Harry Situation Reviews: Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a first-person survival horror game released back in 2010, and it truly is one of the most terrifying video game experiences I ever had. It was developed by Frictional Games, who at the time were only known for developing the Penumbra game series. This game pretty much defined the genre first-person survival horror. Games like Outlast and Blair Witch wouldn’t be like they are without this game.

The premise is simple. You play as a protangonist named Daniel, who wakes up in a dark, foreboding castle with a bad case of, you guessed it, amnesia. As you explore the castle, you start to uncover mysteries about your character, who may have been in to some shady shit, all the while you’re trying your damnedest to avoid monsters and maintain your sanity as the light fades further away in the dark.

The terror factor comes in when you start playing the game and you realize that you don’t have any means to defend yourself. That’s right. No weapon. No traps. Nada. You’re at the mercy of this game. All you can do against the monsters in this game is run and hide. You can’t even look at the monsters in this game otherwise you character looses their shit.

That’s right, there’s a sanity meter in this game where if you’re in the dark for too long or if you stare at a monster for too long your character goes insane and then it’s game over. Your point-of-view starts going blurring and it’ll get worse and worse until all you see is the game over screen. And that right there is what makes the game scary. Having to fall into utter insanity is probably the scariest thing that could happen to anyone, and that’s why I love this game so much. In order to keep your sanity alive, you gotta avoid the monsters as much as possible, and you gotta keep your lantern, your only source of light, lit at all times, which you can do so by finding oil and matches scattered throughout.

The only other mechanic you can do is physics. What I mean is you can grab objects and carry/throw them, which aids you in solving various puzzles. And these puzzles are pretty challenging and fun.

Now when you first play this game you’ll probably think the graphics are pretty date by 2010 standards. But keep in mind that Frictional Games is an independent studio. They don’t do any Triple A style games like Call of Duty or some shit. I say, for an independent game, especially one that does excellently well with lighting and shadows, the graphics are great.

I also really like the deep mystery behind this game. Some times you’ll come across notes and diary entries that give you hints to what kind of bad shit your character may have gotten into. Plus there are moments when you are exploring where you hear voices, like its his memory trying to come back but it’s messing with his head. All part of the growing insanity of the game.

In truth, talking about this game really doesn’t do it much justice. If you really want to experience the true horror behind this game, you gotta play it yourself. It’s available on PC, XBox One, and Playstation 4. Definitely give it a play around Halloween. Just don’t do it in the dark.

Positives:

-Terrifying

-No combat

-Depths of insanity

-Puzzle solving

-Graphics

-Lighting & shadows

-Mystery in the story

Negatives:

-None

Final Grade: A+

Hell, don’t just take my word for it. You should check out the best review of this game done by Zero Punctuation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXuIZstyM7E

So those are my thoughts on Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Have you played it? What were your thoughts? Please be kind, leave a like and comment, and check out more reviews here on Prose!

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