The ultimate interactive horror experience!
This little independent gem with somewhat shoddy graphics is, in my humble opinion, the game of the year. It doesn’t matter one bit that Amnesia’s budget is a drop in the ocean compared to this year’s AAA titles, because this game is all about masterfully creating a mood, and ultimately, an intense sense of dread and hopelessness-- while displaying some great storytelling at the same time.
In a day and age where pretty much all the big games out there feature powerful weapons and lend the player incredible destructive powers, this game is the perfect antithesis. Amnesia’s trump card is the ability to completely strip you of any kind of weapon. As you start playing, you quickly realize that you’re helpless in this dark and sinister universe that is superbly presented to you. Your only chance of surviving are your wits-- you rely solely on “brain power” and on this truly terrifying, but engaging game of hide-and-seek whenever a monster is closing in.
There is also a “sanity meter” that affects your gameplay, and this meter gets depleted whenever you spend too much time in the dark or you witness disturbing events. There are candles and torches you can light up to brighten up the place as you go, but here’s where the game presents a wonderful dilemma to the player: should you light up as many lights as you can or should you keep your surrounding environments in the dark?
Why the question? You must remember you have no weapons, and therefore the only way to lose track of the monsters is to hide in the darkness until they move away. So yeah, the Darkness (with a capital D) is pretty much both your best friend and your greatest scariest enemy-- given its importance in the game, one can almost say it's nearly a character, really.
The Dark Descent really scares the player like never before in a video game. While other games rely on quick-time events and film tricks such as foes coming at you all of sudden and from out of nowhere, and also on precise musical cues to mess with your senses, Amnesia does no such thing: Amnesia doesn’t need it.
Amnesia doesn’t just randomly scare you; Amnesia actually REALLY scares you-- and it's pretty damn relentless at it, almost from beginning to end.
I’ve been playing games since the early 1980’s and I can assure you this was the first time I got frightened playing a video game (or watching a movie, for that matter). Amnesia is an experience that sinks deep into your subconscious-- and stays there! There aren’t many enemies in the game, true, but that’s what makes it even scarier. The atmosphere is truly opressing and sinister and you never really know when something is going to happen; and that constantly keeps you on your toes.
Other games keep throwing enemies at you and everything ends up being somewhat predictable and even cheesy sometimes. And, as mentioned before, if you add the fact that in those games you’re almost always equipped with some kind of nasty weaponry, it makes you feel pretty much invincible and unafraid of whatever might come your way.
Technically, the sound design is nearly flawless and it truly helps this game in reaching a whole new level in the already long history of survival horror games. Also, the story is great-- I won't go into it, though, so I won't spoil it.
All this and much, much more make this game one the most enticing interactive experiences out there and definitely the best horror adventure I've ever played-- even surpassing Frictional Games’ very own previous masterpiece, “Penumbra: Black Plague”. “Black Plague” could get unnerving at times, but its extensive amount of puzzle solving would also make way for some more peaceful and calm moments. Amnesia also features a few clever puzzles, sure, but its main focus lies in… well, in messing you up!
Amnesia: the Dark Descent is in a division of its own, and quite honestly I can't remember anything quite like it in years... maybe even ever.
I’d love to see a big budget game do something like this, with awesome graphics and all that jazz, but I obviously know that won’t be happening, so I think it’s only righteous to reward the independent, inventive and original folks at Frictional Games with some more than deserved credit and also a big, big thank you. The industry needs more people like these guys, people that are willing to risk it all in order to deliver unique gaming experiences in a world that sometimes seems to be flooded with nothing but “cloned” and formulaic games.
