Publisher: Frictional Games
Developer: Frictional Games
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7/Linux/Mac, 1.5 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent CPU, 2 GB RAM, 128 MB Graphics Card, 3 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Survival horror/adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: Available now

Going all the way back to the classic Alone in the Dark, PC game developers have made many attempts to capture and re-create a sense of chilling fear to cause players to jump from their seats and scream in terror. Most of these efforts have fallen flat, resulting in laughably clumsy scenes that have no emotional impact or—even worse—backfire. Now Frictional Games, the creators of the well-regarded Penumbra franchise, have released a new first-person foray into this challenging niche—Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Can this game succeed where others have failed?

You play the role of Daniel, a man who has lost his memory and wakes up alone at night on the stone floor of the mysterious and foreboding Brennenburg Castle. Through discovered diaries, notes and flashbacks, you gradually figure out what is transpiring. You find that you’re supposed to locate and murder Alexander, the owner of the castle. As you explore the castle’s many chambers, you are drawn into a dark and sinister story, you face many obstacles and dangers, and you realize that something truly gruesome has occurred. You also joltingly become aware of the presence of other ominous entities.

As you explore, you find useful items that you grab and read, use, or interact with inside the lugubrious setting. As dramatic tension escalates, monsters unexpectedly emerge from which you must quickly hide or run. Violating conventions, Amnesia allows no direct combat, and creature encounters are relatively infrequent. The key gameplay dynamic revolves around light, manipulated through a portable lamp fueled by oil and candlesticks, lanterns and torches fueled by tinderboxes. You can go insane (and die) if you remain too long in the dark, but you can be spotted by marauding monsters if you use light too much.

Amnesia’s biggest strength is its tendency to scare you out of your wits, especially if you have headphones on and all your lights turned off (a backlit keyboard is a plus). Physics implementation in the frequent environmental interactions is excellent, and the use of sound is just brilliant. The physical setting is much more compelling than in the Penumbra games and makes you feel as if you’re really in an ancient, evil castle with unknown dangers lurking inside. Nicely open, light-filled areas give you occasional respite from the darkness, and having to constantly change lighting is frightful fun.

However, Amnesia: The Dark Descent will not suit everyone’s taste. The gameplay requires considerable patience and perseverance in figuring out what to do next and how to overcome challenges, as it’s neither fast-paced nor immediately gratifying. The graphics, while vastly improved compared to the Penumbra series with more realistic detail, are still not state-of-the-art; much of the suspense comes from what you don’t see rather than from what you do see. There are fewer puzzles (greatly varying in difficulty) in Amnesia, and the story, though intriguing and well written, is shoved a bit more into the background.

Thus I am pleased to award Amnesia: The Dark Descent The Adrenaline Vault’s coveted Seal of Excellence. Best played slowly and in short chunks, the game’s sense of isolated helplessness doesn’t go away. This offering succeeds much better than the Penumbra series did in distilling the horror experience into its purest form, making the viewer’s imagination—aided by sound effects and the scarcity of light—do most of the work. So it is with absolutely no trepidation that I highly recommend its purchase: if you can play this game and don’t get frightened, then nothing will scare you.

Our Score:
Our Recommendation: