This “horror-sim hybrid” casts players as Jack Hanman, a lecturer and pathologist who is desperately trying to carry on with his day-to-day life while dealing with some seriously stressful personal issues. His wife passed away a year prior to the events of the game, and things are starting to catch up with Jack as journalists are hounding his every waking moment and his sanity is beginning to wane…

Despite its name, Autopsy Simulator isn’t really a simulation game at all, which might come as a bit of a disappointment. Heavy on narrative, the game holds your hand at pretty much every turn, telling you exactly where to go and what to do next. An “autopsy only” mode is in development and will be added to the main game by way of a free update at some point in the future, but for now, this is more of a point-and-click interactive movie than an immersive cadaver carver-upper.

In-game autopsies aren’t quite as grim as one might imagine, but they’re still pretty graphic. After photographing the naked corpse (with censored naughty bits, fortunately/unfortunately*) and looking for any areas of the body that might warrant further investigation, you’ll log everything in your notes and consider any possible causes of death to give you some potential starting points for the actual procedure. Then you’ll grab your tools – maybe a skull saw to open a cranium or a lopper to crack ribs before removal – and get to work. You’ll take blood samples, dissect organs, and piece together clues to answer the question of how each cadaver’s life ended, across five chapters that take around 30-45 minutes each to complete.

A lack of autosaves, or manual saves or checkpoints means that once you’ve started a chapter you pretty much have to finish it, as turning the game off mid-chapter will send you back to the beginning of that section, potentially losing a frustrating amount of progress. While that might be to the game’s detriment, everything else has been done really well. The forthcoming “autopsy only” mode might fulfil the title’s promise more accurately than what’s actually presented here, but nevertheless this is still an enjoyably macabre experience.

*delete as applicable

PLATFORM: PC | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW