Lithium: Inmate 39

Lithium: Inmate 39 is a horror-themed 3D platformer and puzzle game that follows the story of a psychiatric patient searching for his origins and uncovering his traumatic past. Set in a disturbing, grayscale world with vivid red accents, players navigate through seven chapters filled with over 200 traps and puzzles while confronting unsettling enemies inspired by real psychiatric patient drawings.

Lithium: Inmate 39: Review

In the annals of survival horror, few titles have courted as much controversy—and endured as much critical disdain—as Lithium: Inmate 39. Released in October 2016 by Costa Rica’s Canu Arts, this puzzle-platformer set within the fractured psyche of a PTSD-afflicted soldier was always destined to be an outlier. Its grey-scaled, Burton-esque aesthetic and unsettling enemy designs, inspired by real psychiatric patient drawings, promised a fresh, disturbing take on the genre. Yet, the game’s ambition was undermined by a cascade of technical flaws, control issues, and questionable narrative choices that left even its most ardent supporters questioning its worth. This review delves into the troubled history, the broken gameplay, and the haunting—if ultimately misguided—vision that defines Lithium: Inmate 39.

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Development History & Context

Canu Arts, a fledgling studio from Costa Rica, entered the global indie scene with Lithium: Inmate 39 as their debut title. At the time, the survival horror genre was in flux. The “Amnesia effect” had flooded the market with low-budget psychological horror, but AAA studios were beginning to reclaim the space with titles like Alien: Isolation and The Evil Within. Against this backdrop, Canu Arts sought to carve out a niche with a game that fused puzzle-solving, platforming, and horror, all wrapped in a unique artistic vision.

The developers drew heavily from Costa Rican history, setting the game in the aftermath of the country’s 1948 Civil War. The protagonist, Inmate 39, is a soldier suffering from PTSD, and his journey through the game is a metaphor for his struggle to confront and overcome his trauma. The decision to base enemy designs on real psychiatric patient drawings was bold, aiming to lend authenticity to the game’s unsettling atmosphere. However, the studio’s inexperience showed in every facet of the game’s execution, from its Unity engine limitations to its lack of polish.

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Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

At its core, Lithium: Inmate 39 is a story about trauma, identity, and the monsters we carry within. Inmate 39, a frail lemur-like creature, is trapped in a nightmarish asylum filled with deadly traps and grotesque enemies. His only ally is a powerful, rage-filled alter ego—a hulking, naked soldier—who can be summoned by winding a grandfather clock. This duality is the game’s most compelling metaphor: the meek, traumatized self and the destructive, self-harming rage that lurks beneath.

The narrative unfolds through scattered patient notes and environmental storytelling, revealing that Inmate 39’s trauma stems from his experiences as a soldier in the Costa Rican Civil War. The final boss battle, in particular, is a powerful representation of his internal struggle, as he must confront and overcome the rage that has both protected and imprisoned him.

However, the game’s handling of mental illness is deeply problematic. Each boss enemy represents a different psychiatric condition—depression, paranoia, schizophrenia—but these are depicted as monstrous, violent caricatures. This approach reinforces harmful stereotypes about mental illness, reducing complex conditions to sources of horror rather than exploring them with nuance or empathy. Only Inmate 39’s own PTSD is treated with any depth, making the game’s message feel inconsistent and, at times, exploitative.

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Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Lithium: Inmate 39 attempts to blend puzzle-solving, platforming, and survival horror, but its execution is deeply flawed. The controls are unresponsive and unreliable, turning simple tasks like jumping over traps into exercises in frustration. The fixed camera angles, while evocative of classic survival horror, often change at the worst possible moments, obscuring hazards or causing the player to lose their bearings. An over-the-shoulder camera option exists, but it’s nearly unplayable due to inverted controls and awkward physics.

The game’s puzzles are clever in concept but tedious in practice. Keys and clocks are placed in ways that require backtracking and trial-and-error, and the trial-and-error nature of the traps means frequent, often unfair deaths. The ally character, while powerful, is difficult to control and only usable for limited periods, adding another layer of complexity to an already cumbersome system.

Combat is almost nonexistent; Inmate 39 is defenseless for most of the game, relying on evasion and environmental traps to survive. The few moments of direct confrontation, usually with bosses, are hampered by the game’s control issues and the aforementioned problematic depictions of mental illness.

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World-Building, Art & Sound

Visually, Lithium: Inmate 39 is striking. Its grey-scaled palette, punctuated by vivid reds and yellows, creates a bleak, oppressive atmosphere that mirrors Inmate 39’s mental state. The enemy designs, based on real psychiatric patient drawings, are genuinely unsettling and lend the game a unique, if disturbing, aesthetic. The environments, while repetitive, are filled with grotesque details that reinforce the sense of being trapped in a nightmare.

The sound design is sparse but effective. The lack of a traditional soundtrack heightens the sense of isolation, while the occasional ambient noise or enemy growl adds to the tension. However, the limited variety of sound effects—especially the repetitive jumping sound—quickly becomes grating.

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Reception & Legacy

Upon release, Lithium: Inmate 39 was met with near-universal criticism. Reviewers lambasted its broken controls, unfair difficulty, and technical issues, with many calling it one of the worst games of 2016. The game’s handling of mental illness was particularly controversial, with critics accusing it of perpetuating harmful stereotypes.

Despite its poor reception, Lithium: Inmate 39 has maintained a small cult following. Some players appreciate its unique aesthetic and the ambition behind its themes, even if the execution falls short. In 2019, Canu Arts released a remastered version, Lithium: Inmate 39 – Relapsed Edition, which addressed some of the original’s technical issues and added new content. However, the core problems—both mechanical and thematic—remained.

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Conclusion

Lithium: Inmate 39 is a game that deserves credit for its ambition and its willingness to tackle difficult themes. Its unique aesthetic, unsettling atmosphere, and metaphorical storytelling set it apart from its peers. However, these strengths are overshadowed by its broken gameplay, problematic narrative choices, and technical shortcomings. It is a game that, like its protagonist, is trapped by its own demons—unable to fully realize its potential or escape the shadows of its flaws.

For those willing to overlook its many issues, Lithium: Inmate 39 offers a haunting, if frustrating, experience. But for most players, it will serve as a cautionary tale about the dangers of ambition outpacing execution. In the end, Lithium: Inmate 39 is a game that, despite its best intentions, remains imprisoned by its own shortcomings.