• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent |OT|

F

FGMPR

Banned
plagiarize said:
i'm still very jealous of all of you that were terrified by this game.
Click to expand...

I can't get through it. It's funny how this game (as well as Penumbra) has completely drawn the line between a game being genuinely scary or not (for me). Controlling an armed protagonist completely kills any kind of scare for me, where as this just has me on edge the entire time I've spent playing it.

It's like they've discovered the secret formula. I just wish other dev's would take note of this achievement...
 
Alexios

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Nevermind, I missed the demo part. I'd advice those mostly convinced to get the game without playing the demo, it's a remix of the beginning parts that isn't paced as well.
 
E

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Alextended said:
Nevermind, I missed the demo part. I'd advice those mostly convinced to get the game without playing the demo, it's a remix of the beginning parts that isn't paced as well.
Click to expand...
I agree, I really enjoyed the demo but the full game comes together so well. It was a great experience really.
 
P

plagiarize

Banned
clip said:
It's unfortunate that you didn't get scared, any idea why?

I played it alone, in the dark, and with headphones, it was amazing.
Click to expand...
yeah. fear is subjective. for me to be scared by an enemy in a game it isn't about how creepy it looks or sounds but about what it DOES to me when it gets me.

these guys knock you out and drag you off somewhere nearby, sometimes somewhere further along in the game than you had reached. they're a mild annoyance at best, actually helpful at worse.

same reason SH2 does very little for me fear wise. the enemies just stood there looking creepy.

as laughable as the enemies look and sound in Deadly Premonition, they scare me a lot more because of the whole throat fisting thing.

like i say, fear is subjective. Justine was much better for me, because when those enemies killed you, the goddamn game quit.
 
C

Commanche Raisin Toast

Member
just got a new CPU so i loaded it up and played a while. i have two issues though:

1. i'm running it with a X4 3.5ghz, 4gb DDR21066, and a 6850OC 1gb (with an extra overclock on top) in 1280x720 mode. with all settings at high and the SSAO left alone (or even disabled) i either get 25-30fps with v-sync on, or a ton of screen tearing with it off. i tried randomly disabling settings that state they are demanding, like smoothing. i end up getting a worse picture but hardly any improvement in FPS. if anyone knows any tricks to getting good performance let me know. links to guides are good too.

2. i'm stuck, like... REALLY stuck, and i am feeling pretty dumb.
im in the archives, and i've gotten through the small dark library, pulled out the 3 books so the hidden door opens, and gotten through all of those locked doors. now im unable to exit back out of the archives area and into the main lobby or whatever. there's that gooey tentacle shit blocking me. i've gone through every room in the archives area, and even saw the monster twice and heard it play piano. i can't go through the end of the giant hallway because that last door is filled with rubble. only have a few tinder boxes and a small amount of oil left.
 
M

Marco1

Member
Wonderful, wonderful game.
You should try some of the mod packs.
The scares really got under my skin in this game to the point that you really do feel like you're creeping about this castle waiting for the next thing to happen and the sounds!!!
I see you have mentioned SH2, the biggest thing that scared me about SH2 is the ending.
Sitting in the room realising what has happened is something else.
 
G

Giriath_89

Member
Great game, though I'm sad it wasn't a bit longer and had even more environments, characters and story. Also, most of the enemy events are scripted; they appear at a certain time or place and will only reappear if you go to another specific area, like backtracking the way they went. There were very few patrolling enemies.

The best thing the game does is definitely sound design, that was the reason for most of my tension and scares.
 
L

Ledsen

Member
Fuck, continuing to play this after a year-long break caused by fright and unsettledness, at 11pm in the evening, might not have been the best idea... right when I fired the game up I walked two steps and the room filled with water... and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. FUCK ME
 
Alexios

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
plagiarize said:
these guys knock you out and drag you off somewhere nearby, sometimes somewhere further along in the game than you had reached. they're a mild annoyance at best, actually helpful at worse.
Click to expand...
Dude, what? I'm pretty sure you die if they get you, and start at wherever the last checkpoint was...
Except for that one story part where they do take you somewhere
.
 
T

theinfinityissue

Member
Bumping this thread for one really important reason. It is the glorious month of October, and in this Halloween season there is absolutely no reason why anyone should fail to play the greatest horror game of this generation. My lights are going off and I'm going in right now.

Another thing though, I found a new button on the opposite side of the Justine button. It says "Remember" and it seems to be a short story with some pretty cool art. Anyone know what the deal with that is? I have an irrational hatred of pdf files, but I'll probably take a look at it once the sun goes down. Hope it's good.
 
C

cbox

Member
theinfinityissue said:
Bumping this thread for one really important reason. It is the glorious month of October, and in this Halloween season there is absolutely no reason why anyone should fail to play the greatest horror game of this generation. My lights are going off and I'm going in right now.

Another thing though, I found a new button on the opposite side of the Justine button. It says "Remember" and it seems to be a short story with some pretty cool art. Anyone know what the deal with that is? I have an irrational hatred of pdf files, but I'll probably take a look at it once the sun goes down. Hope it's good.
Click to expand...

