8 Mind-Bending Games with Sanity Meters You Need to Try
- Leia Emeera
- Aug 30, 2024
- 9 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Sanity mechanics and games with sanity meters have long been a part of video game history, spanning genres from psychological horror to melancholic indie titles. These mechanics can be woven into a game’s plot or integrated directly into gameplay.
The reasons range from a developer’s personal experiences to the understanding that it’s a topic that needsn’t be shied away from.
In many games, players are usually asked to manage a health bar. However, certain games introduce a sanity meter or similar sanity mechanic to monitor not only their character’s physical health but also their psychological or mental state.
Table of Contents
What are Sanity Meters in Video Games?
The definition of sanity is the ability to think and behave rationally, but how does this translate to video games?
Essentially, games would have a sanity metre—visible or not—that indicates if the player's character has sound mental health.
Having a separation between losing physical health and mental health caters to a more realistic approach to playing games. If you lose physical health, it affects your survivability, but if you lose ‘mental health’, it adds a debuff like a blurry screen or losing control of your character.
Why Do Game Developers Use Sanity Systems?
In addition to providing a more realistic and immersive gaming experience, it guides players to where they should go.
Adding tension and challenges with a sanity meter creates complexity and gives a slower pace to an otherwise straightforward game of escaping the horrors.
7 Recommended Games with Sanity Meters
1. Elona
Initial release date: August 31, 2007
Genre: Roguelike
Platforms: Android, Microsoft Windows, iOS
Developer: Noa
Elona is a roguelike single-player game, set in the fictional world of Irva. It sets off when the main character survives the storm at sea, landing on the continent of Tyris. It’s a land riddled with creatures and Etherwind—a phenomenon that corrupts what it touches.
Much like other roguelikes, Elona allows players to choose from eleven (11) fantasy races and ten (10) classes; unlike other roguelikes, this game with sanity meters is set in an open-world map and features quest systems.
Sanity in Elona starts at 0, which is the healthiest level of mental health you can achieve. The lands of Tyris are ones where insanity is the norm, and as you are exposed to the townsfolk's antics, your level-headed character starts to lose it.
Other factors that drive your sanity meter insane include cannibalism, combat actions, and certain monster corpses. Instability can inflict a wide variety of effects like “dim”, “confusion”, and “fear”, influencing the levels of control you have over your player character. Certain places and items can rejuvenate you, but you do recover as time passes.
2. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Initial release date: September 8, 2010
Genre: Survival Horror, Adventure, Indie, Puzzle
Platforms: Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android
Developer: Frictional Games
Amnesia is a first-person survival horror game with sanity meters, and chances are that if you were anywhere on the internet in the early 2010s, this title is familiar to you. In this video game, you play as the amnesiac Daniel, who navigates through the halls of Castle Brennenburg in Prussia.
In Amnesia, one must avoid enemies and reach the baron of the castle—a set of instructions left by Daniel himself before his loss of memory. This game with sanity mechanics features physics-based puzzles and tasks, such as throwing rocks to distract enemies or stacking boxes to reach certain areas.
One of the games with sanity meters that is central to the gameplay—monstrous encounters and the dark can drain your sanity, as indicated by the brain on your inventory screen. As your sanity depletes, the sanity meter—or your brain—shrivels up, and your surroundings grow grotesque.
In normal mode, this hinders your playthrough; in hard mode, zero sanity means death. You may increase your sanity bar by lighting up dark places, making significant progress, and drinking potions.
3. Darkest Dungeon
Initial release date: February 3, 2015
Genre: Roguelike, Strategy
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
Developer: Red Hook Studios, Sickhead Games
Despite what the title implies, the Darkest Dungeon is not a horror game. It is instead a gothic roguelike RPG, where players must manage a band of heroes through the exploration of a procedurally generated dungeon. However, before this, you can visit the in-game town to recruit, upgrade and heal heroes, as well as buy items.
In line with the genre of roguelikes, once a character in your party dies, their loss is permanent. Again, staying true to its predecessor Rogue, the Darkest Dungeon’s combat system is turn-based.
A sanity meter game plays a large part in the success of your playthrough. Your heroes can house pent-up stress, mainly during expeditions. Light, food, witnessing the hurt or death of peers and spells can negatively impact their sanity meters.
High levels of sanity on a player’s bar can result in your characters refusing to eat, use skills or interact with potentially dangerous items—at 100 stress, your characters may randomly become “Afflicted” or “Virtuous”.
The former ensures significant stat penalties and eventual heart attacks, while the latter causes players to receive better stats, heal themselves and reduce the stress of all party members. Stress can be relieved in the hub or during expeditions by using items and inflicting critical heals.
4. Fear & Hunger
Initial release date: December 11, 2018
Genre: Role-playing, Indie, Adventure, Strategy, Horror
Platforms: macOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac operating systems
Developer: Miro Haverinen
Arguably one of the best releases of 2018, Fear & Hunger is a challenging survival horror RPG with dungeon crawler elements.
The game opens with a player selection screen, where you must choose one to lead your party of four. Options include the Knight Cahara, the Mercenary D’arce, the Dark Priest Enki, and the Outlander Ragnvaldr.
You can then direct their backstories, equipping you with different skills and items from the start. The dungeons of Fear & Hunger are notoriously difficult to traverse—from hidden rusty nails to gods old and new, everything is out to get you.
The game is rich with story, involving complex character backgrounds, societies ancient and modern, and fictional mythology—but the only way to do Fear & Hunger justice is to play and achieve all 5 endings.
