Amnesia: Rebirth

The scariest part of the game was when I thought it was going to be like Dark Descent. Turns out it's more like Machine for Pigs. The Lovecraftian stuff is kind of cool though.

But at least they tried, and the game is not a ripoff and has mod support. They simply missed the mark, it happens. Like every other title by Frictional Games, Amnesia: Rebirth is a first person horror game, story driven and casual in its gameplay (no emphasis on survival horror in any of their games, especially this one and SOMA). It is a sequel to the blockbuster hit Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Frictional always succeeds most in atmosphere, story, and interesting historical references in the plot. All of these are weak in this game, especially the story. Strengths: - Good enemy design, detailed and intense - Exceptional sound quality - Interesting setting and art design - Strongly physics enabled world as usual for Frictional Games Weaknesses: - Excessive voice acting for the protagonist – every event has a voice acted reaction from the protagonist, not fitting for a first person game and almost robs you of your own reactions - Writing is rather weak, the game relies too much on the protagonist simply having a family, being in grief, and being pregnant, and world building isn’t the strongest - Technologically out of date, even having a 60 FPS cap in 2020 - Battling the darkness gets a bit repetitive - The “puzzle” gameplay is also very mild, gameplay in general is not very involved beyond lighting the environment for the majority of the game. This wouldn’t be a problem if it was less repetitive and had a strong story like SOMA. - Can’t disable the crosshair without editing a script file, even though the game doesn’t need a crosshair at all since you’re not pointing and shooting at things - Perhaps should have had more enemy types - Doesn’t appear to have autosaves, only saving upon exiting, so if you have a loss of power or PC instability then you may lose a lot of progress - Not so much a weakness as it is a missed opportunity, but VR would have been perfect for this game

Picture what the past two Frictional games, SOMA and Dark Descent, have done for horror. A great atmosphere, gripping characters, and a purpose that kept you pushing your way through the terror toward the end. This game has none of those. 1) The Atmosphere: You're teleported around so there's no chance to feel the ambience and looming dread. The maps are also very linear so you're never worried about getting lost nor scared looking around the corner. Using matches as a source of light was a terrible decision because they go out very quickly so you make almost no progress before having to stumble around again. If there were any chances to feel scared they're interrupted by the main character talking to herself for no reason or random flashbacks. They also give you an item at the start that points to where you have to go next, so it's borderline an 'on-rails' game. 2) Characters: You find the one person you're supposed to care about (besides the main character) dead within the first 20 minutes so your motivation to continue falls off a cliff in the beginning of the game. Though there's not enough build up to care about him at all. They rely on sympathy for the main character to keep you going but there's no reason to feel anything for her because they not only use a very boring trope but one that does not make sense given the scenario you're in. None of her dialogue makes up for this; it's just pining for a husband and child we have no reason to emotionally connect with. 3) Story: If you want some lore behind the Dark Descent, you'll have to trudge through a very boring couple hours to get there. And after that you might as well stop the game because nothing else is rewarding (unless you like puzzles for the sake of solving puzzles). It's almost as though an outside corporation funded this game and did the usual iron-fisted, agenda-pushing 'management' bureaucrats do simply because it's their money that's involved. Save your money, skip this game

First 80-100 minutes were dull to the point of me wishing I hadn't pre-ordered this more than a month ago so I could refund it now, but then it actually became great in its middle portion when the location changed and the main story got sidelined for the more interesting, lore-heavy, plot in this other dimension. However, then we get to the last portion of the game which is exhaustingly boring and made me want to prematurely quit the game before seeing the ending. Seeing as I didn't come to care about any of the characters, or the plot in general, the ending fell completely flat and didn't deliver any kind of satisfaction. And this is coming from someone who prefers A Machine for Pigs over The Dark Descent! Anyways, I'm utterly disappointed and I don't think the positives outnumber the negatives, so I'm strongly advising to wait for a decent discount. Such a shame.

Going from SOMA which is one of the greatest games of all time to this pile of garbage was a real slap in the face. The game has loads of cheap "fear flashes" and actual horror moments barely happen at all. I don't know what they spent all their time doing in the development of this game, but it definitely wasn't writing the story because by the end I still didn't even know why I had amnesia or any of the other questions I had about the world. Amnesia Rebirth is a waste of everybody's time and money.