📢 MISTRESS! HELP ME! 📢
No one's gonna help you bud. 😢
For those that thought we would be jumping straight into A Machine For Pigs ya'll clearly have never played this almost hidden gem. Amnesia: Justine was an expansion of the original game, that served more as a stand-alone title. If Dark Descent was a 2-hour movie, Justine would be considered a 30-minute short film. But oh what a film it was. The best in the series? Let's find out.
Therefore❗️ In this edition of Through the Lens 🎞, we'll be taking a look at Frictional Games super duper expansion to The Dark Descent from 2011: Amnesia: Justine, ◀️
(ignore the curiously shaped whole in the cover, although now that I've mentioned it it's gonna be hard to ignore, sorry)
Roll it! 📽
This is gonna be a first for Through the Lens as there is no OST that I can link. 😭 You see, Frictional didn't compose any new music for this short expansion. Apart from one track that I'll link as to still keep this segment in tact. The song is good, granted. It definitely gives the chases a different feel. But mostly, you're getting the same Dark Descent soundtrack.
The one new track in Amnesia: Justine
I of course played this as soon as it came out. Amnesia mania was at an all-time high when this puppy was released. Frictional, trying to capitalize on the success of their title, whipped up this expansion in less than a year. If you put a gun to my head I would say they had no plans of making this expansion upon the initial release. But boooooyyyy am I glad they did. Because this 'game' slaps,
I put game in quotation marks because Justine is an expansion through and through. It's not a fully-fledged game, running only for 3-4 hours at max (if not less). But its quality is undeniable, as Frictional took everything they learned from Amnesia and bumped it up to 11 with this release.
Such a good game, and I'm so happy to bring some light to it.
The entire game revolves around its depraved titular character - Justine. An attractive noble with a darker side fit to impress Jeffrey Dahmer. Yes, this woman's crazy. Everything in the expansion is her doing, and with the shorter run time, this makes everything more focused, more linear. These are good things by the way. 😅
The majority of the story is told through these old-timey motion pictures that you see below. It tells us of the sadistic lady who would capture her suitors for her own amusement. Torturing them until they become these monsters essentially. It's a pretty dark tale, and I love dark tales. The fact that this one is much more personal just hits harder than the over-the-top story of the original. Not that that one was bad per se, it's just a different type of story. And this more personal approach fits perfectly with this type of game.
The fact that you play as one of the many poor souls locked in this crazy lady's dungeon is also just 👌 chef's kiss. I've found when projects are tighter like this one, it leads to a more immersive experience. That is wholeheartedly the truth here. As your only objective is to get out of the dungeon. Figuring out what happened. And putting a stop to the madness.
While we're here we should mention that the art got a slight bump in this one. Nothing major but it's noticeable. Just playing an Amnesia game with different assets felt great back then. Before we got the spectacle that would be A Machine For Pigs. The voice acting was great as well. Since these elements are not getting their own section I felt we should mention them here. 🙂
Can a horror game be an immersive sim? Yes! Is Justine one? Sorta! 😅
There are many immersive sim elements in Justine that were just not present in the original game, As you escape the nightmarish dungeon of your sadistic mistress, you meet other unfortunate suiters. You have several options here, unlike The Dark Descent which was a purely linear experience. 💯
The fact that you can control the environment in such a way as to save, kill, or horribly kill, your fellow suiters is great game design. Whenever a game is bold enough to introduce immersive sim elements that's a major plus in my books. That's easier said than done. It helps that Justine is such a small experience. And Frictional leveraged that beautifully. 👏
Justine is in a strange place - as I think most people don't even know it exists. 😅 You see the original game has its legacy, and the sequel has its (for better or worse).
Justine I feel like is either beloved or forgotten. It being an expansion and not a stand-alone game certainly doesn't help it. But if I were to sum up what I personally think of it - Justine is the best horror expansion ever made.
I even recommend trying it out by itself. You don't have to play the main game. It's a short experience which you should experience. 😁
Or don't, see if I care, pfft, whatever.
Thank you for reading, you rock! (and maybe roll) 👏👏👏
Shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙
Next up on the chopping block is A Machine For Pigs. The very controversial sequel to The Dark Descent. We just had to bang this one out before since Justine holds a special place in my heart. Also, I think we won't cover the brand-new Amnesia game since I haven't played it yet.
So A Machine For Pigs will be our goodbye to the series. But not to Frictional Games, as we're tackling SOMA after that. 😁
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I hope you are having an amazing weekend! 🙌
