The last remaining memories fade away into darkness. Your mind is a mess and only a feeling of being hunted remains. You must escape. Awake... You stumble through the narrow corridors as the distant cry is heard. It is getting closer. Explore... A sound of dragging feet? Or is your mind playing tric...
The last remaining memories fade away into darkness. Your mind is a mess and only a feeling of being hunted remains. You must escape. Awake... You stumble through the narrow corridors as the distant cry is heard. It is getting closer. Explore... A sound of dragging feet? Or is your mind playing tricks on you? Experience... Something emerges out of the darkness. It's approaching. Fast. Survive...
Step into Daniel's shoes as he wakes up in a desolate castle, barely remembering anything about his past. As you explore the eerie pathways, you'll take part in Daniel's most troubled memories. The horror doesn't just come from the outside, but from the inside as well. A disturbing odyssey into the dark corners of the human psyche awaits. Amnesia: The Dark Descent, a first person survival horror. A game about immersion, discovery, and living through a nightmare. An experience that will chill you to the core. By using a fully physically simulated world, cutting edge 3D graphics and a dynamic sound system, the game pulls no punches when trying to immerse you. Once the game starts, you will be in control from the beginning to the end. There are no cut-scenes or time-jumps, whatever happens will happen to you first hand. You'll be thrown headfirst into a dangerous world where danger can lurk behind every corner. Your only means of survival are hiding, running, and using your wits. Do you have what it takes to survive?
Includes Amnesia: The Dark Descent and its DLC, Amnesia: Justine.
Winner of IGN's “2010 Best PC Horror Game and 2010 Best PC atmosphere” award.
A thrilling ride through the depths of madness and the darker side of human emotions.
Features a fully simulated world made all the more immersive with the help of a dynamic sound system.
Goodies
manual
short story collection
System requirements
Minimum system requirements:
Recommended system requirements:
Mac notice: The game is 32-bit only and will not work on macOS 10.15 and up.
Recommended system requirements:
Mac notice: The game is 32-bit only and will not work on macOS 10.15 and up.
Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
System Shock 2.
Resident Evil.
Eternal Darkness.
The number of games that really get the unease that horror is supposed to deliver right is small, but one larger now. Amnesia definitely belongs on that list. Other reviews go better into the story and gameplay than I can, because of the one (admittedly subjective) shortcoming of the game: the effects the game uses to indicate Daniel's dwindling sanity feel like someone went crazy with the Photoshop filters menu. It started out creepy, but culminated in a case of motion sickness that, sadly, kept me from going any further in the game.
One of only two horror games that has kept me on edge (the other being Outlast). The only letdown is how many of the monster encounters are simply a matter of hide and wait, not stealth and evade, which makes some sections a but dull once you've found a secure hiding spot. Resource management adds to the tension without becoming a distracting chore, although since losing sanity has no gameplay effect, not even making you noisier or clumsier, you will eventually only care about keeping your health up, and just keeping your sanity from hitting zero.
There are some truly auditory disturbing flashbacks and the worst of the gore is left to your imagination. The story is much more than the usual excuse plot of the horror genre, and while mostly told through flashbacks and voiceover, does not suffer from the usual problem of "audio log" storytelling of feeling fragmented and sloppy.
Of course, it may still fall flat for some people, depending upon how quickly you pick up on patterns and how easily you can predict level design elements. If you're a horror fan, you'll love this; if you're not, this is one of the few you should try anyway.
This game is the reason why we got so many first person survival horror games during this last decade, it might be one of the reasons why Resident Evil 7 abandoned its third person camera in favor of a first person perspective. This is not just "another one of those", it's a really great horror game with a great atmosphere.
As the name says you will start knowing nothing about why you're there and why some evil entity is trying to kill you, you'll have to explore every single room of the decaying castle while you hide from the not too frequent encounters with monsters if you want to know how you and ended in such a dire situation. And no, you can't defend yourself, but that really isn't a problem if you don't mind playing hide n' seek with a bunch of deformed creatures that only want to murder you while your sanity quickly deteriorates, making all of this harder for you.
If you have to choose between this game or its sequel, A Machine for Pigs, don't doubt for a second and choose The Dark Descent. The sequel was developed by a different company with no real connection with the original team and they got wrong everything that makes this game great. A real shame.
The system requirements were never too high but I guess it's worth mentioning that this is a good Linux port and it should run flawlessly even in old hardware.
