect ghost sightings, gross-looking cadavers, and jump scares galore. You can see this for yourself below, but be warned; it's spooky.
According to the game's Steam page, gameplay will include, but is not limited to, performing embalming tasks while keeping demonic forces at bay, practising occult rituals to identify demonic entities, piecing together clues to banish the demon to save your soul, uncovering the mysterious history of Rebecca Owens, and much more.
If you weren't already feeling uneasy about this game, wait until we tell you about the warning that's displayed as soon as you boot it up. "What you are about to experience is based on real paranormal events," the warning reads, "If, after playing this game, you experience abnormal happenings around your home or have sudden changes in the behaviour of yourself or loved ones. Reach out immediately to your local church and paranormal investigators."
For other spooky recommendations, take a look at our list of the best horror games.
Sign up to the 12DOVE Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at 12DOVE before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.
One of the most enchanting games like Stardew Valley I played in 2024 just got a big new update, placing the medieval life sim RPG back on my radar
The Sims creator's first game in over 10 years is an AI life sim that uses your real memories: "The more I can make a game about you, the more you'll like it"