Reviews

• zavulon

  Aug 8, 2023

  After successfully completing Amnesia: The Bunker, I decided to revisit my favorite horror game, Amnesia: The Dark Descent. No matter how many times I return to Brennenburg Castle, I am always genuinely delighted about such turn of events. The player is given the opportunity to discover the story of a young archaeologist named Daniel. During excavation, his team discovers a mysterious artifact, shaped like an orb. However, suddenly a collapse ensues, and Daniel finds himself buried alive under the rubble. In his delirium, he begins to see strange visions and when he comes to his senses, he sees that the orb is split and its parts do not match each other. Daniel miraculously managed to escape from that nightmare, but now something else appeared in his life, bringing destruction. Then the protagonist was plagued by bad dreams and haunted by creepy images. His mind started to slowly fade, and numerous friends and doctors who tried to help him, died under mysterious circumstances. He realized that it was the weird orb, but he didn't know how to get rid of the curse that pursued him. In despair Daniel sent letters to various scientific societies, as well as to the friends of his professor acquaintance, in an attempt to locate answers to his questions. Alas, there was no success, and only after a while he received a reply from a certain Alexander, who said something like: "I know everything, come to me. After making inquiries, Daniel found out that this Alexander was of noble blood and lived in his own castle, Brennenburg, in Prussia. With no other options available, the protagonist immediately sets off into the damp, foggy lands to his new mysterious patron. This game once won me over with its narrative style. We are thrown into the thick of things without much preamble: we are in a huge castle and remember nothing, it is raining outside the window, and a cold wind is blowing through the ornate corridors. Our uncertain footsteps echo through the vicinity, and we feel as if we are completely alone. Inevitably, Daniel will have to encounter the local inhabitants who do not really have benign motives. The plot is presented through flashbacks. Despite this jerky form of narration, the plot is perceived as a whole, and at the end we have a complete assembled image. Furthermore, in Amnesia, I first experienced the mechanics of a panic attack in the protagonist when he is in the dark for a long time and, to regain his sanity, he requires to stay near a light source for a while. Since we'd be easy prey for the so-called Gatherers in the lightness, this kind of risky hiding in the dark caused me a lot of tension every time, but it was fun to restore my sanity while staring at candles for a prolonged period of time. Despite the skillful combination of light and dark segments of the game with unusual mechanics, the intelligence of the enemies here does not boast of elaboration, and they quickly lose sight of the player. The game has a large number of scripted chase moments, so you won't be able to completely evade encounters with monsters. In turn, the music accompanying the chases really makes you cower in your chair in fear. The game can certainly boast a nice gloomy level design and a marvelous ambience. The dimmed lights and monsters prowling around in the dark create a great atmosphere that keeps you in utmost suspense. Even though I have completed Amnesia numerous times, yet each time I fall for this trick from the developers again. It's worth noting the presence of a hard mode, where autosaves are completely disabled, monsters become more aggressive and attentive, and manual saves cost 4 tinderboxes. In the regular game, they were used to light candles to heal your sanity and mark a route for yourself in the dark. In the standard playthrough one can memorize the location of all the tinderboxes, unlike the hard mode, as their appearances there are random, thus each tinderbox the player will actually be greeted with enthusiastic applause. The hard mode presents itself to the player as a serious and demanding challenge, although it has a few differences from the normal mode. No matter how many times I've returned to Amnesia, I've always enjoyed the game's ability to tickle the nerves. The "Choir - Main Hall" location constantly stresses me out with its layout and the soundtrack playing in the background, so it's my custom to slowly creep along the walls, literally feeling them with my backside and heeding every sound. It's an implausible place with an exceedingly eerie atmosphere and a powerful ambience. Bottom line is the following: Amnesia TDD is truly a masterpiece and is one of the best survival horrors of all time!
• gamedeal user

  Sep 28, 2013

  Games don't scare me. Movies don't scare me. In fact, short of being dropped in the middle of the ocean or singing in public, there's not much I'm bothered by... except Amnesia. Why? Because in this game, I am powerless. I cannot fight back. Games like Doom, Resident Evil, Dead Space, etc.; They fail to send chills up my spine and make me squeal like a child because they made the mistake of giving me an arsenal of weapons and badass personality traits. Are Isaac Clarke and Claire Redfield afraid? Sure, and I don't blame them. But I'm not, because I look awesome and I can materialize various tools of immenent destruction. Those creepers waiting to pop-out from behind the corner aren't trying to scare me, they're sacrificing themselves to the God of Death! Amnesia, though... My tools are the world's worst lantern and a number of closets to hide in! I couldn't fight if my life depended on it, and it most certainly does. Well done, Amnesia; I haven't looked over my shoulder this much since I was 12.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 21, 2015

