Amnisia The Dark Descent

[AshleyO]

I'm about to play this game.

Couple of things here. The graphics don't look too bad, but it's about immersion. It's a true survival horror game. I don't know what to expect and I have never played it before.

It's on sale on Steam for 10 dollars. But it claims to be sphincter clenching terrifying.

You play as a guy who doesn't remember anything and you're trapped in a deserted castle. You have to work your way around puzzles while also trying to survive the night by avoiding monsters. You can't really fight them. Well... you can... but it's best you hide. Also, your weapons are anything in the environment that you can pick up.

I think this may be more than just playing a game casually. I'm taking this as more of a digital experience, much like the old horror puzzle games like The 7th Guest and Phantasmagoria.

Anyway. It's supposed to be scary as shit. Once I finish a night of playing, I'll come back and let you guys know what I think. Also, for an indie game, it got some really good reviews from Gamespot and gamers alike.

Plugging in my headphones. Got the lights all turned off. Got a glass of wine. Gonna see what's up.

[AshleyO]

Alright. I did some optimizing on my computer and got some decent frames per second out of it on a lower resolution with high texture quality.

First and foremost. You NEED a good graphics card for this game. One that supports OpenGL in a sane fashion or you will be just like me and ready to kick puppies.

Anyway. After getting it to work... this game is god damned scary. It's fucking stupid scary. I played it for a good hour and really... it was because I was literally too scared to go any further in the game. It's so unnerving and the atmosphere is just right that I found myself having to take a break every 10 to 15 minutes because there would be a god damned sound that I couldn't place my finger on. That's what makes this so scary. You're trying to just make sense of the environment and when you can't come up with an immediate answer to that weird noise behind you, your mind will automatically race to the worst possible scenario.

Fuck... this game is going to take a while. It's so creepy.

[Raptor]

Good call with the current price, I meant to buy this when it came out but I was pretty busy.

I played it a fair bit yesterday and the day before so I think I've got through most of the game. I'd agree with a lot of what you said.

The graphics aren't bad but the PC requirements feel a bit high considering how the game looks, possibly to do with the physics. You might have to adjust the contrast if you play at different times of day because it's pretty important to have it set correctly to get the right feel to the game.

A puzzle survival horror would probably describe it best. The puzzles are fairly straightforward with the usual idea of finding an obstacle, needing to find an item, and then using what you've found to progress. There are also interactive environment type puzzles. They're not the most entertaining thing ever but they're ok. Also the game doesn't mark where to go or order you what to do which is nice, you have to explore it yourself. It does provide a hint or two if you examine important objects.

That probably makes it sound pretty mediocre but I'd definitely recommend it to anyone that wants a proper survival horror game. The atmosphere is amazing. It's an interactive story as much as a game. I can't remember the last time that a movie scared me and I'm not sure a game ever has (made me jump, yes, but not scared), but Amnesia has had me blindly sprinting down corridors on several occasions. The sound makes it and it's definitely worth following the game's recommendation of using headphones.

It's kind of like walking through one of Lovecraft's stories that feature exploration like The Rats in the Walls or Under the Pyramids (some of his best), combined with the sort of puzzle you might find in Half-Life. The story gets told by a mixture of memories that get jogged as you progress and by reading notes that you find.

So yeah, anyone that likes survival horror type games with a suitable PC should get Amnesia. There's no combat so don't bother if you want to blow stuff up and kill things.

[AshleyO]

I was in this hallway on the second level, minding my business. Hadn't played for 3 minutes and I'm just trying to adjust some things and get settled in for later when the wind blew this door open and scared the piss out of me.

I shat.

[Sinjob]

Thought this was someone's introduction..

[Class-Punk]

I beat it awhile back, but I got stuck a lot and had to use a walkthrough, which it was still creepy as hell. If you use the walkthrough you have a better chance of not missing the best ending.

This game was the reason I started growing facial hair.

[Bigfoot]

I really need to play this, have heard good things about it. Another game I can highly recommend is Slender, a Browser game that is more than creepy. I nearly had a heart attack when I first encountered the Slender man