Checkpoint Breached: Amnesia: The Dark Decent: Do I really have to go in there?

I really don't HAVE to...

Ah Amnesia, the most fun I've ever had getting the piss scared out of me. This is my second playthrough of Amnesia, which is going to change my assessment somewhat, but I was pleasantly surprised how fun the game remained even with knowing most of what was going on. But first, the mechanics.

Amnesia goes for a minimalist approach when it comes to mechanics, there's only a few keys to the entire game. It makes heavy use of the physics engine and "carrying" things with the mouse. It's very similar to many other modern purebred adventure games and works rather well. The controls are somewhat difficult which actually adds a lot to the game. Specifically the way you open doors somehow captures how difficult it would be to open a door while running for your life. All in all I like the controls quite a lot, event he peek function worked well. I was never mad at the controls.

Amnesia is the latest in a line of similarly themed games by the same dev house. If you feel up to it, check out Penumbra, as it's essentially more of the same.

But there's a reason why this one caught the attention of the masses and it mostly has to do with atmosphere.

Atmosphere is a difficult thing to cultivate. Don't try hard enough and you get pretty much nothing, try too hard and it comes off as campy and obvious. Dead Space 2 had this problem in spades. It was trying so hard to be scary it fucked it all up. That and they gave you a gun, that usually helps. But Amnesia strikes the right chords. The game is creepy without seeming to try, the setting is as you would expect, but there's always something off about your surroundings. Certain areas make subtle changes to the formula to enhance the experience. At one point there's a storage area where the darkness is just slightly more... dark. Nothing else gets changed but I felt on edge the entire time I was down there. It's a small change, but it's enough because you're already scared.

Now there is a proper way to play Amnesia. That way is not in the middle of the day, with the sound on speakers and your music playing in the background, you pussy. The correct way to play is in as dark as your room can get with headphones on and the volume turned up three notches below excruciating. That way, there's nothing to protect you.

Amnesia understands that for a game to be scary, you must feel slightly helpless. This is pulled off rather well as all they give you is a lantern and the ability to hide in cabinets. The monsters are threatening because they're dangerous.

Fuck

Amnesia also understands that the monster is only scary if it's mysterious and unpredictable. You can't have the monster in front of the player's face the whole game, it just doesn't stay scary. The monsters must startle and then remain scary. The game achieves this by first making the monsters terrifying, seriously good job on the model guys, make it so you don't see to much of them, this is achieved by penalizing you for looking at any monster for too long, and finally by making them smart. The AI is incredibly good in it's purpose. The monsters will chase you, for very long amounts of time and then when they lose you, they actively search for you.

Hiding is no guarantee of safety either. In fact, one of the scariest and most helpless situations is hiding in a cabinet, quietly hiding and BAM, the monster is coming through the door. You have no where to run and must face your fate. And, no, you don't save and quit and reload, you pussy.

I swear that door used to be open

The game is not without it's faults though. Being an indie game, it is rather short, although it going to feel very, very long. The progression is okay but a lot of the game looks pretty mcuh the same save for the last bits, which change it up nicely.

The game suffers quite a bit from "Adventure Game Syndrome", the main symptoms of this is allowing you to get very stuck for long amounts of time, inane puzzle logic and not so clear objectives.

I had played the game before, and I remembered most of the puzzles and where I was supposed to go, and I still got stuck a couple of times, mostly on the trap door in the Nave, which is incredibly well hidden.

Now normally I enjoy difficult puzzles in adventure games, but this is not the right game for that. For it to continue to be scary, you must make progress. The game relies heavily on scripted monster encounters and set locations, so if you take too long, the monsters might stop showing up depending on where you get stuck. In addition, you have a finite supply of oil for the lantern and tinderboxes, so you have to keep progressing or you may run out.

Another well hidden bit

But all in all, I thoroughly enjoy Amnesia. Probably more than is healthy, but what can you do. It's incredibly pretty to look at and very engauging. Even the story has some nice twists and turns, even if it uses the oldest plot cliche in history, it's fun to reassemble your memories and damn it feels good to finish a puzzle. So quit being a wuss and play this game, especially since it's sequel is slated to come out this year. Now, go play it.