  [b]Amnesia: still the ruling king of horror games[/b] Horror games are a special genre. What scares one person to hell, could make somebody else just raise an eyebrow, or even come across as comical to yet another gamer. Opinions on what makes a good horror game do vary accordingly, but amidst all these discussions, there's one game that stands out: [i]Amnesia: The Dark Descent[/i]. Almost everybody who has played this game, concedes that it is exceptionally scary, and thus succeeds wonderfully as a horror game. The first of the two [i]Amnesia[/i] games, it was released just five years ago, in september 2010. It's not the first horror game by its developer, Frictional Games, who earlier made the [i]Penumbra[/i] games, but it's certainly the title that made Frictional Games famous. With the hype around the upcoming release of [i]Soma[/i], yet another Frictional title, playing through their best known horror game yet only seemed appropriate, and long overdue. Actually I started this game already three times earlier this year, every time not finding the courage to move on after the first hour or so, out of pure fear. I only play this kind of games when it's dark outside, using headphones, in order to let them develop their full scaring potential, but with [i]Amnesia: The Dark Descent[/i] this kind of approach just looked impossible. The past couple of weeks I finally found the courage to persevere (in complete darkness), but I was only able to play the game in small pieces, only half an hour or so on end, after which I literally had to recover. This may seem like exaggerated, but it's not. This game is by far the scariest I've ever played. Playing as Daniel, you have to re-discover who you are and what you're doing in a medieval castle somewhere deep in the German woods. As the game progresses, the story poses more and more questions, and only at the very end did all the pieces come together for me. But it's not the story itself that's particularly scary. It's the way the game puts the player in an extremely vulnerable position, without any means of defense (no swords or guns in this one!) and only some tinderboxes and a lantern as a means to progress through the increasingly unsettling surroundings. The game is by far the darkest I've ever played. Darkness is actually transformed into one of the game's defining elements: when standing in darkness, Daniel slowly but surely turns mad, and the only way to counter this is either to light some candles with the tinderboxes, or to light your lantern. Since lantern oil is quite scarce, I found myself constantly trying to save it as much as possible. There is a constant looming danger in the form of monsters, who are seldomly to been seen but impose terror upon the player by sound or just by thought. For when a monster finds you, it's almost surely instant death. The game manages to strike the perfect balance between slowly progressing episodes where I was fumbling around in the dark, hiding for monsters and looking for clues or letters, and some scenes where the only option was: run! It's hard to describe in words exactly why this game got so deep under my skin, though, because it terrified me on an even deeper level that has nothing to do with graphics or game mechanics. I think the theme of man turning into a monster even worse than any monster imagineable struck a resonating chord inside me. I found myself screaming out loud at times, mostly out of utter disgust at what was happening. The game had a very unsettling effect on my, and probably that's why it took me several tries to play and finish it. It's a masterpiece in its genre, yet to be trumped. [b]Very highly recommended, but not for the faint of heart, nor for heart patients[/b]
• gamedeal user

  Sep 23, 2011

  this game is a sequel to doom 3's lighting engine, making it the only game to be a sequel to a lighting engine
• gamedeal user

  Nov 13, 2014

  By far, the strongest laxative ever made.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 4, 2014

  I was constipated all week. Then i played this game. #Instantrelief 10/10 Would recommend this game to anyone with severe bowel movement disfuctions
• gamedeal user

