Amesnia starts the player with a word of warning from the developers. This is not a game that you play ‘to win’. Instead, the developers want you to focus on the experience of Amnesia and how you can adapt to the situations presented to you. When the game begins you have no information about who you are or why you are there. Most games will at least give you some sort of backstory but the point of Amnesia is to keep players in the dark.
As you play through the game you discover who you are and what happened to you. The most common way the player gets this info is by discovering diary pages which have been scattered throughout the levels. The diary pages are rich with story and really give the player some insight in the not-so-normal happenings. This was a fantastic way to approach a story-driven game and the developers should be given kudos all around. The story in Amnesia is engaging, well thought out, and damn scary at times.
GAMEPLAY
Amnesia is a first-person adventure game with some unique twists. The mouse controls the camera and actions, but you can re-map the keyboard controls to your liking. The real twist in Amnesia is there are no weapons. The game focuses more on the thinking man rather than the need to blow things up. As you move through the levels, you will find items to collect like tinder and lantern oil. These items can be combined in your inventory window to fill your lamp and solve puzzles. The darkness is the player’s worst enemy in Amnesia and standing in it for too long can drive you mad. Light is your health and the darkness makes your sanity meter change into not so helpful levels. Thankfully in most areas there are tons of places to use the tinder you collect just in case you are out of lamp oil.
The worst thing you can do in Amnesia is spend way too long in the darkness. The longer you spend in the darkness the weirder things become. The screen will change and the player will start to see visions flash across the screen. Audio tracks are queued making the player here voices and things get downright change your pants scary. If you want to scare the hell out of your friends just let them sit in the darkness of Amenisa for awhile. The puzzles that you encounter in Amnesia are fairly simple for the avid adventure gamer but will provide just enough challenge for new players. It is your typical combine items to solve puzzles and open new pathways type adventure. The game is more about running from things rather than standing and fighting. See that spitting blood ghost demon over there? Yeah, I would run too. There are some really horrible things you will come across in the game so it is really not for the faint of heart.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
The graphics in Amnesia are a perfect match for the story. Dark and foreboding visuals will greet the player and flashes of light will reach out to the player as a safe haven. During gameplay there were no graphic issues found and everything fit really well. The only issues that I experienced during gameplay was the distortion effect which occurs when sitting in the dark for too long. For those that suffer from motion sickness, you may need to be a bit careful during these scenes as you just might lose your own sanity. The sound in Amensia is a great fit for the horror genre. Ambient music lets you know when things are about to happen and the voice acting is spot on. The whispers and voices the players can comer across are just down right spine tingling.
FINAL THOUGHTS
For fans of the horror genre, Amensia is the perfect way to start the Halloween season. Shogunites will want to pick up this affordable title if they want to delve into a great, story-filled experience. Keep in mind, though, that you may need to buy a night light or change of underwear before you are done playing.
