Comparison

Sanitarium vs Moth Lake

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Sanitarium

Embark on a dark adventure as an amnesiac in a creepy asylum. Solve puzzles, uncover a complex plot, and escape this morbid universe. This enhanced mobile version offers new features for an immersive point-and-click horror experience.

Highlights
  • Amnesiac protagonist
  • Morbid and creepy universe
  • Puzzle solving
  • Complex plot
  • Touch and pad controls
  • New inventory system
  • Achievements
Features
Read full description

In Sanitarium you play an amnesiac thrust into a morbid, really creepy universe. After a car accident you wake up to find that instead of lying in a hospital, you’re in an asylum with your head wrapped in bandages. Who the hell am I? What am I doing here? How do I escape? There endless questions eating away at you, and so too are the many puzzles you’ll need to resolve throughout this immersive, captivating adventure. Featuring a rich, complex plot set in an intense world where a very thin line separates reason from madness, Sanitarium is a masterwork suitable for point-and-click beginners, experts and everyone who enjoys captivating storylines and horror games. This version has not only been authentically recreated for mobile, but also enhanced with brand-new features: • Choose between touch mode and pad mode • A new easy-to-use interface specially adapted for touch devices • Automatic save system • Dynamic ON/OFF hint system • New inventory system • 20 Achievements to unlock • Choose between full screen mode & original mode • 3 languages available: English, French, German (voices and text) Originally released in 1998 for PC and Adventure Game of the Year Winner, this timeless point-and-click horror game is a must-have for adventure game fans. Discover or rediscover one of the scariest games of all time with this mobile version you can play anywhere! MORE ABOUT DOTEMU facebook.com/dotemu twitter.com/dotemu youtube.com/dotemu

About

Moth Lake

Uncover a small town's dark secret through a story-driven adventure. Navigate a 2.5D pixel art world, solve unconventional puzzles, and make choices that impact character relationships and the narrative's outcome. Experience thrills, suspense, and horror with a touch of dark humor.

Highlights
  • 2.5D pixel art with frame-to-frame animations
  • Simple controls for touch, mouse, keyboard, and controllers
  • Unconventional puzzles with optional walkthrough
  • Stealth-action gameplay
  • Choices affecting character bonds and narrative
  • Multiple endings
  • Original soundtrack
Features
Read full description

Synopsis: This is the story of Moth Lake, a small town that, behind its peaceful facade, hides a terrible secret. Only a group of teenagers, with a difficult life, will reveal what has been hidden for generations. Mysterious events will intensify starting from the eve of a solar eclipse, and our young friends will start a journey into the shadow and into their own soul. What to expect from this game: In short: •2.5D pixel art (Frame to frame animations, as if we are still in '90s) • Simple controls (Supporting touch screen, mouse, keyboard and controllers) • Unconventional puzzles (Don't worry, there's a free walkthrough if you need help!) • Stealth-action • Choices that will change the bonds between the characters as well as the spirit of the experience (Just like in life, a choice can make the difference between friendship, love, hate, life or death) • Thrills, suspense and horror (Not a survival game, but it can be creepy or scary at times) • Bad humor and strong language (They are teenagers, don't judge them) • At some point this experience might even move you to tear (I'm not crying, I just got a pixel in my eye) • 6 different endings • A soundtrack that is original, suggestive, and exciting In detail: Moth Lake is a story-driven experience, with a lot of textual contents (more than 20k words), and hundreds of different scenes (more than 300 scenarios). The script is a long journey through a mystery, through horrors and through the characters hearts. It contains dark topics and very sad stuff, but also a lot of nonsense jokes and weird conversations, so it's hard to say whether it is a horror game or not. The main characters move around a 2.5D world, interacting with many hotspots and NPCs. They can pull objects and perform a set of specific actions to solve very different puzzles. The artwork is a modern pixel art, with a big colour palette and a lot of frame-to-frame animations. There's a very large set of animations, including talking, walking, running, crouching, crawling, pushing, climbing, sneaking, punching, throwing... and much more. Scenarios have some modern lighting/shading work, with particles effects and a constant use of parallax, to simulate a 3D environment. There are 6 main characters and more than 50 NPCs, with their own look and personality. You can control 7 characters through the main story and more in the additional chapters. They all move their eyes, they change facial expressions, and they have some peculiar behaviours. As the story proceeds, the player has to take some choices, affecting the characters mood and sometimes even the plot. For most of the time the player controls a character surrounded by his/her friends. Each one has some kind of skill to be used at the right moment, and sometimes even their personality will be important to solve a puzzle. Some puzzles can be solved by a single character, while other must be solved using the whole squad cooperation. As I said, the game aims to give psychological horror vibes. So keep in mind that this game is not for everyone! Some scenes are disturbing, some scenes may give you anxiety, and some other scenes are extremely sad. Characters are constantly called to face their difficult past, and to go through their scary present. They need to hide, to take terrible decisions and sometimes even to fight for their lives. ...But after all, your choices can lead you to the best possible ending, and if you fail, you can always try again.

Screenshots

Sanitarium4 screens
Moth Lake4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Moth Lake at every 2 months against Sanitarium's every 73 months. Sanitarium's advantage is ratings volume (131 vs 12) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 11.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Sanitarium costs $3.99 and Moth Lake $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for Sanitarium against 4.3 for Moth Lake. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sanitarium has 131 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Sanitarium's written reviews are positive against 72% of Moth Lake's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sanitarium ships an update every 73 months, Moth Lake every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Sanitarium versus Moth Lake: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSanitariumMoth Lake
Price$3.99$3.99
Rating4.2 (131 ratings)4.3 (12 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.5% of reviews72.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings131 — better12
Update frequencyEvery 73 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better11.0
Further details — not scored
Size887 MB121 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperDotEmuStefano Mazzotta

Customer experience

Sanitarium

All ratings131 ratings
Positive80.9%
Neutral5.3%
Negative13.7%
Written reviews166 reviews
Positive70.5%
Neutral9.6%
Negative19.9%

Moth Lake

All ratings11 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive72.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative20.0%

Bugs and requests

Sanitarium

Reported bugs

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

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add Russian language support
  • Improve touch controls and UI for mobile
  • Provide more instructions and tutorials

Moth Lake

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Sanitarium

No in-app purchases

None

Moth Lake

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sanitarium free?
Sanitarium costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Moth Lake free?
Moth Lake costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sanitarium or Moth Lake?
Moth Lake is rated higher. Sanitarium averages 4.2 out of 5 from 131 ratings, while Moth Lake averages 4.3 from 12 ratings.
Do Sanitarium or Moth Lake have ads?
Neither Sanitarium nor Moth Lake shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sanitarium or Moth Lake?
Sanitarium ships an update every 73 months, and Moth Lake every 2 months. Most recently, Sanitarium was updated on November 1, 2026 and Moth Lake on October 30, 2026.

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