Amnesia: The Dark Descent (makers of Penumbra)

[Metro]

Weren't they bemoaning their lack of sales a couple of months ago and pondering whether or not they could stay afloat? Nice to see they did it without a publisher, though. I really wonder why a lot of indie outlets fork over percentages of their profit to ally with a publisher who invariably dictate what platforms they can release on and when... not like it's really necessary in this age of digital distributorship. You can probably get by with a couple of in-house PR people to spread the word at conventions or, hell, just selling your game on Steam brings it some degree of publicity.

 

[MapMan]

Good for them. Another humble bundle with amnesia and they will get a lot more $$ for another game.

 

[Bubb]

Anyone managed to play this on a laptop with an intel express 4 video card? I have read it is somewhat possible, but I haven't managed to do it so far.

I updated the drivers and everything.

 

[Wolfus]

I don't recommend it. You'll have to lower all the details and thus you'll lose whole atmosphere.

 

[Aldebaran]

What am I doing wrong bros? This isn't a I'M SUCH A BADASS THIS GAME THAT EVERYONE SAID WAS SCARY WAS TOTALLY TAME TO ME thread, just my honest impressions. I bought it months ago and I've still only played about 2 hours (currently in the cellar archives with the water monstahs). The game was absolutely terrifying for the first twenty minutes or so, but now it just seems so ridiculously over-scripted. There's such a limited repetoire of ambient scares (creaking floorboards, dust dropping from the ceiling, generic screaming) that it's too easy to tell the difference between when there's actually a monster about, and you're just hearing some if the aforementioned .wav files being looped. Plus when there actually are monsters about, they're preceded by comically obvious visual/auditory cues and seem to be deleted from the level entirely once avoided. I was struck with rather unfavourable comparisons to the comparatively lightly-scripted undead levels in Thief/2/fan missions, where the monstahs have proper patrol routes etc. Also, I get the reason for the dark/light sanity mechanic, but it's more irritating than anything else. Should I keep powering on, or is just another linear sequence of scares?

I never found it boring, but if you do, you might want to quit now. The final level is a disappointment for providing an obvious "safe zone," among a few other things--easily the weakest part of the game from a gameplay perspective. The twist is kind of nice if you haven't been spoiled already, though.

The biggest problem with the game that I found was what you mentioned: monsters disappear after you avoid them (if I recall, they disappear if they kill you too).

Still, I really liked the game. One of the few recent horror entries (in movies or video games) that realized that something is not frightening when you can mow down thousands of them by using your IR-24K plasma rifle with built in automatic target requisitioning.

If you want the full experience, you really have to do as the game says. Turn the lights off and wear headphones.

 

[barker_s]

I loved the whole game. Now if they only made one in science-fiction setting, similar in atmosphere to Alien...

What am I doing wrong bros?

You won't be scared if you really don't want to. You have to immerse yourself, forgive some of its flaws and just enjoy the game instead of nitpicking and its analysing mechanics.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

The monsters get better/game gets scary again when the turd elementals start appearing.

 

[xemous]

i liked it prefer the castle elements than the stupid last half of the game,

i like games where u explore a large castle of mansion full of secrets and ambiance and threat or some horror and uncovering some mystery

not enough of those games released

once the the human race emancipates itself from slavery imagine all the culture and art and happiness and shit that'll be around it'll be delightful

 

[hoopy]

If a monster kills you, you just respawn and the monster is usually gone (or you respawned ahead of it). So the monsters may as well not be there.

And yeah, it's really easy to tell the difference between scripted scares and monsters.

 

[abnaxus]

What am I doing wrong bros? This isn't a I'M SUCH A BADASS THIS GAME THAT EVERYONE SAID WAS SCARY WAS TOTALLY TAME TO ME thread, just my honest impressions. I bought it months ago and I've still only played about 2 hours (currently in the cellar archives with the water monstahs). The game was absolutely terrifying for the first twenty minutes or so, but now it just seems so ridiculously over-scripted. There's such a limited repetoire of ambient creepiness (creaking floorboards, dust dropping from the ceiling, generic screaming) that it's too easy to tell the difference between when there's actually a monster about, and you're just hearing some if the aforementioned .wav files being looped. Plus when there actually are monsters about, they're preceded by comically obvious visual/auditory cues and seem to be deleted from the level entirely once avoided. I was struck with rather unfavourable comparisons to the comparatively lightly-scripted undead levels in Thief/2/fan missions, where the monstahs have proper patrol routes etc. Also, I get the reason for the dark/light sanity mechanic, but it's more irritating than anything else. Should I keep powering on, or is just another linear sequence of scares?

Get Call of Cthulhu: Dark corners of the earth instead.

 

[Gragt]

I guess it's different for anybody but I know that I need to be in the right mood for that kind of game, play it in the dark and with headphones on (actually I always play with headphones on). I've been reminded of it recently with the old AvP from 1999 and I could zip past the levels on hard during daylight with noises from the street outside, but when I tried the same levels in the dark during night, I simply felt very nervous and loved it.

Granted, Amnesia doesn't have constantly respawning monsters that keep the pressure on you, but that's because it's not just about dealing with monsters but also exploring the environments and solving the puzzles, many of which do not involve any threat at all. Perhaps it's main problem is the large amount of scripting, but at the same time it develops some nice atmosphere.

 

[Satan]

I found it pretty boring as well. It had some atmosphere, but it wasn't tense enough. That was just "there's a monster somewhere that might kill you, you'd better be careful!" instead of real fear or just atmosphere. And I consider Pathologic a highly atmospheric game.

 

[Metro]

How many games actually scare people anymore? How many movies? Or any type of media?

