Amnesia: The Dark Descent Review
by NGW
Platform: PC, Mac
Developer: Frictional Games
Rating: Not Rated
Amnesia is a first person survival horror game that takes place in the late 1800s. Players assume the role of recent amnesiac Daniel as he explores the halls of Castle Brennenburg. It's hard to get too into the story of Amnesia without treading dangerously into spoiler territory. Without giving too much away, the general plot of the game never really changes from the outset. It isn't long into your journey that you happen open a note from your former self, explaining that you are to descend the dark depths of Brennenburg to find and kill a man named Alexander, the baron of the castle, and that you are being hunted by a shadow, a living nightmare distorting reality. As the story unfolds, players will find themselves up against horrifying ghouls, moral dilemmas, and tough decisions that make them question Daniel's -- and even their own -- motivations.
The dark halls of Amnesia's Castle Brennenburg are truly beautiful, if a bit unnerving to behold.
The graphics are quite impressive, even if you aren't able to max the settings out. The rooms and hallways of Castle Brennenburg are all brought to life with a level of grisly detail some may wish could remain unseen. Rooms and passages vary from your archetypal castle halls and claustrophobic, mazelike confines of dungeons and sewer systems, to sprawling, open chambers and bloodsoaked torture cells; all rendered with a sense of dark, gritty, unnerving realism.
From the chilling atmosphere to the eerie story and tone, everything exudes an ethereal darkness that at times seem to be closing in all around you. The overwhelming darkness is more than just a scare tactic, it becomes a crucial part of gameplay as players often find themselves having to choose between using light and darkness to their advantage. In the light, players can allow Daniel's mind to rest, however they subject themselves to being much more easily spotted by the game's terrifying monstrosities that stalk you. In the darkness, players can hide themselves better at the cost of their sanity.
Yes, Amnesia brings back a much missed feature from the likes of Eternal Darkness, a sanity meter. As Daniel witnesses more disturbing imagery and creatures, or spends too long in the dark, his already broken mind begins to fracture further. It starts out simply enough with a simple blur to your vision and minor hallucinations, but as you lose more and more of your grip on reality, controls and movements begin to slow, and before too long Daniel will find himself crawling to find some source of light, hoping to regain even the smallest bit of his sanity. Another side effect to higher levels of insanity is that even the darkness can no longer shelter you: enemies gain almost nightvision-like eyesight and move at greater speeds straight towards you. And don't think that when they find you that you can simply defend yourself. Following in the footsteps in Frictional's own previous title Penumbra: Black Plague players are left utterly defenseless against the horrors they face. Amnesia features no weapons or combat system at all. Your only means of defense are running and hiding, a tactic best learned quickly lest you find yourself falling victim to one of Alexander's ghastly servants.
I'm thoroughly convinced sound design is a key component in what makes Amnesia as atmospheric and frightening as it is. For being a centuries old castle, Brennenburg is far from silent. From the wonderful soundtrack composed by Mikko Tarmia, to the wonderfully implemented sounds handcrafted by sound designer Tapio Liukkonen, the walls and environments around you feel truly alive. Players will find themselves overwhelmed at times by the screams of unseen victims, footsteps from every direction leaving no sense of just where danger may be, and the moaning of the accursed grunts that haunt the castle's halls. When I say overwhelming I do mean it, there are times that the soundtrack can be a bit much, making the player feel that they too are losing it right alongside our hero.
He just wants a hug...honest
Death is handled quite differently than you find in most traditional games. Instead of starting you from a previous save or checkpoint, Amnesia doesn't force any loss of progress on a player. Rather, the player is simply respawned, sometimes in a slightly different area, and allowed to continue. The game's manual mentions that things in the world do change upon a death, but the changes I've noticed have been minor: a door may have been shut that once was open, or an enemy may have spawned somewhere else or even removed entirely. I've actually found myself placed beyond where I was killed, allowing me to proceed without any sort of penalty. I'm not sure if this was intentional or if these are just isolated events, but it takes the fear of death away just a bit.
Not too many games come out that I really feel are deserving of the "horror" they claim to deliver. In an age where steroid injected musclemen gunning down zombies has become the norm for the genre, a game that is as unnerving and genuinely frightening as Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a welcome breath of fresh air. As players explore and descend further, they are met with gruesome sights, unspeakable, indescribable monsters, and a slew of mind bending paranormal events; many of which the game emphasizes with audio and visual cues and movements of the camera. The game's immersive nature is a double-edged sword: some players may find this to further immerse themselves in the role of Daniel, while others may feel it a bit too obtrusive and commanding by telling them when and what to be scared of. The tactic does seem to be effective for the most part, as I have had many seasoned gamers tell me that the game is just too much for them. Several sequences may leave you holding your head as you struggle to regain composure -- I won't spoil too much here, but water is not your friend, and running is. The game's lack of combat and ability to properly defend yourself creates a sense of vulnerabilty and helplessness that few other titles have ever even come close to. Make no mistake, this is a game that will scare you.
Overall Amnesia is a wonderfully, refreshingly terrifying game, though not without minor issues that, although noticeable, won't take anything away from the overall experience. The atmosphere and gameplay are all top notch, with some wonderful musical scores and truly disturbing sights. This is a game you will want to play in the dark with headphones on for the full experience. Admittedly, there are some cheap scare tactics that may put some gamers off initially, however the scares that aren't predictable may prove too much for even seasoned horror gamers to handle. The way deaths are handled is a bit of a sticking point for me, as it does detract from the overall fear of dying -- one of the most significant sources of fear in a game like this. In the end though, I have to applaud Frictional Games for delivering another much needed dose of true terror to a genre that recently has had the tendency to borrow from cheesy slasher-flick action-horror standards rather than classic, truly frightening horror.
Final rating: 9/10
Game was played over the course of multiple sessions totaling approx. 11 hours by final completion of the single player campaign. 1 of 3 endings achieved (the best possible ending). An editor has been released for the game that allows players to create their own maps and stories to share online with others to play.
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