Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Everywhere, I hear that this is Frictional Games's magnum opus; one of the greatest Horror games every made. I didn't go into this with that level of expectation, but honestly, I liked SOMA, and even Penumbra a lot better. The game has an extremely slow build, which is fine, but it starts out very poorly. You have a sanity meter, which decreases when you see something scary. It's a great idea! What kills this right off the bat is WHAT scares your protagonist. He's scared because he saw a door blow open; he's scared because he saw some papers blowing around; HE'S SCARED OF THE DARK. I think being scared of the dark makes him one of the worst protagonists in the history of Horror. A big part of the problem with this is that it immediately killed my immersion. I wasn't being scared; I was being TOLD to be scared, usually by things that aren't all that scary. The monsters can be scary, but you're supposed to avoid them. Now, a smart strategy would be to watch them and see where they're going, and then avoid them, but the game actively tells you that doing so will scare yourself more (makes sense) and make them find you more easily (the design working against itself). I felt less like I was immersed in this world as a terrified protagonist, and more like an irritated mother, dragging a scared child back into his bedroom to show him that there are not monsters in his closet. The game does have some spots that got under my skin and into my head - it really does - but they happen so late in the game that it wasn't quite enough to save it for me. The Choir was incredible - unlike anything else I've ever experienced - and the Nave followed me around for days, but I found the horror elements to be a bit weak overall in this one, and the irritating mechanics really broke my immersion. For what it's worth, the end of the game is fantastic, and the story was very interesting, and I would recommend this to Horror fans; I just didn't see what all the fuss was about.

Long story short: This game is great. Despite some minor shortcomings, it might get you close to a heart attack. Play it alone in the evening or at night and you will never forget the experience (which might be not a good thing now as i think of it :) ).

The first act of this game is extremely tightly designed - it's not at good as your favorite horror games (like the first Resident Evils or Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth) but definitely enjoyable! Everything makes sense and if you're stuck, you can progress by examining the notes and mementos you find carefully (they aren't many). The story is delightfully Lovecraftian and the balance between exploration, atmosphere, peril and suspense is almost addictive! When it comes to the second hub though, the quality immediately lessens. If not only that, there are also glitches that can prevent you from progressing further (especially in the Storage area). If you don't mind "magically refilling" the oil barrels that fuel your lantern by leaving and entering an area; reading walkthroughs when you get stuck (and notes won't help you); or having the chance of your progress being corrupted by possible glitches, then this won't bother you. If, instead, like me, you feel that this breaks the immersion in the game, then skip Amnesia - there are better horror games out there. That being said, I do think I got my money's worth from how far I got into the game since I got it super cheap - however, I've come to the point where the game just doesn't feel worth playing anymore.

A horror game which is not about boring zombie shooting or anything such. The game is about exploring, Lovecraftian mystery and puzzle-solving which I like. The object interaction system is neat and it brings more immersion to the game than just simple button pressing. The system brings more depth to the gameplay and physics-based puzzle-solving but it is not so perfect: you cannot pick up candles from tables and torches from walls. The game looks impressive depsite the fact that only four people have made it. And the environments have nice variety though the game takes place indoors almost entirely. And the game atmosphere is strong and suspension thanks to the game pacing, musics and sound effects. I didn't like the inventory system of the game. It take a whole screen, it pauses the game and it takes you away from the game world. This totally breaks immersion which is very important in these kind of games. The same problem is with the notes and mementos too. I would have preferred more minimalistic system which happens in real-time. Also the monster encounters could be even better. Some of the monsters just spawn to some of the game levels out of nowhere and the game gives a clear warning of their presence. I would have preferred something more unpredictable. With the Windows version of the game I had a weird mouse issue which prevents me to look around in-game. Despite all my fixing I could not solve the issue and so I ended us using a Xbox controller to bypass it. The issue seems to be a common and it is still occurring? Even so, the game still gives me creeps after many years and couple of walkthroughs.

Amnesia is not a fun game. I have to be up front about this now. It is immersive as all hell, and it will leave you begging for more every time you leave. It will be sitting there, making you want to load it up and see what’s next, all the while dreading it at the same time. I can only imagine that minus the horror element and allowing for time/technology, this is exactly why Myst hooked so many players. And to this end, this is a game I really heavily recommend EVERY player who is old/mature enough to try this game. It will not be everyone’s choice game when they get out. In fact I imagine most gamers will think it’s either too slow, two scary, or some combination of the two. But this is the kind of game that any gamer becomes a better gamer for having spend an hour or two to experiencing it. And if it leaves you wanting more, then you my friend, are in for a wild ride. I won’t need to explain why you have to have the game at that point.