Saturday 7 May 2011

Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Staring into the Abyss, Part 1

Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Already you get the mental image of survival horror, loss of hope and a place filled with despair. This game isn't just a horror game - it's a full-on simulator. Imagine the following:
  • Silent Hill (all the good ones, anyway)
  • Resident Evil
  • Alan Wake
  • SAW
  • Alone in the Dark
  • The Ball
  • The complete opposite of Saxton Hale
Combine these things and you're bound to have Amnesia: The Dark Descent. In the game (or perhaps real life), it may look something like this....


Scary, isn't it? Imagine when you fight against one of these little beauties!

Well, I say fight them. I mean "try desperately to find the SHIFT key, then attempt to hide away in a dark corner or a closet. However, this image might not frighten you just by looking at it. It probably wouldn't scare a 3rd grader if they had a second glance at it. But when you play the game and find that there are no weapons in the game, you're pretty much fucked. That's when this game gets really scary.

SO, LET US BEGIN OUR DESCENT INTO THE DARKNESS....

The whole game takes place in some sort of manor. The game will not explain exactly what is going on. You are suffering from amnesia (forgetfulness, if you'd like me to put it bluntly), and you can't remember where you are or how you got there. The first thing you'll notice is that you're in an FPS. Or just an FP, because there is no shooting at this very moment. I don't want to spoil it for you, but there isn't any shooting in this game as far as I know. This game isn't Left 4 Dead - it's not going around mindlessly killing everything in your path thinking you are xXM4DSKILLZBROXx. In this game you rely on everything but guns. You must rely on courage, sanity (both yours and the main character's), wit and agility to pass these tests.

Does the fact that there's no HUD bother you? Of course it does, if you like generic shooters like Call of Duty and Halo. But this game tries to keep everything as realistic as possible. In a dark and eerie place, you're bound to see things walking past, hear screams in the night and feel that icy presence wrap around you. You are alone and defenceless. Go on, call for "HELP" down the microphone. If this were Hotel 626, you'd just envoke the wrath of some slumbering ghost.

DO IT FAGGOT!

For the most part of the game you'll be soiling yourself. I did too, so we can all admit it and not laugh about it. To make your way around you might need a certain number of cogs, levers or other devices to get something working. Perhaps an elevator, or the 1800's version of a security door/panic room? Think of this as Bioshock, but with less enemies, no guns or HUD, and barely any guidance. Whatever you find or do is taken into account, but it's your brain that has to do that. Very rarely will you get a note in your journal telling you where to go next, or even a clue. The game doesn't have an assistant - the only assistant at the beginning is:
  • You have amnesia. Deal with it
  • Objective is to escape from this castle/huge-ass manor
  • Not go insane due to lack of light or the witnessing of a monster
  • Play in the dark (and gain blindness or the need of spectacles) and use earphones to amplify the effects.
Nice huh? Along the way you might find pieces of your journal scattered around, and they take your mind off things too. You'll perhaps learn about this artifacts Daniel (the main character) has been looking for. Maybe even about a mysterious death in his local community. Whatever it is, it doesn't help with your quest in any way, but it helps the plot thicken.

It's not long in the game when you realize how important light is. You have four sources of light:
  1. Sunlight (on certain levels there may be windows that are open, or a crack in a wall that reveals light)
  2. Already-lit torches (these are found hanging on the walls), candelabras and chandeliers
  3. Tinderboxes (you can use one tinderbox to light one non-lit torch ONLY)
  4. Gas Lantern (requires oil, but is a portable source of light)
Light protects you from insanity. When you go insane, you'll fall to the ground and then your speakers will project a loud whine (yes, worse than someone on the Team Fortress 2 Forums), which will make you (in reality) lose around 3 ear hairs which are needed to hear. But that's what happens when you have, what I call, an insanity attack - the makers of this game really try to put you in the shoes of someone who can't call for mommy, because she's probably a Skidrow (the monster).

"THIS ISN'T ALAN WAKE - THE LIGHT WON'T PROTECT YOU"

If you think you should be scared of the dark, think again. When a Skidrow appears from around a corner, what would you rather do?

A) Shine a torch in his face and keep running at him
B) Hide in the darkness and perhaps behind an object (e.g, a barrel, up against a wall, behind a table)

These monsters aren't blind and they will detect you very easily in light. They're slow, bumbling deformed man-babies, but at least they give you the chance to shut a door behind you and hide behind the sofa. This isn't Alan Wake - the light won't protect you. You can't burn these things, nor can you make them run away by trying to strike a light in their faces. As I said earlier, there are no weapons in the game, only wit and guile. Besides, if you saw one of these things, you would not attack it. If anything you would stay there, scream and expose your neck in your fear. Running away is a mere fantasy in the mental condition Daniel is in, but he manages to do it. He's not Gordan Freeman, who suddenly knows everything about espionage, sabotage and crowbars.

If that monster came in to your room, OK, you might suddenly beat it, but what if you were unable to interact with a cane or a table or the handgun under your pillow? What else would you do? That's the case in this game. If Daniel was given a P90 and some grenades, he'd kill the sonofabitch that stood there before him without a doubt. But that would give him comfort. And then this game would be as awful as Hydrophobia.

"HE'S NOT GORDAN FREEMAN, WHO SUDDENLY KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT ESPIONAGE, SABOTAGE AND CROWBARS"

The amount of sheer horror put into this game is amazing. This isn't just your average Legend of Zelda puzzle, nor is it just the take-your-time-and-pick-your-nose gameplay of Silent Hill - this is psychological horror. This game is for proffessionals with standards. You wanna game that's got endless gore in it? Play DooM, and watch The Toxic Avenger series while you're at it. But if you want something that will chill you right to the bone, then play this, and then come back to my descent into darkness.

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