For those who love horror games: Check out "Amnesia"

[TheGreatCthulhu]

For all those who love a good horror game, I'd like to introduce you to this gem that came from an indie developer called Frictional Games. (Penumbra series, anyone?)

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

It's, IMO, a must have adventure/horror game that focuses on immersion and an creating an emotionally rich experience. Despite the title sounding cheesy, this is not your average scary game. The reviewers all gave it high scores (80, 85, 90+, refer to the bottom of this post), and all call it the scariest game in past 5 or so years. And so do the players.

What this game is:

Good
Adventure/exploration based/puzzler/scary as hell
Immersive
Innovative in some aspects
Mature
Spiritual successor of Penumbra-games.
Not too long, 8 hours or so.

What this game is not:

It's not the so called "survival-(so called)horror" such is Resident Evil 5, it doesn't throw hordes of raving zombies/lunatics/monsters at you and give you a gun/machete/superpowers expecting you to have fun eliminating them. In this game you are absolutely defenses.
It is not for the ones who don't expect a game to be more than a finger-exercise.
It is not for the faint of hart.
It is not a brain-melting puzzle game - the puzzles are more or less realistic, and only challenging enough to give you the feeling of being smart.
It is not expensive.

What you need to know:
This is a game of psychological horror, and as such, both visuals and sounds play a major role in delivering experience, so don't start this game with Winamp playing your favorite song in the background.

The best way to play is without distraction, in a dark room, headphones on. Everyone says that the games doesn't fail to deliver, and the tension builds up as you progress.

The game features the "play" of light and dark - you play as a bit mentally unstable man, and long exposure to dark leads to negative (audio/visual) effects on your sanity, so try to stay in the light. Except that, in the light, you're exposed to the threats of the game, with the dark being your only refuge. The system is surprisingly well balanced. And the light is a limited resource in this dark game...
The lost sanity is restored by progression and problem (puzzle) solving. There's no HUD, though, the game has other subtle ways to hint your current state (except when it's really bad, when it's not so subtle).

An interesting feature is the physics-system, that is maybe not revolutionary, but is rather innovative. To open doors or drawers, you don't simply click on them and wait for things to happen. You need to grab the handle, and pull the mouse back. Simple enough thing, but adds greatly to the atmosphere.

Frictional has put a loot of effort in exploring ways to increase player immersion and produce quality horror games, and I'd like to think that I contributed with an occasional comment at their excellent development blog.

Reviews:

"An unforgettable survival horror experience."
- IGN (85&#37

"Amnesia shows us by example that gaming has entirely new realms to explore."
- Game Informer (9.25/10)

"I think it is safe to say that Amnesia is the most successfully frightening game to have been made."
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun

"Rich in atmosphere and big on scares, Amnesia: The Dark Descent goes where survival-horror fears to tread."
- PC Gamer UK (88%)

"If you love horror, there's no two ways about it: you must play Amnesia."
- Neoseeker (90%)

"The gameplay, graphics and sound all coalesce into a perfectly-paced, unforgettably terrifying experience."
- Adventure Gamers (4.5/5)

If you like games like Silent Hill, Fatal Frame / Project Zero, or Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, than you'll love this.

------------------------------

P.S. If anyone played, I'd love to see some comments.

P.P.S. If moderators find this post to be a bit too advertisement-like, just edit it to be less so.
I'm excited about this game so I couldn't help the tone, but I'd really like to share.

[Eri523]

I think I can claim for myself to be one of the most notorious non-gamers on this planet and I haven't yet had a single look at the actual game you are writing about.

But I also think I can dare to call myself cineastic, and alone the title of that game, along with some parts of the decription, somehow reminded me to the movie Gothika, that I really liked, despite its mediocre rating on IMDb.

Could it be that the scenarios of the two are somehow related?

BTW: I knew that you'd like stuff like that from your handle on first sight. I have only read one of Lovecraft's books so far, but I really loved it!

[Where the heck is the left-handed pentagram among all those post icons...?]

[TheGreatCthulhu]

I think I can claim for myself to be one of the most notorious non-gamers on this planet and I haven't yet had a single look at the actual game you are writing about.

Well, as I've said, the main goal of this game is to be immersive, to draw you in in it's world, and to create a relentless horror atmosphere that builds app during the course of the game. "Experience and Live - Not Compete and Beat", as a title of a post says on their blog.
From what I've seen, most people really get it, and describe how the game masterfully creates one of the most atmospheric experiences out there.
There's an occasional comment about the game being boring, but these come from people who expected to be given a shotgun to blast their way trough it.

