Amnesia: The Dark Descent Review by Mike MacDonald

I had mentioned a couple of posts ago that would be doing a review on a little game called Amnesia by Frictional Games.  This is that post.

Introduction

Amnesia is a classic survival horror game that can be described as a hidden masterpiece in the video game industry.  This being a not so well known 3rd party publisher, it's nice to see something different and actually well done compared to all of the heavy hitter titles from well known publishers that have somewhat taken the main focus.  I'll explain to you all f the features that make this a great game.

Story

Amnesia begins with the protagonist Daniel traveling through the castle of brenninburg (spelling?).  He had drank something to make himself lose his memory, on purpose.. for some reason.  Daniel leaves himself a note explaining that he needed to make himself loose his memory and that he must kill Alexander, specifically says "murder".  There are narrated notes and flashback sequences that explain how Daniel got into the position he's in.  A good storytelling method to keep the mood of the game and still keep pretty good pacing.  Daniel travels through the castle to find Alexander and makes his way to the Inner Sanctum, Alexanders most precious chamber located deep underground.  Throughout the game you see mentionings of a Mythic Orb that Daniel found in Africa on an expedition, this orb holds great significance throughout the entire game and is a main plotpoint as to why Daniel is in his position and why he is going to "murder" Alexander.  The story is very immersive and keeps you interested through the entire game, you're constantly wondering what the monster is that is chasing you, and what the purpose of the orb is.  It has a great sense of mystery which is something that few games today accomplish.  The only thing I was disappointed with was the lack of backstory Daniel and Alexander, but again that adds to the mystery to the past of Alexander, the castle, and his motives.

Story Rating: 8.5/10

Gameplay


Amnesia has a simple, unique, and somewhat classic RPG gameplay style.  You are completely immersed into the world as Daniel, there are no cutscenes, not breaks in the gameplay.  Everything that happens does so on screen in front of Daniel, so basically what he see's you see.  You ARE Daniel.
The most fantastic feature that makes this game so unique is the fact you have no weapons, you have no way of defending yourself against the monsters in Brenninburg.  This mechanic works incredibly well as a survival horror factor.  You literally have no choice but to run and hide, and that's exactly what you'll do.
Daniel has a lot of issues, one of those issues is, he's afraid of the dark... literally..  this isn't explained in the game, but you can kind of tell by how he starts to go insane if in the dark too long.  I'm not even joking, there's literally an insanity meter in the game.  Staying in the dark slowly drains your insanity, the more insane you get the more blurry your vision becomes, the harder it gets to walk around, and you'll eventually imagine bugs crawling on your face and faint.  After you've fainted though you lay down for a bit and get back up, and your insanity is reset, so you can really go through the whole game without turning on a light.  The negative to light though is that it's much easier for monsters to see you, and if you see a monster, your insanity starts going way up if you look at them too long.  Usually though if you see the monster you're pretty much dead.  This is what you see before you die.

Notice how all of the lights are on?

So if you want to be smart, you'll stay in the dark.., you'll slowly go insane, but progressing through the game and solving puzzles with help you regain your insanity.  Now the above pictures shows you what not to do..  Now this is what you're supposed to do!

Dammit!  He evaded me with darkness!

The rest of the gameplay revolves around puzzles and creating items.  At times you'll find your route blocked because of weird organic substances, or a bunch of rocks.  You eventually make acid and explosives, and you need to create other items in order to obtain the ingredients needed to create other items.  The puzzles really aren't all that hard, but you will find yourself in some places where you don't know what the hell to do with something you just picked up.  I picked up a metal pipe at one point... and I never ended up using it, but rest assured every item has a purpose, but you can find ways around even needing those items, so the game kind of lets you be creative in the way you progress.  The only items you can't get, are weapons.  Of course you can pick up things you could use as weapons.. but even though Daniel some how sports super human throwing strength, he doesn't seem to understand the concept that knives are sharp... and hammers cause blunt force trauma...

Health, Sanity, Inventory

The gameplay really does provide a great survival horror experience without allowing you to harm the monsters or defend yourself, it's really just you going from point A to point B, but having to hide in dark corners while your trying to get there.  There are instances in the game where you can't even hide from the monsters, and are forced to just run and slam doors behind you... Which the monsters will inevitably smash open.  It is kind of weird though that there's plenty of weapon type things lying around that you could use, but Daniel explains at the first of the game that he's tried everything.  So I guess he can't pick any weapons up because he already knows and doesn't want to embarrass himself.

Gameplay Rating: 9/10

Graphics

Now, I don't think graphics are particularly all that important when it comes to this kind of game.  That being said, the graphics really aren't bad and are actually pretty comparable to some bigger titles.

The textures are all pretty sharp and the environments are chilling, especially when they change right before your eyes.  The sprites in game could use a little more TLC, but you rarely see any people or even the monsters to really care about that much about it.  The lighting in all of the different areas sets a different mood and feel.  Those moods being "I am definitely going to die here." and "I might possibly die here.."

All of this plumbing and I have not ONCE seen a bathroom!

Everything about the castle in Amnesia tells you that it's always been a dark and dreary place, some messed up stuff happened here..  You're constantly looking around every corner in suspense, you never really feel safe.  That's definitely a job well done when it comes to survival horror.  All of this being said, you can tell the graphics are a bit dated in this day in age, but you can't really expect all that much from a low budget.  The graphics do the job, and the team knows the limitations of the engine and don't try to overdo it.  The game runs smooth and some lower end PC's with decent graphics as well, which is pretty much a plus I'd say.

Graphics Rating: 7/10

Design


When I talk about the design of a game, I'm really talking about the sound, atmosphere, environment, art style, and the overall feel all of these elements bring to the game.  In Amnesia's case, all of these elements work together rather well.  Having these things work good in a survival horror game is pretty vital, because in this kind of game, if you don't instil fear into the player than the game isn't doing it's job.

The sound works incredibly well to bring you into the atmosphere.  You hear distant screams through pipes running through the castle and underground.  There are plenty of instances where Daniel will gasp and turn in a direction uncontrollably without warning, which is actually kind of freaky at times, because you're like "WHAT?! WHT IS IT DANIEL!! TELL ME! O GOD!".  It's quite a fun experience..

I'm not really one for scripted occurrences, because it takes away from re-playability.  The game isn't very fun when you know when and where something is going to happen.  There are some places where this happens in Amnesia, but not as much as other survival horror games.  Of course if you've played the game as much as I have, you'll know when to be careful and where you can relax.  Really, the first play-through is the best, and definitely scares the bajesus out of you.  Doors will open by themselves, pianos will play in the distance, and when you find them.. there's no one there.. you close the piano, and you leave.. you hear it again.. go back.. AND THE PIANO IS OPEN AGAIN!  This and other scripted happenings like, someone banging on a door and yelling to get out and than quickly silenced by a hulking beast.  All of these things work together well to make you feel unsafe... and insecure.  Which is exactly what they should do.

Design Review: 10/10



Final Verdict


Amnesia, is one great game, it will terrify you, and if you like survival horror, it doesn't get much better than this.  Disturbing scenes and images will haunt you..  For the type of game Amnesia is, it does everything right.  Anyone interested should really buy the game, don't just download it.  Buying the game actually helps this publisher and will get them to make bigger and better games!

Story: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 7/10
Design: 10/10

Overall: 8.6

Now, I leave you with some excellent moments in Amnesia!