Amnesia: The Dark Descent – 5
Playtime: 4.5 hours (8.75 hours total)
Personal Rating This Session: 9 - The puzzles in the second part of the game were outstanding, as was the tension and atmosphere. Ending was frustratingly vague, but I expected that.
So about 9 hours after I start, I've finished Amnesia. I wish I could say the ending was satisfyingly complete, and that it answered all my questions and left me wondering about nothing at all. Or, I wish I could say the ending was artfully vague, tying enough knots closed so as to not frustrate the hell out of me, while letting me piece together the rest in my imagination.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent – 4
Playtime: 1.25 hour (4.25 hours total)
Personal Rating This Session: 9 - Excellent, satisfying puzzle solving, and a continuation of great creepiness
This session was heavy on the puzzle solving, and it didn't disappoint. I left the game previously knowing I had to repair the machine that powered an elevator, and I was standing in front of the only room I hadn't explored yet - appropriately named, "Machine Room". It was three floors of gears and huge mechanical constructions to power one little elevator. I really am glad we've advanced from where technology was in the 1800's.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent – 3
Playtime: 1 hour (3 hours total)
Personal Rating This Session: 7 - lots of bugs with collision detection and some dicey auto-saves mixed with completely random monster movement soured me a bit this session.
I knew it would happen sometime. The moment when the creature that had been chasing and terrifying me through the game so far, would do something so idiotic he gets stripped of all intimidation.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent – 2
Playtime: 1 hour (2 hours total)
Personal Rating This Session: 9 - suspense is great, as are the monsters...getting a little upset at the lack of supplies considering how fast your sanity drains in the dark, but I think it's my lack of skill.
So this was the session where I actually got to see (one of?) the main monster(s) chasing me. I wondered up until this point, how much of the fear is just based on the unknown? When you see something, your mind can rationalize away your fear in a hundred different ways; we can adapt to anything except the unknown. Once I actually had a form to my terror, would it still be as frightening?
Yep.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Playtime: 1 hour (1 hour total)
Personal Rating This Session: 9 - polished, incredibly immersive, scary as hell, excellent control methods
Intro blurb: Amnesia is a first-person horror adventure game, widely commented to be one of the scariest games available.
Starting the game, I tried to do everything to make it as ‘immersive’ as possible (what exactly would make me scream like a little girl the most?). I played the demo a few months ago and had to shut it off after a few minutes, even playing in bright light with people around. This time around, I was determined to make it right. I was going to play with headphones on, in complete darkness, and not even have a cat laying on my lap to purr away the horror. I was hardcore.
