Amnesia: The Dark Descent Review

Amnesia The Dark Descent is the classic first person horror adventure game that launched millions of people out of their chairs and dozens of others into long lasting Let's Play careers. It's still scary. Amnesia Justine is also there!
00:00 - Intro
00:10 - Background
00:47 - Game Premise
02:04 - Visuals
06:20 - Music & Sound Design
11:33 - Gameplay Mechanics
15:38 - Story (SPOILERS)
22:27 - Justine
23:28 - Conclusions
24:11 - Credits
25:20 - Modding

#amnesia #frictionalgames #games #gaming

[MandaloreGaming]

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS. I am having to fight the pig machine now.

[Helios]

Daniel is a prime example of what happens when you ponder someone else's orb

[JimmyJonJillakers]

My friends were running a Call of Cthulhu campaign and had one character at ridiculously low sanity. The hard mode sanity reminded me of the running gag that whenever he entered a building he'd wear horse blinders so as not to glimpse a horror. Daniel shoulda just brought some horse blinders.

[zanethezaniest]

The Vitae extraction process being Amnesia’s design philosophy is such a good piece of meta commentary.

[bkrr]

Daniel has little to no "current objective self talking" that directly tells the player the direction you must take, "gotta get that elevator working" "should be a valve somewhere"

[lordspaz]

"You'll never truly catch me MUTANT, I've already SHIT MYSELF TO DEATH"
- Mandaloregaming

[Mekose]

I didn't think Amnesia had save states. I vividly remember at one point the monster got me after I had tried to drag it back to a ledge I thought it couldn't path on. The monster just floated right towards me as if the devs said "you thought you could trick us". I remember a "waking up" animation in the same room and I thought I had loaded a save. I went back expecting the monster to come down the same hallway like before but he was not there and had spawned in a different location. The third time there was no monster anywhere.

Amnesia is a very meticulously designed game. The devs seemed to understand that players will try to cheese the game to break the tension, so they throw a lot of little scripted moments to keep you on your toes such as monsters that are actually just illusions. Most of the time there isn't any real danger and if you die to the monster enough times it just goes away so you can progress and they can build the tension again; the monster already did its job. I could be mis-remembering some of these points but Amnesia was the one game that broke my "game designer" brain.

[Kalmoneiros]

Mandalore making Halloween videos on late December, our hero.

[oscarlove]

14:47 pure comedy, the insane line and the robocop theme contrasting what is supposed to be a horribly nightmare scenario.
*mwah* perfect.

[syx]

This was my first horror game ever, I was scared shitless . The story itself was so special to me because it was narrated in such a unique way that was totally new to me. It still is my favourite when it comes to horror games.

[LambdaBloodshot]

Newer horror games have learned all the wrong lessons from Amnesia. What makes a game scary is the feeling of danger, the feeling that something is stalking you and creeping behind you, of never be safe. When a game relies on jumpscares too often, it becomes predictable and not scary.

[electricbayonet]

This game’s a gem, though I still find it funny how Daniel wakes up with amnesia, save for the three things (his name, location, and the date) normally used to confirm a _lack_ of amnesia.

[Toadster]

The soundscape of Amnesia is really top notch, it's one of the scariest games for me solely because of the atmosphere and deep, unsettling sounds and those awful monster groans, especially the brute!

17:35 Funnily enough, if you play or turn on dev commentary (always wonderful additions to a game), the devs do draw attention at how similar the torture stuff with horror game design is. There's also a fourth "ending" which is when you get locked up, you wait too long and the shadow consumes you.

[alessiomessersi]

This game is a classic for a reason. I played it many years after its release, so the hype had died down, and what surprised me was how elegant it actually is. As the video says, it never becomes gory or violent even where it would have every right to be, and it's one of the few games in which dead bodies actually look like dead bodies: not gruesome, just pale, still and eerie. It's also apparent that the story was written by someone who's very cultured, with all the references to the Bible, Prussian history, ancient roman temples etc...

[jacob]

As you were talking about the sound design, I started to really get immersed in the video. I was listening to the whirring sounds of distant machinery, a vague sort of sloshing noise of water being poured, and some muffled thumps.

Then I paused the video and realized it was my laundry machine running downstairs!

[CreepsMcPasta]

This game made a generation on YouTube

[skylermuncy]

I remember playing this game with my sister late at night on a weekend. We got to the point just after that iconic bit with the invisible monster in the water. We were so on edge moving through the hallways that when a candle or a cup or something fell off of a table it scared us so bad that i threw the mouse and hit the wall. Our parents were not pleased cause i completely destroyed the cheap mouse we had. Never made it past that point and its a fond memory.

[ItmeTummy]

The atmosphere and tension in Amnesia is, in my opinion, unmatched even today. The fact you never feel truly safe even in the "safe areas". The game always keeps you on edge, never letting you stop and slow down for long but also making sure to punish you if you charge in carelessly. Its a near perfect balance and I love it.

[SenisterDenister]

When I was in college, I was playing the water level of this map, I was breathing heavily and saying, "Oh God" under my breath. It was 1 a.m., and my roommate thought he woke up to hear me spanking the monkey. Had a good laugh, It's my most memorable moment of this game.

[anthonyhill]

As someone who's done 12 separate playthroughs of the game, I can confidently say that it's still scary.

The flooded Archives are still an intense experience, and the Choir - Main Hall is an area is an area I *still* dread going back to. It certainly helps that I've had several nightmares of being hunted/chased by the Gatherers.

Truthfully, this video game is a must-play.