There’s something about previous horror games that never quite did it for me. Take Silent Hill, for example. While the game had its share of scares, I couldn’t help but feel that so much more could be done in the genre. Whenever I’d take a stroll through Silent Hill, I would tend to feel like I was playing out some sort of twisted movie rather than experiencing the horror first-hand.
Plenty of time has passed since the original Silent Hill, but the genre hasn’t really moved forward at all. In fact, I would say that it’s taken a step back by making the titles more action-oriented and “gamey”, which almost automatically loses that all-important immersion required to get the most out of a horror game. Amnesia: The Dark Descent, developer Frictional Games’ PC horror title, doesn’t suffer from that problem.
While other games in the genre would give you some means to defend yourself, Amnesia strips that sense of control and security away from you, leaving you feeling positively helpless right from the get-go. There are no weapons, there are no means to fight back; your only chance for survival is to run for your life towards a dark corner and hide until the creature giving chase goes away.
You take on the role of Daniel, a man who, as the title suggests, is suffering from a serious case of amnesia. Daniel finds himself waking up in a moonlit corridor of Castle Brennenberg in the late 1800s with nary a clue as to who he is, where he is, or why he’s there. As you venture a bit further into the castle, you find a page from a diary written by none other than yourself, explaining that Daniel took something that caused the amnesia, apparently in order to forget something. And, more sinister than that, to get revenge.
The further you go into the castle, the more of these diary pages you’ll find. These scattered diary pages are Daniel’s only connection to his former self; the only clue as to just what is going on in this dark and tormenting castle. Not only do these scattered pages serve to tell the story of Daniel and the castle he finds himself trapped in, they also serve as a temporary form of respite from the darkness and its inhabitants that seem to follow you wherever you go. Much needed respite.
Amnesia is a terrifying game. So terrifying, in fact, that several times I found myself having to stop playing for awhile just to regain my composure and muster up the courage to go back in — something that I have never experienced before in a horror game. The game pulls this level of terror off so well by keeping you immersed through the gloomy, foreboding soundtrack, the chilling ambient noises, and through a masterful use of the first-person perspective.
Rather than the standard mechanic of walking up to a door, cabinet, or a drawer and clicking on it, you use the mouse to manipulate objects. If you want to open a door, for example, you’ll need to open the door by either pulling it towards you or away from you, depending on which way the door is hinged. As you can probably imagine, this can make for some absolutely frightening moments.
Just as you will likely have moments where you’re too frightened to go on, so too will Daniel. Not only do you have to worry about your character’s physical health, you also have to worry about his mental health. The more unsettling events that Daniel suffers through or the longer he stays in darkness, the more his sanity is drained. You’ll want to keep your sanity up as much as possible as not only does a decline in sanity cause Daniel to begin to hallucinate, it also attracts the terrifying creatures that stalk you throughout the castle. There are no potions of any sort to increase your sanity, but you are able to regain some of it after the completion of a puzzle and through other key story events.
The puzzles are all very well crafted, never feeling too complicated or too easy. You interact with puzzles much the same way as you interact with doors and drawers; by picking objects up, pulling levers or turning wheels, and so on. Developer Frictional Games makes clever use of this mechanic with several of its puzzles, and the level of interactivity serves even further in keeping you immersed throughout.
The developers did a great job of pacing the story throughout the game, but unfortunately it all falls flat on its face when you reach the ending. There are three total endings, all of which are determined based on your actions during the final sequence. Not only do the developers do a poor job of communicating just what it is you’re supposed to do during the final moments, there’s also the fact that all three of the endings feel far too abrupt than what the game deserves. After becoming so invested in the deep, twisted and compelling story for a good 7 hours, I couldn’t help but feel that I deserved a more fleshed-out ending than what I ultimately got.
The ending is a bummer, but it doesn’t take away from the experience as a whole. Amnesia is a terrifying, masterfully-crafted experience that will keep you drawn into its twisted world for a good 6-10 hours. If you have even the slightest interest in horror games, you owe it yourself to experience Amnesia. For a mere $20 on Steam (or from the developer’s official website), you’re not going to regret it.
Score: 9/10 – Wonderful
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