Autopsy Simulator | PC Review

Simulator games are a hot commodity these days. You can power wash, mow lawns, and even live out the dream of being a goat. Of course, slapping the word “simulator” onto a title doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an actual simulation. Some games dubbed as a sim loosely include elements of what you would actually be doing in a certain profession with a unique twist. Currently, Woodland Games’ Autopsy Simulator falls in the latter category. 

As of the time of the writing of this review, players can only access the story mode of the game. The sandbox mode is currently being developed and will be released at an unknown date. If you’re looking for an actual autopsy simulator, you may want to hold off on purchasing this at the moment. On the other hand, though, if you want to submerge yourself in a narrative-heavy experience, you may want to check this out.

Is It Real or a Nightmare?

Autopsy Simulator’s story places you in the shoes of a medical examiner named Jack Hanman. Jack lost his beloved wife Alice a year ago, and he’s been struggling mentally and emotionally ever since. He wakes up, pops his pills, then heads to work to perform autopsies on and determine the cause of death of the poor unfortunate souls who end up on his table. Unfortunately, Jack hears voices and sees ghostly apparitions while working that affect his sanity. Guy just can’t catch a break.

If you’re hoping for a terrifying horror game, this probably won’t do it for you if you’re a seasoned fan of the genre. The scares are limited to those of the jump variety and creepy audio bits. Of course, you can completely miss the jump scares if you’re immersed in the tasks the game gives you. I can’t tell you how many times Jack freaked out at something he “saw” and I was oblivious to the sight because I was trying to be a professional and focused on my objectives. The scariest thing I encountered during the game was the fact that Jack would pop his pills during work…while wearing the gloves he had just plunged into a corpse thirty seconds ago. The lack of hygiene! Egad.

The Heavy Stuff

I did really appreciate the fact that Autopsy Simulator addresses depression and trauma in its five hour narrative. Jack is constantly tired, he becomes agitated easily, sighs a lot, and certain images or objects will cause him to panic. If you’re not familiar with how debilitating mental illnesses can be, you may think Jack is being dramatic and roll your eyes at his antics and speech. Sadly, these are accurate reactions that many people experience while in the midst of their suffering. I applaud the devs for addressing the way grief and depression can affect every aspect of your life, and also how it can provoke others to view someone who is going through these battles.

Moving on to how the autopsy gameplay is implemented, I was slightly disappointed by the fact that the game holds your hand the entire time, and there’s absolutely no way you can fail. Almost every procedure you perform during autopsies consists of completing a minigame, but again, you can’t mess up. It’ll just take longer to finish your current task if you miss the mark. I wish there was a bit more of a focus on how your actions affect the medical examination, but that will be more of a focus in the upcoming sandbox mode. My main complaint with the gameplay itself is the fact that clicking the mouse doesn’t always register and it can take several attempts before the game recognizes the action. One particular segment with an X-ray machine took me close to ten minutes to complete because it wouldn’t allow me to progress, even though I had the machine in the correct area and had highlighted and framed what it instructed me to. It eventually registered what I had done, but it was frustrating.

Stomach Churning

Autopsy Simulator looks great visually, and the internal organs look pretty accurate. They even have jiggle physics (don’t ask me how many times I shook a brain just to see it move). I also thought the voice acting was mostly solid, with only a few lines sounding awkward with their delivery. My main issues came from the technical aspects of the game and a certain issue that I’m plagued with. The sound frequently changed, even though I wasn’t adjusting it in the settings. Jack’s voice would become a whisper while the music became extremely loud, and vice versa. Having subtitles enabled is crucial in this regard, because I couldn’t hear what Jack was saying even after turning the music almost all the way off.

The big problem for me that affected my enjoyment of the experience was motion sickness. Some games trigger this for me, but I’ve become accustomed to either being able to click a setting in the accessibility options for this malady or at least being able to adjust FOV and camera sensitivity. All you can do to potentially offset this in Autopsy Simulator is turn motion blur off and reduce the sensitivity of the mouse. I did experience pretty bad screen tearing after lowering the mouse sensitivity, though, which was an issue in itself. I eventually had to turn it back up slightly and wear motion sickness bands on my wrists to try to keep the queasy feeling at bay. Even doing this, I could only play for about thirty to forty five minutes before I was miserable.

The Final Verdict

Autopsy Simulator features an interesting campaign that tackles trauma, depression, and grief in a way that resonated with me. Not everyone is going to understand what’s going on with Jack, which is a shame. It’s not a particularly scary experience if you’re a horror connoisseur, but if you’re looking for a lightly spooky game to indulge in, this may be what you’re looking for. The graphics look great and the voice acting is mostly solid, but the game’s refusal to acknowledge your commands at points is irritating. 

Add in the fact that the audio frequently changes in weird ways and the distress of experiencing motion sickness, without an efficient way to really alleviate it, can make the game a struggle to play through at points. Also, if you’re hoping for an actual autopsy simulator, it’s not currently available, and there’s no specific release date for this sandbox mode. It’s somewhat difficult to recommend this at the moment unless you’re looking for a short horror experience and don’t mind some glitches (also, avoid this like the plague if you suffer from motion sickness).

To hear me talk more about Autopsy Simulator, be sure to listen to the June 12, 2024 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 1:49:08 time stamp.

This review is based on a PC copy of Autopsy Simulator provided by Honest PR for coverage purposes. As of the time of this writing, it is exclusive to this platform.