Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Make no bones about it – Amnesia: The Dark Descent (ATDD) is one of the scariest games around. Just like in film, there are games that go for the ‘jump’ factor with tumultuous fright-cues; others that go for the dark, foreboding atmosphere. ATDD has both, along with something film cannot compete with – loss of control.
This is outlined pretty much from the outset. Upon starting, Frictional recommend you play the game in a dark room with headphones on. The opening sequence is fraught with noises, footsteps and poltergeist-like activity, with your view constantly being pulled in directions you really don’t want it to be. This is when the mechanics of sanity and light sources are introduced. Staying in the darkness reduces your sanity meter, so finding a window or light source is crucial in order to keep from going insane.
And then there are the monsters. ATDD’s sheer genius lies in the fact that there is no combat to speak of in a dark, scary castle filled with monsters, meaning your only option is to run away and hide as soon as you spot one. Compounding this is the fact that even looking at monsters drains your sanity meter. There will be times where you will be hiding in a corner looking at the wall wondering if it’s safe to turn around yet, or thinking something’s there when you really have no idea. Taking away the player’s ability to attack not only improves the scare factor but makes the cat-and-mouse element of the gameplay much more exciting.
ATDD also has great interactivity with the environment, using mouse sweeps and click ‘n’ drags for everything from doors to drawers, and it only heightens the immersion. Ransacking drawers and chests is vital too, in order to find more Tinderboxes and Lantern Oil that will guarantee some light sources are available should your sanity meter drop dangerously low.
The plot itself is rather interesting, despite the tawdry inclusion of yet another amnesiac plot device in a video game. The twist here is that it is self-inflicted; a note written by the protagonist Daniel and discovered by himself at the start of the game warns him that the memory erasure was for a very good reason, which becomes all too clear towards the end of the game once the flashbacks and scraps of diary entries found scattered around the castle reveal the grizzly goings on within the castle and its Baron Alexander, whom the note instructs you to murder.
At the price point and with it being available for pretty much any desktop computer, Amnesia is an easy sell. While it’s relatively short for a single-player game there is extra content with the developer commentary and the fantastic Custom Story mode, which allows people to craft their own stories using Amnesia’s assets and game engine. This kind of experience only comes along once in a while, and the quality is there to appeal to all kinds of PC gamers.
