Announcement

[Obrusnine]

Right now, I am playing a game called Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It's an indie game that you should totally check out.

It's a survival horror game for PC, you can get it off of steam, which I will get now that I have tested it through... nefarious means. Which is what I usually do before deciding to purchase a game.

The game is absolutely f**cking terrifying.

You play as Daniel, or at least you assume so, an amnesiac who is tasked with murdering some old dude you know nothing about inside of a dark and creepy as hell castle. This is all the context you really need, but the game does a good job of telling a good mystery story as you progress, and it really reminds me of stalking the mansion in the original resident evil. It tells its story through flashbacks and notes left around the castle for you to find. Also, you may think that the Amnesia thing is a bit corny, but all you need to know is that it fits the game well as you try and figure out what in the hell is going on.


So far I have solved a few simple puzzles, but my first real scare came just now.


Before I describe that further, let me explain to you some of Amnesia's game mechanics. The game has no combat to speak of, if you see an enemy, you run like hell or hide in the shadows looking at a wall while you hope to god it goes away. The game has a "sanity" meter that measures you characters mental health. It's increased by standing in light, and decreased by looking at monsters or standing in darkness. The real swinger here is that if your standing in light, the enemies can see you. So you have to hide in a corner in the dark with you sanity degenerates until the enemy moves on, and if they spot you, you have to run. The menus portray this perfectly to, your sanity is measured in your inventory with a brain and your health with a heart, like a HUMAN heart looking thing, which really adds to the atmosphere.

You get a lantern and tinderboxes to get light, but the problem is that oil for your lantern and tinderboxes can be really hard to find at times so you need to conserve them. The game has puzzles, but nothing to hard, you can always figure them out within a reasonable amount of time.

But now to my first real scare. The games perpetual darkness and atmosphere were scary, and the first time I saw a monster I freaked and ran away to hide in a closet for 10 minutes before slowly creeping out and checking the corners to make sure it was gone, and then there is this weird slime stuff that will suddenly come up as you complete areas that will randomly attack you when it feels like it. Health potions, not really what their called, are extremely rare to. I've only found two in my four hours of play so far.

But my first true scare had me whispering "sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!" under my breath and my fingers trembling on my keyboard.

(if you don't want this scare spoiled for you, just skip past this part. It's not a story spoiler, but the less you know, the more scary this will be when you get this far. It's also a rather short section of the game, like a gameplay description.)

Spoiler:

I walked through a door and stepped into a hallway full of water. As I walked forward, a flashback hit me, and afterwards I was standing in the water... and something was coming, sending splashes into the air! I ran past it and jumped on top of a box as it came after me. I jumped from box to box until I found a lever, I heard a gate raising in the distance and I jumped from box to box again until I found a gap to long for me to jump.

Knowing what it meant, I jumped down into the water and ran for the other side... hearing the *splash* *splash* *splash* as it came after me. My heart was beating hard as I finally reached the other side. Panicking, I just started jumping from box to box as fast as I can, I came to the gate, jumped back into the water, and jumped up onto another box.

A sudden realization hit me as the monster came through after me, there we two of them in here!

There was a very long gap between me and the next set of boxes, and another gate. There were dead body parts sitting under me on the box I was on. I drew a conclusion and through it away from me in the direction away from the gate. The monsters took the bait and made for it as I jumped down in the water and rushed to the next set of boxes.


*splash* *splash* *splash* came from behind me as I ran as fast as I could. I reached the boxes and jumped up just in time. The monsters settled down, waiting for me to jump back in. I noticed the gate had a wheel I had to twist to open it... and I had to stand in the water to get to it. I grabbed some dead body parts and threw them far away from me to draw the monsters away. When they got far enough away, I jumped back down into the water and went for the wheel. I grabbed it and began swinging my mouse in circles begging for dear life for it to open. I heard the *splash* *splash* *splash* coming from behind me as the monsters came after me and I messed up, dropping the wheel. I put my camera back in position and kept turning.


The gate was only partially up but I crouched and got under, but as I approached the next door...


CRACK!

A piece burst from the door ahead, and the splashes coming from behind me were getting closer. I didn't stay to find out what was coming through the door, I flipped around, crawled back under the gate, and jumped back up onto the boxes in the nick of time. There was more splashing as... a third monster came in!

My hands were shaking and unsteady on my keyboard and mouse and my heart was beating. The door bursting in like it did even elicited a horrified squeak from me, and definitely a big jump in my chair.


Going straight through this all, I grabbed more dead body parts into the water. I was panicking so heard I did this in a very unsteady manner and very quickly. The monsters raced after them as I jumped back into the water, crawled under the gate, and ran like hell through the doorway. I found another water filled room, there was a door on the other side, but it was locked and the splashing was getting closer. I looked around and spotted an item. I grabbed it do discover it was a needle and I used it to pick the lock.

A short loading screen followed the door, but when I got to the other side, I was in a water filled hallway without any boxes! Splashes were getting closer from another direction to so I ran like hell, bursting through doors without closing them behind me and running through debris as my heart beat in terror. I ran and ran, but was eventually brought down by my pursuers.

I'm about to try again, but the point was this was absolutely terrifying!

If you read the spoiler, you should have an idea about how f**king crazy this damn game is. It's scary as hell, and its the first time I've been scared by a survival horror game in a long time, and I've played dead space recently and it honestly didn't scare me at all.

This game is survival horror done right, believe me.

This post has been edited by Obrusnine: Mar 4 2012, 04:28 AM

[Celianna]

Relevant video of Toby being scared is relevant.



If that guy gets scared? Then the game is scary, period.

I already think playing Minecraft is scary, so I only resort to watching Let's Plays of this game. Preferably one done with a heavy dose of humour.

[Obrusnine]

LOL, that video was HILARIOUS!

[Confederacy]

This is a better representation of someone getting scared from this game.



I got to the Prison level for the game, and just... nah, I don't think I'll subject myself to that horror anymore.

I am looking forward to Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs though. Probably won't play it, but I'll give Frictional Games my money.

[Obrusnine]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

People reacting to this game is priceless.

Also, who calls a game a machine for pigs??? That doesn't sound scary...

EDIT:

I'm starting to find that this game is testing my resolve more and more as I go farther. I just got to that prison part, got through the first section. That was scary enough, but now I'm running for my life as a creature stalks me through the halls while I try to get the materials I need to get out! This game is batshit crazy!

I just hope that there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel.

This post has been edited by Obrusnine: Mar 4 2012, 07:47 PM

[Machphi]

Me and my friend Dreshon hang in the cafe at my college and play this in front of everybody. I can't tell if people gather around cuz the like the game, or they like my freakouts...

[Obrusnine]

Me and my friend Dreshon hang in the cafe at my college and play this in front of everybody. I can't tell if people gather around cuz the like the game, or they like my freakouts...

You never really can huh?