Walkthroughs and Cheats Computer Game Reviews Computer Game Hints

Sanitarium Spoilers

Welcome to the new Computer Game Spoilers section of my gaming website. I added this section because I recently received questions about the plots of two different games which, to my surprise and embarrassment, I had totally forgotten the answers to. Then, to my further surprise, I was unable to find any existing website that would refresh my memory about the plots of computer games... lots of puzzle solutions, but no basic plot summaries.

Sponsored Links

So I figured I'd better write some of them down while they're still fresh in my mind, just in case I or anybody else wants to refer to them at some point in the future (or in case anybody suffers a major game glitch and just wants to know what was supposed to happen in the end-- I get letters like this from time to time.) If you haven't finished Sanitarium yet and you don't want the plot of this game to be revealed to you, then you don't want to read this page. Please go back to my main Sanitarium page, where I give tips and reviews without giving away any of its plot.

But if you are looking for plot spoilers, just scroll further down the page to find them!

Plot Summary

After a strange car accident, Max Laughton, the hero of the game, wakes up with total amnesia in what appears to be an insane asylum. He goes through a series of increasingly bizarre scenarios, many of which involve a mysterious Dr. Morgan. It is not clear at first whether anything that occurs in the game is real, or whether Max is actually insane. Eventually, after solving many puzzles and remembering cutscene flashes of his life, Max realizes that he is in a hospital with severe injuries suffering from hallucinations... but that Dr. Morgan really IS trying to kill him, having sabotaged his brakes and finally injecting poison into his IV line. He manages to pull out the IV in time, and we learn the truth: Dr. Morgan was trying to protect his financial interests by preventing his colleague, Dr. Laughton, from developing a medical breakthrough that would render one of his company's treatment drugs obsolete. The plot is foiled and Dr. Laughton's drug is successful in saving the lives of children.

Character Subplots and Secrets

Sarah Laughton: This was Max's little sister, who died when they were children. Her death was a traumatic event for him; in particular, as a child he was haunted by the fact that he was unable to fulfill her last request to him (she had asked him to find a particular toy, but died before he could find it.) Apparently she was Max's motivation for becoming a doctor and working on children's diseases.

Jennifer Laughton: This is Max's wife. She appears only briefly in flashbacks, and once at the end of the game. She was pregnant at the time of the accident, and in the credits is shown in a family picture holding a baby.