Amnesia: The Dark Descent (makers of Penumbra)

[Darth Roxor]

True, the ending was a little meh and 'wait, that's it?', but then again, nothing can beat Overture's. That friggin worker manifesto, goddammit, it made me shit bricks when I found it.

Also true about the puzzles. They were all pretty simplistic, and I was disappointed that the '4 chemicals' thing was auto-solving. I think I was stuck only two times during the whole game, and both due to stupid reasons

Spoiler

First was in the sewer section, where you have to lower both bridges. There was this place where you had to attach pipes into holes in the wall. There was room for 4 pipes, but only 3 in the area. I was running around like a dumbfuck for 15 minutes looking for the fourth pipe when I finally thought 'ah fuck, let's shuffle them a bit', and it worked...

Second was at the very end when you make the tonic for Agrippa. Had no idea how to get into that friggin laboratory, and again, I was running like a dumbfuck around the choir/transept for 15 minutes for a crowbar or something, since I've been to the chancel before, and it wouldn't cross my mind that all I need to do is go there to get raepd by a scripted zombie encounter.

But overall, the atmosphere is better than in both Penumbras, I think, mainly due to the sanity meter, the flashbacks and light being a resource. It's especially a step up after Black Plague's immaculate white corridors. Enemy interaction was also a lot better, since you still couldn't fight them, but you also couldn't really run from them, as they weren't the slowpokes from Black Plague and they COULD outrun you. Not to mention the friggin panting noise right behind your neck when they chased you.

I also liked a lot some of those really disturbing fucking moments, like

Spoiler

The flashback at the farm. The flashback to the ritual and carving the guy on the table. The torture rooms in the transept. The whole fucking choir and storage at the elevator-level. Drilling the deader's skull to get his blood in the morgue. The wine cellar. Each time the shadow 'is near' and starts wailing.

All in all, good stuff. Could be a little longer, and puzzles could be less banal, but overall, good stuff.

 

[Hoodoo]

I wish I had the balls to play and finish this game

 

[Phelot]

Played it for a bit last night. Didn't get very far, but it seems to be worth the $10 pre-order.

I actually like Frictional games because they're making something that they seem to like to make even though it obviously won't appeal to everyone. In short, they're doing very non-popamolish stuff.

But really their games won't be of any appeal to folks that simply never forget that they're just playing a game because yeah, most of the gameplay so far seems to just be creeping around and being scared. A couple of points I liked so far:

When I got to the main hall after the mini tutorial, it was cool to find out I had all these locations to go to, but it isn't really clear which way to go first. Makes you feel lost. I kept wondering if I was going to trigger something, like make monsters start roaming if I go to the wrong section first thus making it more difficult.

I like that they make the player once again into just this regular bro that isn't in God mod all the time. That's part of what makes the game so scary: knowing that you're weak. A game can have all kinds of gimmicks and sounds, but if the player feels confidence in a loaded gun and 100 % shields, then they're not really scared.

The atmosphere is really great in my opinion. It's essentially what makes the game. Right now, I don't have any indication what each weird sound or event is. I finally saw my first monster, but was able to hide from it. What's awesome is that I never got a good look at it.

As for the physics... not sure what you guys mean? I played all the Penumbras and this seems to be about the same though I haven't had to move anything really big yet.

 

[MessiahMan]

As far as the physics goes, try moving one of the wine barrels. In Penumbra, you wouldn't have been able to get such an object off the ground, instead relying on pushing/pulling it. In Amnesia, you can fling it around like it's one of the books laying around.

Overall, though, As much as I was looking forwards to the game, I like Penumbra better. This game is more atmospheric and spooky, overall. The mansion is a nice setting, but the weak (nonexistant?) puzzles and story don't mesh as well as everything did in Penumbra.

Now, I only made it to the back hall, and completed getting the three rods required to make the elevator work.I just entered the machine room, but I figure that's got to be a pretty good representative slice of the gameplay. I'm not too disappointed, though. It's certainly not as though I'm not getting my $10 worth out of this bad boy.

 

[Phelot]

I guess if you don't get scared then there's really not much other gameplay to the game. I had fun being all tense and shit, but yeah essentially all I've done so far is find a few items and a key, but I like it so far since that's about what I expected.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Oh, BTW, another rather huge flaw is that enemies suffer from the 'Alpha Protocol' syndrome. That is, often after you die and restart from last checkpoint, the enemies just... disappear, which kills the tension a bit.

 

[asper]

Oh, BTW, another rather huge flaw is that enemies suffer from the 'Alpha Protocol' syndrome. That is, often after you die and restart from last checkpoint, the enemies just... disappear, which kills the tension a bit.

