# Sanitarium — user reviews

> 166 indexed App Store user reviews of Sanitarium by DotEmu, rated 4.20/5 from 131 ratings.

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sanitarium/id1008783470/reviews
- App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sanitarium/id1008783470.md
- Rating breakdown: 5★ 78 · 4★ 28 · 3★ 7 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 15

## What do users think of Sanitarium?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 🎮 Nostalgic and entertaining visuals
- 🕹️ Unique and bizarre adventure
- 🎬 Excellent atmosphere
- ⏰ Long gameplay with cool cutscenes
- 🕵️‍♀️ Compelling story and creepy atmosphere
- 🎨 Retro game charm

**Cons**

- 🤖 Clunky and unresponsive controls
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🤯 Confusing navigation and UI
- 🔇 Poor audio balancing and dialogue issues
- 🔍 Difficulty interacting with objects and environments

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Game freezes or crashes in certain levels
- Dialogue skipping and desynchronization issues
- Unresponsive interactions and missing prompts

**Most requested features**

- Add Russian language support
- Improve touch controls and UI for mobile
- Provide more instructions and tutorials

## Newest reviews (17 of 166)

### 4/5 — Blast from the past

*2026-05-10*

Had a ball playing this again. My mom introduced me to it when it came out, and I never forgot how intriguing and clever it was. I was thrilled to find it here available for the iPad. 

The touch controls are finicky sometimes, leading to some confusion, so I’d say it’s like a 4.5/5 just because of that. But the hint system is good and the story and puzzles hold up. Thanks for making an iPad version after all these years!

### 3/5 — English version??

*2025-04-07*

Pas de version originale ? Le doublage est épouvantable…

### 4/5 — Great fun!

*2023-08-19*

Only problem is it keeps closing randomly and when I load the auto save nothing seems to respond, which is a shame as I’m really enjoying it!

### 3/5 — Issue

*2023-08-14, version 1.1*

Crackling sound on iPhone 13.

### 5/5 — Awesome!

*2022-07-06*

Für immer mein Lieblings-Spiel! Ich spiele es immer wieder gerne. 
Tolle Geschichte! Ich frage mich immer wieso noch kein Film daraus gemacht wurde.

### 5/5 — Unique point and click isometric horror game

*2022-01-02*

I missed this at the time and am grateful for the opportunity to play this game now, comfortably on mobile. 

Olmec is such a Chad lmao

### 5/5 — Sanitarium

*2021-10-02*

Top Top 🤩 ich fühl mich wieder in meine Jugend versetzt 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

### 2/5 — Sanitarium

*2021-09-22*

Присоединяюсь к предыдущим отзывам. Нужен русский язык ибо это не спидраннер никакой и не шутер, где и так все понятно. Игра легенда.

### 5/5 — Добавьте русский язык

*2021-04-30*

Добавьте русский язык!!!

### 5/5 — Legendary game ported iOS

*2021-04-22*

Could you please add Russian language. I know that there is a PC version with voices of Russian actors.

### 5/5 — Translate the game

*2021-03-31*

Add Russian language please🙏🏻

### 5/5 — Sonunda yeniden karşılaştık

*2021-03-22, version 1.0*

Yıllardır ara ara bir umut acaba mobile çıkarırlar mı diye yokladığım 98 yapımı efsane.

### 4/5 — Перевод

*2021-03-18*

Добавьте хотябы субтитры😕

### 5/5 — Point and click

*2021-03-13*

J’ai beaucoup aimé l’atmosphère, ce jeu a bien vieilli. Pas très pratique sur petit écran mais avec l’ambiance, on oublie vite ce petit désagrément.

### 3/5 — Buen juego, mal port

*2021-01-17, version 1.0*

Este juego muy extraño, los escenarios son detallados y la historia es retorcida, sin embargo, las 3 estrellas que le pongo es por el mal desempeño del juego y no del título en sí. Se me cerró varias veces el juego, perdiendo mi progreso sin salvar, igual experimenté bugs, problemas con videos, diálogos que se saltaban solos, partes del escenario que no se resaltaban para examinar, entre otros disgustos.
Por el precio, deberían resolver estos problemas.

### 5/5 — Big

*2020-06-17, version 1.0*

Hey I just paid money for this game. The games great but keeps crashing when I talk to Jessie Hatcher in the second level please fix thank you

### 5/5 — Incroyable

*2020-03-29*

Un chef-d’œuvre intemporel... à essayer de toute urgence

## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated)

### 1/5 — Impossible navigation and too much dialog

*2026-02-04*

I gave it a good 15 minutes. It’s extremely difficult to move around and the first thing you have to do is to have long, tedious conversations with non-playing characters that reveal nothing. I tried to get a refund, but I guess it’s non-refundable. Flushing $4 down the toilet would have been less frustrating and much more fun.

