The long-awaited horror-sim Autopsy Simulator has finally announced the game’s release date alongside a disturbing new trailer.
Woodland Games and Team17’s Autopsy Simulator is a first-person medical sim slash psychological horror game that’s been in the works for 4 plus years. Players take on the role of pathomorphologists and study cadavers to solve their unique cause of death, whilst strange and horrifying scares await behind the autopsy table.
The new trailer revealed that Autopsy Simulator will release on Steam on May 9th 2024, and heavily focused on the game’s Story Mode. The main protagonist is struggling with intense grief following his wife’s death, and his role as a forensic scientist takes a turn for the worse as he tries to battle his psychological demons.
I bet I can guess what immediately has popped into your mind once you read that description. Mortuary Assistant? The setting, premise and even the titles of the two games are undoubtedly similar, but from first impressions, Autopsy Simulator feels distinct enough to gain its own footing in the genre.
The primary difference is that Autopsy Simulator cranks the simulation up to ten. You’ll be examining cadavers, dissecting bodies, running blood samples, and much more. With a range of tools, machinery and equipment at your disposal, the developers didn’t forget the “simulator” half of the game’s title. It’s more of a hybrid medical simulator crossed with horror, rather than a horror game with some autopsy sprinkled on the side. They’ve even consulted with real life forensic scientists on each of the corpses to ensure that the process is as accurate as possible.
What intrigues me the most about Autopsy Simulator is the actual gameplay objective: you’re trying to solve a case. Whereas in Mortuary Assistant you’re preparing the bodies for embalming and keeping your eye out for odd twitches or strange occurrences, in Autopsy Simulator, you actually have to figure out the cause of death. Maybe it’s watching thousands of hours of procedural crime dramas growing up, but that sounds like a super fun objective to complete, especially whilst demonic shenanigans is going down in the mortuary.
Autopsy Simulator was first announced in 2020, and the devs have been posting semi-regular development blogs since then. They’ve shown off some of the tools you’ll be using, what tests you’ll be running and much more. Whilst the game didn’t manage to hit its target release date of November 2022, it really feels like extra development time has allowed for not only the core mechanics, but the story mode especially, to fully come together. Plus, it managed to dodge the release of Mortuary Assistant which would’ve been a little too close for comfort.
So, now with years of development and the Team17 publisher stamp of approval, Autopsy Simulator might be this year’s big indie horror hit. I’m definitely looking forward to giving it a whirl when it comes out May 9th.
If you want to discover more about Autopsy Simulator, check out their Steam page. Watch the brand-new trailer below: