Amnesia: The Dark Descent Review
I wish I could say I was one of those people who is not fazed by scary games or movies. Don’t get me wrong, when they’re done properly I love them immensely for the thrills and chills they provide. I’ve never been in the camp that refuses to partake of the horror genre, but when games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent come along and scare the holy crap out of me, I have to wonder just how wise a decision that may be.
I had lukewarm expectations going into this game since its predecessor, Penumbra didn’t really capture me the way I hoped it would. I chalk this up to lose controls and a bit of impatience, as the storyline for the Penumbra trilogy is something I would eventually like to experience. However, despite owning all three of the Penumbra games, I can’t seem to get past the first hour or so of Overture. For this reason, I was cautious in my hopes for Amnesia, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised and frankly, scared to death by the end of the game.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent does everything Alan Wake tried to accomplish and does it much, much better. The ambiance set forth at the beginning of the game carries through as you learn your character Daniel, has willingly drank a concoction to erase his memory. Your only clues to Daniel’s former life include a note left behind mentioning the concoction with an addendum to kill Alexander Brennenburg, the baron of the castle you find yourself trapped inside.
As you explore the environment around you, a real sense of dread sweeps over you the first time Daniel’s vision narrows upon witnessing doors squeaking open by themselves, or the faint sound of foot steps slowly fading into the distance.
As I said before, my first few steps within Castle Brannenburg were sort of skeptical. I knew what I was getting into because of my familiarity with the mechanics of the Penumbra series, but by the time an hour had passed, I found myself needing to turn off the game. I didn’t need to turn it off because I was bored, or the game was terrible, but because if I didn’t, I felt I would have lost a touch of my sanity.
Even after I was bathed in the warm glow of my desktop wallpaper and the lights had been turned back on, I kept hearing the noises of Brannenburg castle. As such, when I got up a few moments later to use the restroom, a trek I normally make in the dark through the house, all of the lights accompanied me.
I have to commend Frictional Games for the little touches that make Amnesia: The Dark Descent quite an experience. Instead of running and gunning in games such as Resident Evil or even Dead Space, you are locked inside the castle with little more than your own wits about you.
Perhaps the reason Amnesia is more heart-strikingly terrifying is because of how close to home it hits. It’s very rare for a game to achieve the sense that you are the protagonist instead of some pixels cobbled together to look like A Hollywood Hero™, but many times as I hid behind a crate, listening to the slow scraping and moaning of an abomination wandering past, my breath caught in my throat as though me breathing would somehow alert the hideous thing to my presence.
Of course, no survival horror game is complete without puzzles to solve and Amnesia certainly doesn’t skimp in this department, as it contains plenty of puzzling action that will definitely wrack your brain as you try not descend into insanity while exploring the castle. I got stuck in a few areas of the game and wandered for a bit, wondering what to do, but the journal and note system featured in the game contains subtle clues to all of the puzzles. Chances are if you get stuck without the slightest clue what to do, you’re missing a journal page or a note somewhere.
I mentioned Alan Wake previously because the mechanic behind that game is using light to your benefit as a defense tool. This concept is something that Amnesia features as well, but the more I explored the castle, the more I realized that light could certainly cause my death as much as it could save me. There are plenty of opportunities to use tinderboxes you pick up to light candles and lanterns in the areas you explore, but leaving yourself without a few dark corners in which to hide is very ill advised when you have no means to defend yourself should you draw unwanted attention.
Instead of traditional health meters which would have certainly detracted from the experience of the game, Daniel’s health is monitored in the inventory panel by hovering over images of a heart and a brain. The heart monitors Daniel’s physical health, while the brain keeps track of his sanity levels. Witnessing frightening acts such as doors opening by themselves, or hearing a child crying in a lonely corridor affect Daniel’s sanity, as does sitting alone in the dark for too long. If Daniel becomes too frightened, his vision begins to swim and looking around becomes harder to control. Sanity levels are maintained by staying in the light and avoiding looking at anything that may unsettle him, such as hacked up corpses, or that shambling zombie groaning and heading straight for his hiding spot.
Amnesia’s storyline is revealed in a similar manner to Christopher Nolan’s Memento, with small pieces of the story interspersed through loading screens between different areas of the castle. I generally frown on games telling pieces of the story through loading screens, as it seems like a sloppy mechanic to say “here’s what we can’t tell you while you’re playing”. However, the additional pieces of the story that are revealed through the screens as you pass through areas serve more to supplement what you already know about Daniel, than blatantly telling you what has happened.
Amnesia also incorporates an ingenious flash back effect that utilizes sound to convey partial memories in areas Daniel has been before. The flash back effect slowly reveals more about the mysterious Alexander Brannenburg and his operations at the castle. The absence of visuals in accompaniment with the sounds you hear during these flashbacks only serves to enhance the feeling of dread that creeps around in the back of your mind while exploring the castle. In many cases, listening to what occurred in a certain area of the castle can definitely give you more than a few chills than if your exploration was interrupted to watch a cutscene of the event instead.
As far as the technical aspect of the game goes, the controls in Amnesia are much more tightened compared to its predecessor, Penumbra. Opening doors and flipping switches requires a flip if your mouse hand, but whereas this was a pain to do in Penumbra, it feels natural in Amnesia. The graphics are decent and I really enjoyed what I saw of the castle when I stopped to take the time to admire instead of fear my surroundings. The haunting quality of the music that accompanies the game is spot on, though one particular sound effect in some areas of the castle sounded like the low drone of bees rather than something to be found in a Prussian castle. This effect got slightly annoying after spending some time there, but thankfully it is only in small portion of the area you explore.
Overall, Amnesia is an absolute must for anyone who loves being scared out of their wits. The type of fear that Amnesia induces is not one of shock value or cheap scares designed to make you jump, but a slowly building terror that reaches crescendos as you progress further along in the story. It is highly recommended to play with a set of headphones and the lights off to get the full terrifying experience, but don’t say I didn’t warn you if you find yourself needing to take breaks sooner than you’d like.
__________
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux for $19.99 from the developer’s website, or your favorite digital distribution service. There is also a demo available for those who would like to try before buying.
