Sanity is a mix of various gaming styles, though much of it plays like Nox or Diablo in the aspects of character movement and in the way you attack enemies by quickly clicking on them. Where it deviates from this formula is the almost puzzle-like nature of certain levels, where Cain must use both his talents and mundane skills properly to successfully interact with the many characters and obstacles he will meet in his missions. For instance, after being assigned a specific mission at the DNPC headquarters, Cain will have vague objective descriptions such as, ‘Find and apprehend Pricilla Divine.’ What players must discover on their own is how to meet these objectives. Cain will run into many people and face bizarre obstacles during each mission, and oft times Cain will have to speak to someone and convince them to help him, which isn’t always easy considering the attitude some normal people take to Psionics. Unfortunately, talking to people diplomatically will sometimes fail to obtain a desired result, in which case Cain can take out his DNPC badge and flash it, in hopes of fostering compliance. Other times Cain can use a talent such as ‘Minds-Eye’ to snatch a password or vital information from a character’s subconscious. Failing all else, Cain may be forced to draw his gun on uncooperative individuals or threaten them verbally to get his way. One amusing example stems from the first level, where Cain sees a barking dog in someone’s backyard. Politely asking the owner for help earns you a ‘get out of here’ response, but when Cain threatens to reduce old Rover to a smoldering pile of ashes, the owner’s house becomes available to explore and contains items vital to continuing the level. To complete each level Cain must accomplish the primary mission objective while ensuring that no innocent lives are lost. If such an event occurs, the chip will shut him down, ending Sanity in defeat.

The talent system employed by Monolith is quite unique. Over the course of the single-player game, Cain will discover a number of new abilities apart from the basic Fireball that he begins with, all of which are arranged in a card-deck system. Only ten talents are available for active use in your deck at any one time, creating a need for players to properly manage the skills they acquire. Over 80 Talents are included, with approximately 10 in each of the eight totems. These totems are Psionic skills that are all geared towards one area or element such as Fire or Spirit, and are developed by different characters in the game. Each one comes with several offensive talents, followed by some that are unique, and ending with protective auras against talents from that totem. For example, Cain’s fire totem has attack talents such as Fireball and Inferno, unique talents like Haste, and defensive auras including Shield of Fire and Fire Protection. Balancing your deck between the different types and styles of offensive and defensive abilities is vital in both single-player and multiplayer.

Though the entire title was designed with innovation in mind, special attention seems to have been paid to the deathmatch-only multiplayer portion of Sanity. Monolith opted for a unique style of customization with the talent system, in that, aside from the 80+ included talents, players will be able to find new talents available online both for purchase and free download, a feature that is somewhat reminiscent of the booster-packs in Star Trek: ConQuest. Players who don’t have the luxury of spending four to ten dollars on a new set of talents will still be able to play against those who do, however. Monolith has made every effort to maintain a balance by promising free talents that can counter any purchasable ability, so that players with more funds will not have any sort of advantage other than luck. Lest anyone think that acquiring new talents will be useless with all the counters available, one must consider the fact that in most games the deck can be limited to any size. With only so many slots available for use, players are forced to carefully select their talents from a large number of possibilities.