Amnesia, while fairly recent, has become a classic in the eyes of many, and its popularity is well deserved.
The story gradually unfolds through flashbacks and scattered notes, requiring a bit of effort to piece together but never feeling confusing or frustrating, and both the story and atmosphere of the game lightly invoke H.P. Lovecraft while still coming up with something unique and original rather than directly relying on anything from the Cthulhu mythos. While the game does have supernatural elements, it's more about the horror of being alone, confused, helpless and afraid in the dark, as well as the terrible revelations you discover as you piece together your lost memories. You will feel vulnerable, horrified, maybe even exhausted at points, and it's all written and voice-acted in a compelling manner, complemented by the setting of a dank, crumbling old castle under assault by a dark force.
The enemies deserve special note, as the game involves no combat- if you get too close to an enemy, they'll tear you apart, and every time you round the corner to see one shambling across the corridor in front of you, your heart is likely to skip a beat as you frantically search for a place to hide. The more you look at the shambling horrors of the castle, the faster your sanity drains and the easier they can find you, so even by the end, you'll only have a vague, terrifying impression of what they even are. IMO, the scariest enemy of all is the one that's fully invisible, and detectable only by splashing footfalls chasing you through the water.
The only downside is that the horror diminishes quite a bit in the final act- during the last few revelations, you encounter a disconcertingly friendly character who helps you out, and the final encounter doesn't feel threatening at all- if anything, you feel empowered as you near your revenge with little to stand in your way. This flaw does little to diminish the experience, however, and this one is definitely worth your time.
The graphics still hold up for the most part, the story is interesting and the gameplay loop is basic , but effective: stumble in the dark looking for key objects while the occasional monster pops up to try and get you rid of your buttocks, after some key hunting you enter a scripted sequence that transitions to a new area of the castle and start all over again.
But the sound design is where the game shines the most, it is absolutely fantastic, audio hallucinations will accompany you through the whole game and it's a huge part of the "horror" aspect
The random monster spawn means that you may or may not see a monster through entire sections of the game, but at the same time it keeps you on edge, and unlike penumbra all you can do is run and hide
The lack of map can be disorienting in the latter part of the game where pitch dark-same looking corridors are the norm, but I'm glad the devs sticked to the "minimal aid" philosophy which not only helps stretching the length of the game but also makes you feel ever more helpless
I'll probably never play it again because I'm a spineless coward and my stress levels went through the roof after half an hour of gameplay, which made my play sessions incredibly short and I had to drag myself through the whole thing at the slowest pace, but still, I consider Amnesia a lifetime experience that clearly inspired countless horror games over the past years and probably will keep doing it in the future
This game is waiting for a review. Take the first shot!
{{ item.rating }}
{{ item.percentage }}%
Awaiting more reviews
An error occurred. Please try again later.
Other ratings
Awaiting more reviews
Add a review
Edit a review
Your rating:
Stars and all fields are required
Not sure what to say? Start with this:
What kept you playing?
What kind of gamer would enjoy this?
Was the game fair, tough, or just right?
What’s one feature that really stood out?
Did the game run well on your setup?
Inappropriate content. Your reviews contain bad language.
Inappropriate content. Links are not allowed.
Inappropriate content. Content contains gibberish.
Review title is too short.
Review title is too long.
Review description is too short.
Review description is too long.
Not sure what to write?
You cannot save your review due to the following reasons:
You need to select star rating
You need to enter review title
You need to enter the content of your review
Show:
5 on page
15 on page
30 on page
60 on page
Order by:
Most helpful
Most positive
Most critical
Most recent
Filters:
No reviews matching your criteria
Written in
English
Deutsch
polski
français
русский
中文(简体)
Others
Written by
Verified ownersOthers
Added
Last 30 daysLast 90 daysLast 6 monthsWheneverAfter releaseDuring Early Access
Your review should focus on your in-game experience only. Let the game stand entirely on its own merits.
Avoid noise
To discuss topics such as news, pricing, or community, use our forums. To request new games and website or GOG GALAXY features, use the community wishlist. To get technical support for your game contact our support team.
Critique responsibly
To keep our review sections clean and helpful, we will remove any reviews that break these guidelines or our terms of use.
Ok, got it
GOG Patrons who helped preserve this game
Error loading patrons. Please refresh the page and try again.
