Want to open a door? Click the knob and pull the mouse back (or push forward, if the door opens that way). Daniel whimpers, his breathing turns ragged, and at sanity’s nadir, the mouse even lags, giving the impression that you, the player, are not so much Daniel himself as you are a passenger in his mind, struggling harder to control his actions as Daniel’s ability to perform them deteriorates.Īnd struggle to control Daniel’s actions you will, as Amnesia features a control scheme seemingly derived from Jurassic Park: Tresspasser (or Frictional’s earlier effort Penumbra), wherein interaction involves clicking on objects and moving the mouse in the direction you want to push, pull, pick up, or throw. As sanity drains, the field of view warps, making nearby surfaces swim, shiver, and deform. But unlike seeing a meter drain or contrived bloodstains on the screen as in most first-person games, the effects of an ebbing mind extend beyond the visual. in the dark or in the presence of an enemy) and it drains. Stay too long in a dangerous situation (i.e. The game treats sanity as other games might treat health. That tension adds to the atmosphere and magnifies the sense that you are, at all times, teetering on the brink of madness or death (sometimes both). This amnesia is different, though, in that as you go along, you’ll start to wonder if remembering who you are (a nineteenth-century Englishman named Daniel) and why you’re supposed to kill a man named Alexander is really worth your being terrified and out of sorts all the time, afraid of shadows but also loathe to stay in the light too long.Īmnesia traps you in the uncomfortable position of having to keep from going completely insane as you play, but all the while, it’s constantly forcing you to manage your limited resources and leave your few safe zones, which themselves can be compromised. Now, a title like Amnesia might already be inducing groans among some players, soured by long years of storytelling weighed on the crutch of convenient forgetfulness. These days, the modern survival horror title more resembles an action game with the occasional jump scare than a truly fear-focused offering.Ĭan Amnesia: The Dark Descent bring some real horror back to the table, or will it end up as an experience one would rather just forget?Īmnesia: The Dark Descent (PC, Mac, Linux) Its once-defining characteristics have been co-opted into other genres or simply set aside in favor of more refined, accessible play. In recent years, the survival horror genre has seen something of a decline.
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