The best way to see if the game suits your taste is to play the free demo (a bunch of download locations are available on the game's site).

Note that the demo is just that - a demonstration, and it differs from the full game in a few ways. For example, in the demo, the game's opening is a bit shorter and slightly redesigned, and after it, the player is transported about 2 hours into the game. Also the sanity mechanic is made somewhat more aggressive, again for demonstration purposes, and "sanity potions" are introduced, which don't exist in the full game.
So the demo provides an overall general feel of the game, not revealing too much, but still being able to conjure a scary atmosphere.

But I also think I can dare to call myself cineastic, and alone the title of that game, along with some parts of the decription, somehow reminded me to the movie Gothika, that I really liked, despite its mediocre rating on IMDb.

Could it be that the scenarios of the two are somehow related?

There's no much similarity, except for the memory loss and the feeling of going insane.

BTW: I knew that you'd like stuff like that from your handle on first sight. I have only read one of Lovecraft's books so far, but I really loved it!

Can't deny that!
What story did you read?
BTW, the team behind the game is very much inspired by the Lovecraft's works, and Lovecraftian horror in general - even the game's engine (developed in-house) is called HPL (by Lovecraft's initials). The game's story is not directly related to the mythos, but has the same feel.

[Where the heck is the left-handed pentagram among all those post icons...?]

Don't know about that, but here's a Cthulhu smiley:

C:≈

(although you can't really tell if there's a smile behind those tentacles)
Pentagrams just aren't all that fun anymore, now that everything's CGI (just look at this thread, here on CodeGuru: Draw a Pentagram)
Nothing's like in the good old days...

[Eri523]

What story did you read?

It is really a long time ago since I read it and I don't really remember the title. So I looked them up at Wikipedia and was surprised how many of them sound familiar. From what I remember of the cover design, I'm sure it was one of those that have been published be Suhrkamp in Germany. This narrows down the set of possible choices to five, but I'm still not sure which one it was...

But although it's a long time ago and I don't really remember the story anymore, there are still some vague but immersive pictures I took out of the book lingering in my mind...

[...] even the game's engine (developed in-house) is called HPL (by Lovecraft's initials).

And I'm pretty sure they found a nice backronym for that...

Don't know about that, but here's a Cthulhu smiley:

C:≈

(although you can't really tell if there's a smile behind those tentacles)

Looks a bit like Dr. Zoidberg. GD&R

Pentagrams just aren't all that fun anymore, now that everything's CGI (just look at this thread, here on CodeGuru: Draw a Pentagram)
Nothing's like in the good old days...

Actually, I already stumbled into that thread, but didn't really follow it. Looks like it is one of the long-living ones: I just saw there has been made another post to it. Will have another look at it...

And I think I'll visit the game's site somewhen in the next days and will at least check whether my dated system matches its requirements. This doesn't have top priority, however, but it is on the to-do-list...

[Sharpie]

Sad but true, I need to build a fence around my house, so I can talk my wife and my children, especially to myself

[TheGreatCthulhu]

Actually, I already stumbled into that thread, but didn't really follow it. Looks like it is one of the long-living ones: I just saw there has been made another post to it. Will have another look at it...

It was my attempt to make a funny remark. Nothing really worth seeing - I just found it amusing that the guy didn't ask how to draw a line, or how to find the n-gon vertices on a circle, or something along those lines, but instead specifically asked for instructions on how to draw a pentagram.
(And then he figured it out about 40min later.)
That's all.
(I keep saying he, but maybe it's a she...)

Looks a bit like Dr. Zoidberg. GD&R

It's true!
An obvious family resemblance.
They must be some distant relatives!

[TheGreatCthulhu]

Oh, yeah: for all those feeling creative, the development team
released the tools (level/model/particle/material editors),
and the WIP site contains a few tutorials to get you started.

http://hpl2.frictionalgames.com/

[exiledgolem]

Well since I'm 22, as a kid my dad introduced me to a game called Sanatarium like from 1999. Amazing amazing amazing game. Very very akward, disturbing game with great atmosphere at the time. I believe there is a freeware version released if you google for it but it is a must play game for anyone who is into puzzle horror story games.

[TheGreatCthulhu]

Played that one, too
Respect for your dad - that's the spirit. Not like those harry-potter-is-evil whiny types today (no offense, anyone).

BTW, what do you mean by 'since I'm 22'? You don't play games anymore? If so - BIG mistake. LOL
On the other hand - I know: Who has time? Who has time?

But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time?

[Eri523]

But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time?

Reminds me to Momo, but I don't know how popular this book (and the movie) is outside of Germany.

Also:

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.