Awesome, I haven't noticed that. will read now. Thanks!
 
L

Laurentius

Member
Okay, so I was inspired by this topic bump to load up the game again tonight. Only played about 15 minutes, then couldn't take it anymore. =(

Such genius, though. During that 15 minutes I didn't see a single monster or have a single "frightening" encounter. It's just the never-ending dread and atmosphere the game invokes.
 
P

pompidu

Member
Just bought this tonight from the steam sale. Half hour in and I'm hooked. The atmosphere is quite well done along with the audio effects. The "sanity" level is also a nice little touch to the game.
 
K

krameriffic

Member
Day9 broadcasting Amnesia right now. Pretty funny.

http://www.twitch.tv/day9tv

Plus, this picture:

X4My4.jpg
 
T

Thrakier

Member
Man, I'm really jaded when it comes to horror games or violence. Years of playing video games left it's marks I guess. But this game really got me more than once so far. I don't know even why but I was really afraid. The moment pictured on the screenshot may be very well the most fearful moment of my videogame career. Only SH1 and SH2 come close.

2011-12-01_00011okfgn.jpg


board in the guest room...FIND A PLACE TO HIDE!!!
 
T

thehillissilent

Member
I really need to play this game. I bought it on OnLive months ago when it was on sale for $5. I could have gotten it for free when it launched on there, but I was lazy. Anyway, I guess I was too scared after playing the demo with headphones.
 
I

irriadin

Member
I was playing Skyrim the other day, while very tired. I happened to be in an underground dungeon type place. While nodding off, I would snap back awake getting freaked out by the ambient sounds. Amnesia has officially scarred me for life.
 
D

Dascu

Member
Played and finished Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth these last few days. It's interesting how both games have a lot in common. I would say that Amnesia is a refined, minimalistic distillation of the best elements of that game.
 
T

Thrakier

Member
Damn that game is good. There is some Myst in it, I think. That sense of mistery...great stuff. Love some of the locations. GFX are also quite amazing in some scenes.
 
T

Thrakier

Member
Just started justine, died. :( Game looks great when downsampled. And it gave me the chills once again. I don't even know how they do this but it just works. Some of the best gaming experience I e ver had (almost certainly the best in the horror genre) for 5$...who can complain.

Anway, any worthwhile mods out there?
 
L

Laurentius

Member
I'm pretty sure the next Amnesia game will come out before I ever work up the gumption to finish the current one.

Um, any idea what this is about, guys?

http://thedarkswarm.com/

nextfrictionalgame.com is pointing to the nameservers for thedarkswarm.com, so I took a look to see what that site is about. Has that been around for awhile? Does it have anything to do with this possible Amnesia sequel? That page definitely looks like something from a viral campaign, so I wonder if it's related...
 
S

SteveWinwood

Member
I never got this on steam. I bought it on impulse a while back and since I haven't launched that in forever (Thanks, gamestop) I forgot I owned it.

I need to finish it.
 
S

silent_snake

Neo Member
SenseiJinx said:
I'm pretty sure the next Amnesia game will come out before I ever work up the gumption to finish the current one.

Um, any idea what this is about, guys?

http://thedarkswarm.com/

nextfrictionalgame.com is pointing to the nameservers for thedarkswarm.com, so I took a look to see what that site is about. Has that been around for awhile? Does it have anything to do with this possible Amnesia sequel? That page definitely looks like something from a viral campaign, so I wonder if it's related...
Click to expand...

Well, the HTML header of http://thedarkswarm.com has this:

Code: 
<meta name="keywords" content="Horror, Game, First Person, Frictional Games, Game Physics, Newton Game Dynamics, Computer Game, Survival Horror, Horror Game, 3D Game, Scary Game, Scary Adventure, Adventure horror, Action adventure, Penumbra Collection, Penumbra, Amnesia, Amnesia The Dark Descent, Dark Descent"> 

<meta name="description" content="Welcome to the Dark Swarm, Frictional Games media hub. Enjoy the scary game...">

And this is the DNS record:

Domain Name: THEDARKSWARM.COM
Created on: 10-Aug-07
Expires on: 20-Sep-12
Last Updated on: 21-Sep-11


So yeah, it was probably a viral site for Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
 
R

Ravensmash

Member
I really want to get in to this game (and the Penumbra series), but I'm scared.

I love games which rely on atmosphere/subtle elements, not so big on ones where a monster's leaping out of a cupboard every 5 minutes, or things are popping up in my face.

Would I be correct in saying that Amnesia/Penumbra are along the former?
 
wolfmat

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
Ravensmash said:
I really want to get in to this game (and the Penumbra series), but I'm scared.

I love games which rely on atmosphere/subtle elements, not so big on ones where a monster's leaping out of a cupboard every 5 minutes, or things are popping up in my face.

Would I be correct in saying that Amnesia/Penumbra are along the former?
Click to expand...