I wondered about this in the demo. I thought it was meant to be this way, seemed like some next-gen dumbing down to make it easier on the players.

 

[Berekän]

Oh, BTW, another rather huge flaw is that enemies suffer from the 'Alpha Protocol' syndrome. That is, often after you die and restart from last checkpoint, the enemies just... disappear, which kills the tension a bit.

What? Really? That's a very HUGE flaw for me, so if I can't get past a monster (like the one in the dungeons, first time I died ) I just have to die and get free way?

 

[Gragt]

You can also often exit the area and come back to make the monster disapear. It worked in Penumbra too. Cheap tactic though.

Still I found a few places in the game where monsters appear and vanish somewhat randomly.

 

[xemous]

I checked out the demo on steam and got a copy. It's also on Mac and Linux if you buy direct from the developers site.

I like the concept of the game but it needed more detail. Like readable short stories that you slowly uncover, more puzzles, harder puzzles, and a more detailed story with a few twists. The games story is terrible IMO

This is the developers 3rd game in the genre and I haven't played their first 3 survival horrors one of which is an addon, they look like shit anyway.

The developers said they wanna do something new so I think this is the last of it's kind. An Amnesia 2 would be awesome.

SPOILER ALERT
You're supposed to find some baron that tricked you into becoming a sadist for his owns ends and murder him. You can't do it in your current state of mind, because the atrocities you committed are too much to handle, so you drink an amnesia potion to make you forget. With a fresh and innocent mind you venture back through the castle to murder the baron.

I preferred the standard castle scenery of libraries, wine cellars and ballrooms and shit, but it degrades into sewers and cult like summoning chambers and becomes remote from the standard castle scenery.

There's fun physics based puzzles where you're repairing steam engines and other machinery. The puzzles are easy.

I imagined the Inner Sanctum, the place you're trying to get to, to be a grand library with books and interesting paintings abound, and then you go in and kill the baron with a rock or some other object violently with blood and shit. It's not how it goes down at all. You just push 3 pylons infused with magical energy and the baron, whose floating next to them dies, and the Inner Sanctum is just some empty room nothing special at all. It's like the rushed the ending.

I cant think of a game that had a decent ending or last boss sequence anyway. The games still worth getting through.

take it easy, kids.

 

[entertainer]

welcome to adventure gaming subforum

 

[baronjohn]

I think monsters vanish because if they lingered around level changing triggers, it would make the game unplayable.

 

[Darth Roxor]

This is the developers 3rd game in the genre and I haven't played their first 3 survival horrors one of which is an addon, they look like shit anyway.

Kill yourself.

 

[xemous]

This is the developers 3rd game in the genre and I haven't played their first 3 survival horrors one of which is an addon, they look like shit anyway.

Kill yourself.

I'd love more survival horror from these guys but the lack of detail in the screenshots destroys it for me.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I'd love more survival horror from these guys but the lack of detail in the screenshots destroys it for me.

Kill yourself.

 

[entertainer]

fucking australian

 

[Ancient]

Game is awesome , and story gets better and better.And main character isn't such a wimp as you may think , he has some balls.You'll see yourself.

 

[treave]

It does sound decent, but nothing more than that.

 

[Ancient]

It does sound decent, but nothing more than that.

Screw you IT''S BEST HORROR GAME EVER PERIOD

 

[treave]

It does sound decent, but nothing more than that.

Screw you IT''S BEST HORROR GAME EVER PERIOD

Amnesia: The Dark Decent

 

[Wulfstand]

Really enjoying this game so far, it has a great feeling. I got to the part where I got the key to the wine cellar and those strange war-deserting fucks start to appear, only it seems that they puff away if you look them in the face (with a lightsource, in my case). Is that so for all of them, or was that just a particular case?

 

[MapMan]

If you die, the monsters dont dissappear to make it easier for you. I once died and instead of a monster there were 2 monsters in the hallway ahead, lol.

 

[commie]

fucking australian

Australian......go fucking play TRAINZ, Australian gaming's greatest export.

 

[Mortmal]

I got it, inded it was short, but it was 9 awesome hours. The gameplay is very unique, non violent, no fight just a pure survival horror. And it does a damn good job at it, like a very good horror movie.The lowest level of sanity dont make you die but ive seen impressive effects, for example the empty cage hanging on the cellar are starting to fill, the face on the paintings are rotting away.
A shame theres no virtual reality helmets to play those type of games.Indie, innovative, the kind of little wonder like portal.

 

[Jack]

Paint the man...
Cut the lines...

Paint the man.
Cut the lines.

PAINT THE MAN!
CUT THE LINES!