The sanity meter in this game can be found in the inventory menu, under the health bar of each party member, labelled as “Mind”. Sanity can be depleted through battles, dark environments and wielding “Miasma”—but uniquely, it is also needed for the use of skills and spells.
The battle system in Fear & Hunger is turn-based, where characters must choose a certain appendage on the enemy to attack—weapons don’t cost sanity, but skills do, costing you more of your mind. The stronger the special attack is.
When your Mind reaches zero, enemies deal more damage and party members may leave—however, certain characters remain unaffected at a fully drained meter. To reinstate sanity meters, items like tobacco, ale and elixirs can help.
5. Disco Elysium
Initial release date: 15 October 2019
Genre: RPG
Platforms: Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Developer: ZA/UM
With little to no combat, Disco Elysium is an RPG game that deals with themes of substance abuse, history and politics. It recognises the vile aspects of the world but ultimately prompts players to seek small moments of joy and art in spite of the ugly.
The game is dialogue and skill-check heavy, where playthroughs are dependent on the things you say and the 24 upgradeable skills of the hard-boiled detective you play as. This protagonist and Lieutenant Kitsuragi are tasked with solving the mystery of the Hanged Man.
It’s a massive case that you may choose to solve any way you please with side quests to pair. With its gorgeous art, fleshed-out plot and extensive world-building, Disco Elysium has earned its litany of praise.
The detective you play has alcohol- and drug-induced amnesia and regularly hallucinates entire conversations. One of the games with sanity meter that is upgradable; however, players typically start with 3 or 4 units.
In Disco Elysium the sanity mechanic is named Morale, which can deplete through failed actions—embarrassments or major blows to your ego kill. When your Morale hits zero, you have only a few seconds to regain it through heals. Items and sleep can aid recovery.
6. Don’t Starve
Initial release date: 23 April 2013
Genre: Adventure
Platforms: Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, iOS, Linux
Developer: Klei Entertainment
When Stardew Valley meets horror, Don’t Starve is a fan favourite for those who love the farming bit of Stardew Valley but want more challenge. A horror game with sanity meter, the characters’ minds deteriorate if you venture into the dark wilderness for too long.
This adventure game has a distinct art style that separates it from the majority of horror games. Another feature that separates it from this genre is the fact that the health and sanity meter are not the only bars the players have to look out for, but also hunger.
The challenges in this game can vary depending on the kind of characters you choose before starting the game. Each with bonus traits and debuffs that players can try out whenever they want to replay the game.
Don’t Starve Together is another version of the game that comes with a multiplayer option for you to play with your friends.
7. Knock Knock
Initial release date: 4 October 2013
Genre: Adventure
Platforms: Windows, OS X, SteamOS, Linux, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Developer: Ice-Pick Lodge
Another unique art-style horror with a sanity meter game, Knock Knock’s goal is for the players to stay awake until the sun rises. Unlike Don’t Starve, this game deals with puzzles to solve for the character’s survivability.
Other horror video games with a sanity meter give the option to restore your meter, but in this one, there’s no such option, so players must be smart about venturing into the dark. As well as avoiding other creatures in the dark.
Additionally, the character of the game suffers from a poor physical condition, so whenever the light switches on, they have to pause as they adjust to the change of lighting, adding an extra delay for the players to figure out as they play.
How Game Developers Manage Complex Tasks
Behind every great game, there’s a complex and fast-moving workflow that needs collaboration and coordination. Usually, game developers will need to deal with art, animation, sound design, level building, QA, and many more, which happen in parallel.
Without a proper system and workflow, deadlines can slip, and the team gets lost in burnout. This is why many teams turn to project management tools to centralise everything, from assets, comments, approvals, and timelines.
However, traditional PM tools can’t handle what most creatives usually do. Therefore, project management tools designed for creatives like TESSR go a step further by supporting visual workflows, versioning, and reducing feedback loops.
Key Takeaways
Sanity meter is a video game mechanic that transcends genres, proving that mental health is not something to be feared—it is simply something even the unsuspecting experience.
It’s a neat feature that pushes players to fully immerse themselves in the world and the characters, adding higher stakes and unpredictable gameplay.
Additionally, it gives a message about games for wellbeing, as a negatively affected mine impacts the overall gameplay.
If you’re an artist or creative looking for solutions to manage your projects better, feel free to explore our project management product by clicking the link here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why do games use sanity instead of HP?
The point of using a sanity meter in horror games instead of using HP is to implement immersive gameplay. Different games implement different ways in which sanity affects gameplay. For example, games would add hallucinations; purposeful ‘lags’ or movements become the opposites.
Why do sanity mechanics affect players' minds?
Sanity mechanics affect players’ minds as an immersive and realistic experience to establish a sense of vulnerability and loss of control. Naturally, if we stepped into the world of the game, our fight or flight response would be triggered, adding fear and tension to the sanity meter.
Author Bio
From Malaysia, Leia Emeera is a writer at TESSR and a published author. She has been putting pen to paper ever since she learned how to, and has an anthology to her name, titled 'Ten'. Leia loves music, games and her beloved labrador retriever, George. She aims to further her studies in English Literature and Creative Writing the moment her gap year ends. 'Till then, you will find her sitting behind a desk, writing with TESSR.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: Leia Emeera
With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, like parodies of animated shows and plots for board games. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Now an advocate for mental health and effective project management for the creative industry. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.