VIDEO GAME REVIEW: Amnesia: Dark Descent

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Published by: Frictional Games
Developed by:  Frictional Games
Release Date: September 8, 2010
Available on: PC, Mac, Linux

BUY THIS GAME HERE

INTRO: Welcome to another edition of the Bleeding Joystick, where I am pleased to let you know that I have stumbled upon a game from an up and coming developer Frictional Games. It’s a wonderful little return to classic survival horror that steeps you in more suspense than you can possibly shake a stick at. The company line is as follows:

“The last remaining memories fade away into darkness. Your mind is a mess and only a feeling of being hunted remains. You must escape. Awake… Amnesia: The Dark Descent, a first person survival horror. A game about immersion, discovery and living through a nightmare. An experience that will chill you to the core.”

You purposely know as little as possible about this game so that you can discover more as you go along. This is a game about story and atmosphere and you’ll have to read on to find out how I truly felt about it. 

GAMEPLAY:

You play an Englishman named Daniel, and all you know from the outset is that you’ve got to kill a dude named Alexander. You’re stuck in a castle. and things don’t even really start adding up until the end of the game. I’m going to try and not mention the story anymore, because I don’t want to give anything away prematurely. Instead, I’d like to focus on the experience that this game provides.You’re looking around trying to find anything to hint you to your past life, such as notes that you wrote before you went insane. A lot of the game’s story is told through strange, dream-coated cutscenes.

This is a scary game that will have your heart pounding in your chest while you look around and away from your computer to see what’s going on around you. There’s a lot of walking down scary dark corridors where you have to choose which candle to light because light is a finite resource. Instead of everything being lit up, the whole place comes down around you and you’re faced with a terrifying vision and everything fades to black while your character goes nuts.

This isn’t a ‘grab your gun and shoot endless waves of zombies’ game. instead, you will find yourself on a desperate adventure trying to uncover clues. in fact, you’ll be hard pressed to find any weapons at all. The game tells you at the start that you’d better run when you encounter enemies because you’re weak and they’re strong. You will literally find yourself fighting for survival! And hell, if you don’t hide somewhere the monsters will tear you a new one really, really quickly. Not to mention the fact that your character will go completely insane and that doesn’t help either. Get used to running at the very notion of a scary noise, because otherwise you’re kibble. Luckily, the controls just work and feel very natural.

Your best hope is to use the game’s manipulating controls to hide. You’ve got to hide inside cabinets and pull doors shut to ensure that whatever’s out there isn’t coming in to get you. It’s terrifying, simple and very effective. The dark/light aspect of the game is a huge success too, as you have to get used to your surroundings in the darkness before deciding how you want to light the room up. If you’re too busy hiding in darkness, that leads to fear, which will lead to your insanity. You’ve got to stay in the light before you crack up altogether. Don’t get hung up on this though, because you’re guaranteed to go insane.

You’ll also find some physics puzzles in the game and they add to the fun, although I’m usually pretty terrible at solving them. It’s all pretty standard stuff, finding stuff in one room and sticking it in another room or making potions. All you can do is work your way through the horror until the very end. This is a game that is about urgency, keeping calm, and keeping sane.

This is a freaking scary game.

Gameplay: 8.5/10

GRAPHICS:

Amnesia really is a beautiful looking game in almost every way. The areas and enemies are perfectly detailed, and the monsters are downright horrifying to look at sometimes. There’s a really cool blood droplet effect has a stylized presentation where it appears as rose petals instead of blood droplets, but you don’t notice that very often (Which is a good thing, since it means it’s subtle enough to not get in the way of the experience). The only real complaint is the environment, which never really strays away from the castle setting. It’s not a huge problem, since the castle’s various rooms are still rather varied, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a few more environments.

Graphics: 8/10

AUDIO:

The sound in this game is fantastic as well, except for maybe the voice acting (which can be spotty and somewhat hammy now and then). The moans and groans, screams and cries and machinery noises are incredible. This is a game that really needs to be played with headphones and loud. If you can play through this game at night with awesome headphones and not get scared, you’re a far, far stronger man than me.

Audio: 9/10

FINAL VERDICT:

This is a deeply affecting game that will creep you out more than you think. It plays a lot on what you don’t see and hear instead of just throwing wave after wave of monsters after you. You will tense up, you will hold your breath and you will be happy when you get a break from the madness. This is a great story that reveals itself well in the end and pays off. The fact that this was made by a small team of dudes is awesome and this game deserves your time. Pick it up.

Final Score: 9/10

BUY THIS GAME HERE