Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Review
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
System - Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and PlayStation 4
Released - 2010
Developed by - Frictional Games
Genre - Survival Horror
Plot
I will not spoil the entire story of the game here, but the story begins: In late August 1839, Daniel, a young man from London, awakens in the dark and empty halls of the Prussian Brennenburg Castle with little to no memory about himself or his past - and this is where the adventure begins. Daniel (you) suffer from a short-term amnesia, and you hardly remember more than your name, and the fact that something, a shodow, is hunting you - and that your are in the castle to find and kill the baron, Alexander. As you proceed trough the castle, the story is gradually uncovered by finding and reading journal entries and flashbacks from events prior to the events in the game, revealing some true horrors.
Gameplay
This is a first-person horror game, where you have no means of offence or defence when facing your enemies. The game includes a physical object interaction, mening you have to follow the laws of physics to pull/push doors open, and solve puzzles. This means you can peek trough barely open doors, between crates etc, and you have to stick to the shadows, and use caution while proceeding. While you are hidden in the dark, you cannot see to good either - and troughout the game you pick up matches for providing some light in dark areas, and oil to bring with you an handheld oillamp. The resources are rather scarce trough the game, and combined with the fact that spending to much time in the dark can cause the player too loose his sanity, seeing halusinations, fainting, moving slow and get a hearth beating harder than the war drums of mordor - you have too choose wisely where to put on the light. This makes the game rather tense troughout most of the campaing, that took me approximately 5 hours to complete.
Graphics and audio
The game was released back in 2010, and by the looks of the game it quickly becomes clear that this game is nearing a decade old. The textures and models were mediocre at best at release, but what the game does well is the light- and shadow effects. Along with parts of suspense and tense music, and creepy sounds from the next door - this game, in my opinion, has managed to capture the horror expereince really well. This is an excellent example of a game that manages to raise your pulse and give you some tense moments, without tossing out cheap jump scares - or relaying solely on realistic graphics. This game manages to provides this trough atmosphere.
Verdict
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is by many considered to be one of the best first-person horror games ever made. The game actually caught me a bit of guard, and proved to be way more tense than I had expected. The story is told in a simple, but rather fascinated way - and while the story alone did not drive med forward - the athmosphere and tense moments makes this game easy to recommend for anyone who likes survival horror games, or anyone who wants to see if this is a genre for them.
Rating 4 of 5
