Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia is not primarily a terrifying game. It's aspirations are deeper than that, more ambitious. Amnesia aims to soak into your bones, to place a knot in your stomach that won't let go; in a word, to fill you with dread. While not the most sophisticated gameplay experience I've had, the attention to detail with the chilling castle, the excellent use of darkness, the disturbing storytelling, and finally one of the best horror soundtracks in the business make this a very satisfying and immersive descent into depravity. The conceit is one Frictional has deployed elsewhere with SOMA: both The Dark Descent and Justine feature protagonists who have drunk an amenesia elixer, and so are learning about their own agenda through the gameplay. This creates an absorbing approach to storytelling as the player pieces together the plot threads. Discovery is not always a good thing, and Frictional plays with our innate assumptions that our avatars are the heros ("the good people"). So the game's revelations are particularly striking when we discover who we really are and what we've done. There is some mature content here, so be forwarned. I'll note that on normal difficulty the monsters are fairly minor in impact. I spent very little time engaging in stealth or fleeing from monsters. The real potency of the game lies in its atmosphere, it's blood-curdling environment and the way the environment affects the psychology of your avatar. Don't buy for the monster experience; buy this for a journey down into the belly of the beast. Justine is a nice experience. For those who can't find the DLC, you have to use the Amnesia launcher first, and then click the Justine button. It's a short experience, but it's also a bit ruthless, as there is no save, so if you die you have to start all over. Still, it provides a nice supplement if the original experience wasn't quite long enough for you.

It is truly a textbook for modern horror games, with a degree of tension and pressure, clear but easy to decipher ideas, and a decent story. Recommend purchasing at a discount, it's worth playing!

I wasn't certain if Frictional Games would be able to probably follow up Penumbra, since by the third one, it seemed like they didn't have that much more interesting to do. Thankfully, they had only burned out on that franchise, not on this overall type of game. In general, this features responses to all of the feedback they got. Every bit of constructive criticism is taken to heart; it has significantly less of the weird tendency of the in-universe people writing in excruciating detail about their death as they are experiencing it. The hook is much more compelling and you're immediately engaged with this. Penumbra starts by telling you that your character’s father disappeared decades ago and now you're investigating that. This one tells you that right before you intentionally gave yourself amnesia, you wrote a letter to yourself in which you express intense desire towards killing a man that you now no longer remember anything about. If that does not get you seriously invested, frankly, the game just is not for you - which is of course perfectly fine. Like Penumbra and later SOMA, it's clear that Frictional Games are not satisfied with scaring the audience. No, they want to get under our skin, and they are superb at it. This is one of those things where if you have to ask if this might be too disturbing for you, the answer is yes. Do not play one of these if that is the case; you will be scarred for life. Some of these I haven't played in years, and SOMA only once. And yet, I remember all of them in tremendous detail, more so than certain games that I did really like that I've played much more recently. Part of what works so well here is the psychological aspect, Yes, it does have intense gore and jump scares. But in addition this truly does make you feel trapped, forced to proceed in a direction that you instinctively know is going to hurt. The way that you gradually learn backstory is masterfully done. The plot happened before you come into it; you’re catching up.

Amnesia is a really good game, that's no secret. The audio design is very powerful and drives the horror element well. Having to manipulate objects like doors with mouse movements yourself feels very involving and helps to create a panicked feel when chased by monsters, and safe rooms really give you relief. Let this stop no-one from buying this jewel of a game - but, the only thing that bothered me a little was that you start to lose sanity _immediately_ after stepping into the slightest darkness. It feels too instant and game-like. You actually have to run and rush past unlit stretches between wall torches. Minor gripe though. Go Frictional Games!

Amnesia is decent, but honestly I think the Penumbra games are better. The one thing I really dislike about Amnesia is that I feel the "scares" happen too often and in rapid succession. Sometimes I really just want to play the game without having to figure out how to dodge the next boogeyman. I remember Penumbra being much more subtle: when you encountered a Big Scary in Penumbra it was more "oh god no!" instead of "sigh, not again...". Also, Penumbra relied more on atmosphere and psychology for effect, whereas Amnesia relies on props and effects. The "insanity meter", while an interesting mechanic, triggers much too quickly and its relationship to light seems inconsistent at best. To date I've finished the two core Penumbra games, but after several attempts, still haven't made it past the first few "levels" in Amnesia. Amnesia's story, setting, and voice acting are quite polished though, and should I find myself with an abundance of time on my hands perhaps I will give it another go.