Sanatorium - A Mental Asylum Simulator

Sanatorium - A Mental Asylum Simulator

Released Nov 2025

The year is 1923—step inside Castle Woods Sanatorium, where care and cruelty blur together. Disguised as a doctor, you’ll diagnose and treat patients using a deck of symptoms, tests, and outdated therapies. But tread carefully: one wrong move could expose you as an impostor.

61% positive · 229 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
Medium confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
Medium confidence

Where to buy

Steam $12.99
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Evaluation

Sanatorium: A Mental Asylum Simulator launched on November 6, 2025 as a complete, self-contained narrative experience — a 4-chapter story campaign with branching endings and an Endless Mode. The developer, a two-person team, has been consistently active post-launch with a series of patches through July 29, 2026 (the most recent communication), addressing bugs, improving stability, adding Steam Deck support, and refining gameplay balance. None of these updates introduce new story content, additional chapters, or announced expansions. The two DLC items on the store — a soundtrack and a digital artbook (released March 19, 2026) — are companion items, not gameplay content. The developer has made no announcements of future content beyond continued polish work. The game launched as a finished product and has received only maintenance and quality-of-life improvements since.
Evidence
Launch announcement confirms a complete 4-chapter story campaign with branching story and multiple endings, plus an Endless Mode — describing the game as a finished product at release.
news post · Oct 7, 2025 source content shipped
high
Patch 1.3 focuses on stability, progression fixes, and quality-of-life improvements. Most recent developer communication as of the assessment date, with no mention of upcoming content.
news post · Jul 29, 2026 source development ongoing
medium

Content

2 of 2 released · no outstanding content

Media

Details

Developer
Publisher
Shoreline Games
Achievements
30
Platform
Windows, macOS
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Verified
Players
Single-player

About this game

“Sanatorium: A Mental Asylum Simulator Is One of the Most Unique Games I’ve Ever Seen” - VICE

It’s the roaring twenties, an age of technological progress and social upheaval. As the city around you expands, you feel left behind: a weary journalist burdened by debt and drifting purpose. Then, out of the blue, a cryptic message arrives from a childhood friend—perhaps the tip of a lifetime. It points to the infamous Castle Woods Sanatorium. A mystery waits there, and you can’t shake the urge to uncover it. It may be nothing more than a hunch, but it feels like a secret that could change everything. Even you. The decision is made: you pack your bags and set out for Castle Woods.

Test your wit and intuition. Every week, new patient files present new puzzles to be solved as you decide which tests to use to uncover symptoms and which treatments you prescribe to cure them. Decide whether you want to follow the rule book or try out experimental new treatments with unknown outcomes. Do you want to be kind or cruel? Business savvy or risk-taking?

Uncover dark secrets behind the squeaky-clean facade of Castle Woods' walls. Meet helpless patients, ruthless opportunists, and an array of other intriguing characters. Collect clues and piece together the shocking truth about the Sanatorium and your own past.

  • Card-driven workplace sim — step into the role of a doctor in 1923, where every action is bound by the outdated tools and beliefs of the era.

  • Diagnose, “treat,” or withhold — decide whether to follow harsh, archaic methods or act with compassion, knowing both choices carry consequences.

  • Every patient is a puzzle — files unfold as layered card sets, with symptoms hidden, revealed, and misinterpreted through limited knowledge.

  • A full campaign across 4 chapters — uncover the secrets of Castle Woods and the lives caught within its walls.

  • Branching paths, multiple endings — your decisions shape not only patients’ outcomes, but your own fate as an impostor.

  • Over 100 cards to chart — symptoms, illnesses, tests, and treatments drawn from the unsettled history of psychiatry.

Evolve your treatment plan — upgrade treatments toward more humane practices, or double down on methods that protect your cover at any cost.

Join our Discord and follow us on our platforms to get updates, read our dev diary weekly, and become part of the community!

Last evaluated Sep 29, 2026
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