The game has both. Sometimes, there's a monster closet, sometimes, you're not sure whether or not there's a monster, sometimes, you know there's a monster somewhere and it should be okay to go here and peek through the door and then AH FUCK IT'S BEHIND ME RUN RUN FUCK IT'S SO DARK I'M GETTING CRAZY GET THESE BUGS OFF ME
 
L

Laurentius

Member
Ravensmash said:
I really want to get in to this game (and the Penumbra series), but I'm scared.

I love games which rely on atmosphere/subtle elements, not so big on ones where a monster's leaping out of a cupboard every 5 minutes, or things are popping up in my face.

Would I be correct in saying that Amnesia/Penumbra are along the former?
Click to expand...

I guess there's a few instances where something jumps out at you, but it's always after a huge amount of time where there's nothing but atmosphere and pure terror, feeling like there's always something around the corner. When there's not. IIRC, you don't even see a single monster for the first hour or two of the game, but every single second is just excruciatingly scary. It's one of those games that's so scary because it leaves everything up to your imagination, and never lets up. Games with monster closet's are scary in the moment, but then the fear lets up once the moment is over.

For me, Amnesia never stops being frightening.

Also, the fact that you have no weapons or ways to fight back makes it even worse. Most "scary" games are much less frightening when you have a trusty shotgun at your side. In Amnesia, you have no way of fighting back.
 
R

Ravensmash

Member
Thanks guys.

Think I may make the jump then - I'm thinking about grabbing Penumbra first, but after playing the Amnesia demo I definitely want/
 
M

mr_nothin

Banned
This is the only game EVER that has ever had me too scared to play it. I've been searching for a game to do this for years and now that I've found it, I dont freakin want it! lol

I'l gather up the courage to finish this game at some point. It just has me on edge the whole time. There's a constant tension that just doesnt let up :/
 
X

Xanadu

Banned
finished the game last night and it has to be the second scariest game ive ever played, the first is silent hill which most people probably wont agree with but i think theres some nostalgia too it, i played it when i was 10 and nothing has scared me more, no movie or anything in real life
 
T

Thrakier

Member
Xanadu said:
finished the game last night and it has to be the second scariest game ive ever played, the first is silent hill which most people probably wont agree with but i think theres some nostalgia too it, i played it when i was 10 and nothing has scared me more, no movie or anything in real life
Click to expand...

I think you are right, the only games which come close are SH1 and SH2.

I'm now playing White mod and damn it's so fucking scary, it's like a real evil is deep within this game engine. It's hard to stand it's so unsettling. And I'm no pussy regarding horror games. But this is almost too much to take it but I'll man up and go through it. Just reflecting myself HOW I play the game shows how much horror quality is in this. I'm always wakling close to walls, moving slowly, lurking around corners, going around them in a wide ark...I'm so deeply immersed in this game that I behave like the in game charachter would behave. Shitty thing that it's a horrible situation the character is in. :(

Can't wait for the new amnesia though in a way I also wish it would never come into existence...
 
M

Meatpuppet

Member
Just finished the game. Thought about creating a LTTP thread, but decided against. Anyway...

That was an incredibly atmospheric game for the most part. Great sound design. I enjoyed Daniel's
slow realisation/recollection of what he'd done
though I felt that the narrative nosedived a bit around
the introduction of Agrippa in the flesh
.

I enjoyed the game design for the most part, but there was a bit too much pixel hunting at times, and the standard really petered out towards the end. By the last act the pattern of find puzzle, find item, solve puzzle was a bit too transparent and chore-like. However in the first two thirds or so Frictional really nailed this bit.

Echoing a complaint from early in this thread, I'd have liked a map too. A good example would be late in the game the
Choir. I missed the obvious (the pipes overhead) and spent a fairly infuriating time searching for doors randomly and getting killed by the creatures
. Obviously the risk would be that this would kill the tension, so I'm not sure how it could be implemented to avoid that.

Visually, the game holds up well. My only real complaint would be that the texture seams on the walls often coincided with lanterns, and it took me out of the experience a bit especially given how often you wind up staring into the light hoping your sanity will even out a bit.

Overall though it was an excellent experience, made all the better by the fact that I'm playing it in a country house in the middle of nowhere!
 
Fury Sense

Fury Sense

Member
nononononononononono fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

fuck you indie bundle...

I played for an hour in the dark after midnight with surround sound headphones (does the game have surround sound?) and all the lights off, full screen of course.

Plot Event:
I got to the first part with water and some fucking splashes came toward me. IDK Where the hell the water came from. I tried to run but it was up to my waist. The splashes got closer and closer. I moved and it turned its path toward me. It cornered me and I perished almost immediately.

The audio is huge in this game. How long is the game? I want it to be over xD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Boulder Punch: Amnesia: The Dark Descent | Still A Stellar Horror Experience
Opinion Analysis Trailer
0
629
IbizaPocholo replied
Aliens: Dark Descent | Review Thread
Analysis Review
35
5K
Darkmakaimura replied
PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for December: It Takes Two, Aliens: Dark Descent, Temtem
News Platform
41
2K
nial replied
RTTP: Alien: Isolation - Ten Years On
2 3 4
174
10K
The_Observer replied
Alone in the Dark | Review Thread
Analysis Review 2 3 4
162
13K
mdkirby replied
Top Bottom