Spooky, shadowy castle rooms add to the uncanny feeling that something awful is about to happen any second. You find yourself racing across rooms avoiding monsters that often aren't even there because the big bads are tough enough yet rare enough that they represent more of an occasional hazard than an oppressive force that would turn the game into an action-oriented sneaker. Tinderboxes and lamp oil, which are needed to shed some light on things, are hard to come by, so you find yourself sprinting between the pools of light that dot the game like oases in the blackness.Įverything conspires to totally creep you out. At times, you don't even have the former alternative. As a result, you're faced with two unpleasant options: stay in the light and risk catching a glimpse of some mind-blasting monstrosity that can rip you to pieces, or creep through the darkness and take a chance on winning an all-expenses-paid trip to the funny farm. Daniel is unhinged enough that he's afraid of the dark, so the longer you cower in corners or even walk down darkened hallways, the more rapidly he goes insane. But you can't hide out in the castle's many shadows. Take them head-on, and you either go as crazy as Lovecraft's Charles Dexter Ward or get slaughtered. So when the shambling monsters shamble by, you have no choice but to avoid them. Daniel is a few fries short of a Happy Meal and has absolutely no recourse to weapons or any sort of magic or special gadgets. For starters, this is a real horror game, which means that you're in trouble from the get-go. The story and structure are brilliantly realized. Yet at the same time, you can't wait to get there. From the very beginning, you know you're being pushed toward some great revelation that won't be all sunshine and lollipops. Read everything you find, and you'll be drawn into a chilling castle populated by a lone protagonist who is a bit off his nut and being hunted by shadowy somethings that are more than a teensy bit spine-chilling.
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The story is fascinating and is told through easily digested chunks scattered through the game. It's a little cliched, but Frictional does some smart things with the old hero-with-amnesia gimmick. Hints are also provided by flashbacks that regularly pop up out of nowhere. Early stages have a bit of a Memento vibe, with Daniel trying to discover hints about his past through reading notes that he apparently left for himself and searching through old diary entries and random scraps of paper.
![amnesia the dark descent movie amnesia the dark descent movie](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NKwvpfZk_TM/maxresdefault.jpg)
You take on the role of Daniel, who awakens in the darkened halls of Brennenburg Castle at the start of the game with a bad case of-you guessed it-amnesia.
![amnesia the dark descent movie amnesia the dark descent movie](https://wallpapercave.com/wp/e3sp9un.jpg)
In some ways, the game is actually superior to its legendary inspiration, with no cheesy action sequences separating you from the ghoulies and ghosties that want to either eat you or drive you round the bend.Īlone in the dark? Yeah, but you won't want to stay there too long given the whole insanity thing. The game oozes Lovecraftian menace as it strands its protagonist alone in the insanity-inducing darkness of a haunted ruin where spooks lurk around every other corner. This first-person adventure from the creepmeisters at Frictional Games who gave us the unsettling Penumbra trilogy is the true follow-up to the original escapades of sleuth Edward Carnby. Latter-day sequels to Alone in the Dark have nothing on Amnesia: The Dark Descent.