### 1/5 — Нет русского языка

*2022-01-02*

Верните деньги, нет смысла играть, вся атмосфера нарушается,нельзя выбрать другой язык!
Почти 400₽ ушло, а ничего понять невозможно!

### 1/5 — Plz update

*2021-06-28, version 1.0*

Plz update or fix the bugs! I really am interested in playing this game but unfortunately I got stuck on on the 3rd level near the door just like some other people. Using an IPhone 8.. I tried to get ahold of the developers but got no response.. I'm gonna have to get a refund, but I'd rather play the game as it was fun so far!

### 1/5 — Crash, auto save useless

*2020-01-18, version 1.0*

Dupa un crash in nivelul 2, auto save-ul este inutil. Dupa incarcare nu mai merge touch-ul deloc.

### 1/5 — Terrible....waste of money

*2019-09-01, version 1.0*

The controls for this game on my IPad are awful.  I can’t even get past certain areas because they won’t work or the game freezes up.  Not worth the money at all.

### 1/5 — Freezes all the time

*2019-05-04*

I played this game some 20 years ago. It’s fun. But it’s freezes all the time and the screen turns all. I’m so stuck now ( with the preacher in the courtyard ) , I just cannot continue. Too bad .

### 1/5 — Froze

*2019-01-03, version 1.0*

I made it to the playground and the entire game froze. I’ve tried everything and nothing is working!!!

### 1/5 — Freezes

*2018-11-18*

Frozen so waste of money as not starting all over again in the game

### 1/5 — Controls poor

*2018-09-10*

Just downloaded but can’t use as controls really dodgy

### 1/5 — Unplayable. Will they ever update it to fix the bugs?

*2018-08-27, version 1.0*

Controls were tedious, no "tap to go here" option. Sometimes control icons would disappear completely. Then, after the game crashed, the controls stopped working altogether. The character won't move at all. Shame, I was looking forward to the iPad release of this game, it was so good back in 1998, one of my favorites.

## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated)

### 5/5 — Favourite retro horror puzzle game

*2026-02-18*

I had this game on PC in 1998 I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for something niche, horror, and retro! One of the best

### 5/5 — Спасибо

*2025-11-23*

Огромное спасибо за порт игры и как же хорошо что на английском в оригинале’жаль что максимум только 5 звезд можно ставить´

### 5/5 — Love the nostalgia

*2025-08-21*

I haven’t played this since it came out around ‘98. I can remember playing in the dark (pc was in the basement) and feeling freaked out. Would be great if controller support was added because my big old man thumbs make it hard to see and navigate. Overall still very worth it and a blast to play.

### 5/5 — Enthralling experience

*2025-02-11*

Excellent atmosphere, nostalgic and entertaining visuals (especially for its time), a bizarre adventure. Loved it! I must also recommend I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream if you want more like this!

My only complaint would be the controls were a bit clunky. Sometimes the click detection was really off. Luckily the hint system makes it easier to interact. There were a few bugs but nothing really game breaking - just make sure to save often!

### 5/5 — Zamanın eskitemediği enfes bir oyun

*2024-03-10, version 1.1*

Oyun kesinlikle hikayesiyle olsun oynanışıyla olsun oldukça güzel. Mutlaka deneyim edilmeli

### 5/5 — İNANILMAZ

*2024-02-02, version 1.1*

Çok eski ve grafikleri yeni oyunlarla karşılaştırılamaz diyecekler olabilir. Amsterdam kelimeyle mükemmel bir oyun, kategorisinin bir numarası.
Uzun süre oyunu oynamak için eski platformlara mahkum kaldım. 
Emeği geçen herkese çok teşekkür ederim

### 5/5 — ¡Buenísimo!

*2023-11-27, version 1.1*

Excelente juego clásico y recomendadísimo. No lo desprecies sólo porque tiene más de 20 años de vida, los juegos retro son los mejores. Sanitarium tiene una historia profunda y bien contada, música súper adecuada para cada momento y escenas en donde no sabrás qué rayos está pasando y que te dejarán con la boca abierta.

### 5/5 — Great port, great game

*2023-01-22*

Thank you for porting this classic on mobile devices.

### 5/5 — 24 sene sonra yeniden

*2022-12-12, version 1.1*

24 sene önce oynadığım, kendi gölgemle satranç oynayarak bitirdiğim bir başyapıt! Şimdi uygulamayı satın aldım ve tekrardan oyuna giriyorum 🤟🏻👽

### 5/5 — Retro gamer happiness

*2022-10-30*

I’ve loved this game for years, play it every year on Halloween and love that I can now play it on iOS. It ports beautifully and I love being able to curl up with my iPad and play this classic!

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-06.*