One of the most underrated action/adventure hybrids in recent memory, Monolith's Sanity: Aiken's Artifact is a fun and creative game that showcases how versatile the powerful LithTech engine (that powers No One Lives Forever) can be.
Set in a very creative version of the 21st century, the game puts you in the shoes of Cain, an agent in the Department of National Psionic Control (DNPC), which is set up to investigate rogue-ish uses of psionic power. Pretty soon, you find yourself unraveling the mysteries of your own origin, as well as the origins of psionic powers themselves.
One thing Sanity has in abundance is character. As with No One Lives Forever, this game has style - and plenty of it. The voice talent of player character is provided by rapper Ice T, and is surprisingly good. Like most other "action games" from Monolith, the story is original, interesting, and ties together all the action sequences very well. Even though some portions of the game feel repetitive, the fun story will incentivize you to keep playing, just to see what happens in the end. Similar to Crusader: No Remorse, the game is roughly mission-based: it goes to the next chapter once you finish a certain number of areas.
You control the action from the bird's eye view + isometric angle, with freely-roving camera that lets you zoom in and out on impressively detailed 3D sets. While there is plenty of action - you will be able to use dozens of cool psionic powers, most of which resemble RPG-style spells - what sets Sanity apart from most 3D action games is the prolific use of puzzles. Your progress in the game depends upon completing alternating rounds of puzzles and fights. Puzzles, unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for action fans) are very easy - far too easy to challenge adventure fans. If you think puzzles in Tomb Raider are easy, you will feel insulted when playing this game.
Fortunately, most of the psionic powers you can use (called "talents" in the game) are cool enough to keep you playing, just to see what the new ones can do. Most chapters share the same structure: complete a puzzle, return to the central area, fight a few minions, complete another puzzle, and so on. The worst thing about this is that it makes the game extremely linear. Once you finish the game, there is no reason to go back. One big quibble I have with Sanity is the inability to jump or climb. This means you will need to rely on the "Levitate" a lot, to overcome even lowly obstacles like a fence. But other than that, I find Sanity a creative and fun action/adventure hybrid that should appeal to gamers who can overlook its extreme easiness in favor of a coherent style and a creative plot.
Recommended, although the very easy nature of the game makes it a bit undeserving of our Top Dog status. For a truly wonderful mix of action and adventure that will sorely test your brain cells, check out Core Design's Project Eden instead.
Review By HOTUD
English 
German 
Comments and reviews
Czech this one out: https://collectionchamber.blogspot.com/p/sanity-aikens-artifact.html
Worked for me
And nevermind, after following the instructions and getting the game to run a few times it is now consistently not reopening. Would love to play this game again in it's original state.
Managed to finally get the game running from the RIP files but am not getting any dialogue audio. Checked the in-game settings and dialogue is enabled but no dice. Any ideas?
I just want to play this forgotten gem that dont worked on windows 11. The only problem is that you need to play the game only in 16bit version and i dont know how i supposed to play this when you dont have to deal with it on 16bit version in other computers?
Hello,
Tried to install the game (German version, 1 CD) on Win 11, error message, it worked with winevdm, but only occasionally. Got the game to run with dgvoodoo2, but it also only starts occasionally. Text is difficult to read with increased resolution.
When starting, select dgvoodoo2 as the display and a resolution of 4:3. dgvoodoo2 will then upscale the resolution.
Playing use dgVoodoo 2 (i used version 2.86.5)
dsVoodoo 2 settings
General: Adapter = GPU
DirectX: Fast video memory access
Test with this if it works for higher resolution:
General: Scaling mode = Stretched, keep aspect ratio
DirectX: Resolution = Max ISF or Max
I found a solution running the game on Windows 11. The controls should work. I just tetsed until you take control of Cane and the mouse is working. Someone from Twitter helped me by providing the files necessary to run the game. Copy the files, not the whole folder, and replace them. I used the Collection Chamber install files.
https://x.com/VinciusMedeiro6/status/1979711913182544308?t=AWOxkOPrAkj6tbokVUBOhg&s=19
No matter what version I download or the setting I select, the game fails to start. It reaches the point of choosing the details (Low, Medium and High) and then completely stops. Any idea? I'm suspecting Windows 11 is the issue.
@TK This is the problem of not reading everything on the page, there are external links on the top, including one for PCGamingWiki, and in there there is all info you need to fix those issues. I've written most of the page myself.
Hey I tried to play this game but alas the main menu and UI is borked and when it's not borked the game has abysmall framreate and FPS. Also the shoot/talent button some times straight up refuses to work during fights. Any help?
Would love to play this game, but changing keyblinds are all jacked up. Too bad they never made a remaster with gamepad support.
I was looking for this game for 25 years. I played a demo when I was a kid but the controls didn't work at all. Not knowing the name beside the look of the menu, the main character and some icons, I was determined to find it.
Best game EVER!!!! Love that cool Ice-T.
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.