Small Game, Big Scares
I love when games get me spooked, and this rather dark little game was a near perfect recipe for suspense and jumpiness. It's rare that a title comes along and provides players with such a rich atmosphere to be immersed in. Like the intro states, the game is not to be played to win, its purpose is to give players a dramatic first person survival horror experience. I can honestly say that the game freaked me out a few times, but I'm a sucker for playing games in the dark with the sound cranked!
Like Penumbra, Amnesia The Dark Descent plunges you into a very dark and grisly world full of secrets and terror. This sounds like a million other games but I can assure you this one is different. The gameplay is very straightforward, with a very basic control scheme, but it feels totally authentic with its subtleties and works really well. The graphics are slightly dated, with very low system requirements by today's standards, but the audio and attention to detail easily make up for that. The way the game presents the audio is very clever, with noises being among the scariest part of the game. This makes me happy because we are so used to being jumped by monsters and illusions nowadays.
Overall, Frictional Games did a terrific job putting this gem together, and I can recommend it to anyone who likes survival horror games--or even those who don't. There are some puzzles in the game that I felt were put together well, and the story is solid enough to keep you pushing on. It's a very tense and unpredictable ride, much like the Penumbra games, but I may even say that it succeeds the Penumbra games because of the level of intensity. This is what survival horror games should be, and The Dark Descent should set the standard for innovative ideas in the genre. Give this game a try late one night, and I promise you won't regret it.