 

[Tel Velothi]

Don't worry, I played Amnesia at night with headphones and I didn't "get it" too. Don't get me wrong - it's a good game but not that good as almost everyone claims. Kinda blendish enviroment, annoying "sanity" thing and feeling that the game is only scary because you can't fight back.
Yeah, I was scared few times but the game lacks something... I'll give it a second try but just not now.

Anyway:
Stalker SoC with Oblivion Lost mod >>>>>> Amnesia
in terms of atmosphere and fear.

 

[Satori (original)]

Anyway:
Stalker SoC with Oblivion Lost mod >>>>>> Amnesia
in terms of atmosphere and fear.

Use AMK instead, OL makes the game too easy.

 

[DraQ]

Eh, I liked Amnesia quite a lot, but:

Stalker SoC with Oblivion Lost mod >>>>>> Amnesia
in terms of atmosphere and fear.

Even vanilla STALKER SoC beats Amnesia in terms of atmosphere and FFFFUUUU- factor at times - namely your first visit in X18.
STALKER CS, despite being bug ridden, unfinished abomination, also had its moments - I'm speaking of Red Forest here.

From the same developers as Amnesia, Penumbra games were generally scarier, because AI was behaving in a more spontaneous, less scripted manner. In Amnesia enemies were very predictable, so most of the time you didn't have reasons to fear them - just back into a closet, close the door, listen, count the seconds, come back out.

If the whole package had managed to retain that feeling of those first few minutes

Disagreed. First few minutes were generally filled with character shitting himself unconscious for no reason.

it'd prolly be one of my top-five horror titles.

Do list them.

 

[Gragt]

Disagreed. First few minutes were generally filled with character shitting himself unconscious for no reason.

It's not hard to imagine that the process of losing your memories would leave you a bit dizzy.

 

[Luzur]

Even vanilla STALKER SoC beats Amnesia in terms of atmosphere and FFFFUUUU- factor at times - namely your first visit in X18.

that damn lab left me with permanent nerve problems.

going down those stairs, stopping cuz i heard some noise on the last stair, see a bucket slowly float up infront of me, then suddely smack me in the face.

i emptied a clip of AK ammo and some grenades on my way back up those stairs.

on a bucket.

 

[Phelot]

I thought the later monsters patrol and don't disappear? I know that every monster will disappear if it kills you (or so it seems)

Amnesia is one of those hit or miss games for people. You either get into it and like it or you don't. If you aren't scared or feeling the game than I can imagine it'd be incredibly boring to you. A matter of taste, I guess.

 

[Phelot]

Ahh, I see. I never really knew what the monsters were doing as far as spawning, patrols, because I was one of those that was terrified by them

 

[DraQ]

Disagreed. First few minutes were generally filled with character shitting himself unconscious for no reason.

It's not hard to imagine that the process of losing your memories would leave you a bit dizzy.

Dizzy or not, it should make the character somewhat saner and a bit more composed, so I'd expect him to be a bit less likely to flip the fuck out because of creaky floor at the beginning.

Even vanilla STALKER SoC beats Amnesia in terms of atmosphere and FFFFUUUU- factor at times - namely your first visit in X18.

that damn lab left me with permanent nerve problems.

going down those stairs, stopping cuz i heard some noise on the last stair, see a bucket slowly float up infront of me, then suddely smack me in the face.

i emptied a clip of AK ammo and some grenades on my way back up those stairs.

on a bucket.

Yep, X18 was beautiful because it managed to make a reasonably experienced player with character equipped with some decent firepower (usually fast-shooting AKM and stalker suit) disoriented, frightened and constantly flipping the fuck out for prolonged period of time.

 

[Tel Velothi]

Use AMK instead, OL makes the game too easy.

I agree that OL makes a game a lot easier than vanilla (mostly due to mega-accuracy) but random encounters are great. I remember this situation:

I'm making my way to powerplant. It's dark as shit - middle of the night. Suddenly I hear a roar of a controller. As it turned out, there are two of them. I run like hell, because I'm low on ammo and even one controller is seriously hard to kill in OL. As if that weren't enought - blow-out is about to come...
So I must find shelter to survive deadly radiation and kill two controllers. Even If I do - after blow-out few invisible Bloodsuckers will spawn... All this in the enviroment I don't know, because I'm first time here.

It's just and FFFFUUUU at the same time.

 

[Gragt]

]Dizzy or not, it should make the character somewhat saner and a bit more composed, so I'd expect him to be a bit less likely to flip the fuck out because of creaky floor at the beginning.

"I just awoke in a ruined castle not knowing who I am and what I am doing there, and that's not even accounting for the possible side-effects the strange amnesia-inducing mixture that I do not recall ingesting may have. So far I feel somewhat saner and a bit more composed."

 

[DraQ]

Dizzy or not, it should make the character somewhat saner and a bit more composed, so I'd expect him to be a bit less likely to flip the fuck out because of creaky floor at the beginning.

"I just awoke in a ruined castle not knowing who I am and what I am doing there, and that's not even accounting for the possible side-effects the strange amnesia-inducing mixture that I do not recall ingesting may have. So far I feel somewhat saner and a bit more composed."

Well, that was the whole point of imbibing the mixture in the first place.

 

[ortucis]

I bought it months ago and I've still only played about 2 hours (currently in the cellar archives with the water monstahs).

You lasted two hours? I quit after an hour of boredome. But then again, Penumbra was't scary or fun for me as well. I just despise games who try to imitate realistic movements in-games. Even the simple act of opening a door is more challenging than in real life all of a sudden. Yay fun. The sanity thing was annoying enough in Cthulu game from Bethesda long time ago. I don't need a even blurrier version implemented in another game.