  Oct 7, 2014

  I actually do reviews for games on Giant Bomb and PC Gamer... and one game I have trouble reviewing is Amnesia Dark Decent. It's not that I'm indecisive it's just, I can't find the proper words to ever describe this game. You couldn't possibly understand what this game means to me. You might like it and the horror genre would say it's a great game but to me it's more. This game single handedly restored my faith in horror games and got me playing them again. After Resident Evil 5/6 and after Silent Hill Homecoming and Downpour I stopped. Stopped playing, stopped reading up on, stopped caring about horror games. Resident Evil I saw coming but Silent Hill too? This mass appeal mindless action bullsh*t needs to stop. Survival horror was the genre that got me into gaming and then I saw the genre just up and leave us fans for more sales from the Call of Duty players. Action is where it's at? As the head developer for Resi 6 said "Survival Horror games are no longer popular, we needed a new direction and new ideas" well guess what... Amnesia proved Survival Horror still has plenty of new ideas to bring to the genre and proved that the genre is not dead. Amnesia is art.... it's artwork crafted by brilliant minds. Look past all the fun scary chases and the jumpscares, just look at the game. A first person game that doesn't have weapons? Yeah imagine that. You hide and run from monsters, much like people would do in real life. But if you break down the level design, the choice of imagery, the methodically detailed environments. You will see true beauty within. If I may quote some negative reviews here "water monster wasn't all that great of an enemy, he doesn't even have a character design. It's lazy...." yes they had limited resources however this isn't lazy design choices. The fact that you cannot see the water monster is more terrifying than any other creature in the game. It plays off your imagination, the fear of the unknown. Your mind subconsciously filled the blank with your worst fear which gave this monster so much memorability. The water monster is one of the most memorable moments, everyone talks about it and that's the reason. After such a horrifying experience with the water monster, what happens? You walk into a well light room with a fountain that supplies the calming sound of running water, a hole in the ceiling with light seeping through (one of the first times you see the light of day in this game), beautiful music plays softly in the background and the room has a tint of blue in the air. This is no randomly designed room, no this is a reward. This is saying "Hey you made it through that horrible experience, breathe relax a bit. You deserve it" and that is something I haven't seen before. No stupid achievement unlocked, no legendary loot, no high score and no misspelled CONGRADURATIONS. In a game that plays on your fear and emotions, they reward with such. They made you crap your pants, now they're making you feel relaxed. And that means more than any achievement. The story is rich and it plays along with the tension in the game. The enemies aren't scary on the level of a jumpscare but rather the fear of being chased. Jumpscares are cheap thrills, true fear is much harder to achieve in a gamer and much more satisfying for the gamer. They accomplish this in many ways. Never knowing what danger lurks beyond the glow of your lamp, the dark abyss continuously hunts you down, the monsters are not just some scary looking monsters for the sake of "boo look at me I'm scary" they're people you tortured and sacrificed for your own safety against the darkness, their disfigured bodies are representations of the guilt you bare in the deepest parts of your conscious despite suffering Amnesia you still feel it, led astray by someone you thought you could trust, no escape or easy way out the only path is down and it's bathed in darkness as you descend slowly into your past with each step you lost sanity, walls are shaking, the crackling sound of your own mind is louder than your beating heart as you're chased by a horrifying disfigured creature you created, the sound of screeching can be heard when they're getting closer letting you know how close you are to death. Oh... jeez I... I can go on and on about this game. Hell I want too... but if this gets any longer it will be considered a novel. The best thing I can say about this game? Play it... please. I beg you if you're a fan of horror games, if you like being scared, if you like a good story or immersion or hell if you just want to play a damn good game; play this game! This is without a doubt my favorite game of all time. The favorite game, not one of. That's hard to say, but it's true. I never game 10 out of 10. I always made fun of other reviewers who did, saying no game is perfect. 10 out of 10 is saying it's the masterpiece of all gaming and cannot be improved in any way, shape or form. However, I've seen my mistake. You don't give it a 10 based on some score that means nothing to anyone else other than you. You're giving it a 10 based on the experience the game gave you. And based on that, Amnesia The Dark Decent was given my very first 10 out of 10.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 25, 2014

  Most of those hours were spent in a closet.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 5, 2020

  its literally the mother of all horror games fight me
• gamedeal user

  May 17, 2015

  Whenever I feel nervous or anxious I play this relaxing game to calm my nerves. I especially recommend playing this before going to sleep as it will ensure a good night's sleep for you! The overall atmosphere of this game is very cheerful and bright. The maps are filled with great landscapes, ingenious architecture, and friendly creatures and characters. In my opinion it's exciting and constant entertainment for all ages and genders. A great game in every aspect and 100% worth the money! The only con is that a character known as 'brute' is sometimes very naughty.