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It is hard to explain to young gamers what it was like when Amnesia came out and to play it for the first time. I’d only played one of Frictional’s previous games. Like BP says the tropes and conventions of this horror game subgenre weren’t entrenched yet and part of the spookiness was that you didn’t know what to expect. For about half of my first playthrough I could only handle it for a bit at a time, and needed to play it during the daytime so when I needed a break I could go and walk around the yard in the sunshine to decompress, LOL.
You're just a cornball 🤡. The game isn't that scary. And I'm not no "young gamer" The first time I played the game I only seen the monster 1 time, ONE time the whole game, the part where you have to get a lever in the basement or whatever. Then I watch a walkthrough a couple years later and see the monster in a bunch of areas. The ai sucks in the game,, old gamer, young gamer, whatever the situation is the game sucks
Age gap crap? What? Amnesia started a paradigm of horror game design. Younger gamers likely won't be surprised or scared the same way people were in 2011
It’s really not a age thing. I also grew up when it came out but I only played i recently, the game is just scary. Outlast is not scary whatsoever, RE7/8 are way more action focused, Alien Iso can be considered scarier but it ends up being more frustrating then anything. The only game that has came out since that was scarier is PT and maybe Visage(havent played yet). Horror games just arent being made, I just hope SH2 remake goes all in on the horror like they used to
I loved this game so much because its such a "beautiful lie". Monsters despawn but you had a feeling they are always around, sanity does nothing fatal yet you thought its really matters throughout the game. Its such a nice presentation overall in which making a predictable game feels deep and unpredictable.
@@littlemoth4956I think its rather the monster is walking in the shallow water. And Daniel can throw a box at it so it can fall over in the shallower waters and drown, or maybe I'm just dumb.
8:44 I think you can actually use boxes/chairs/barrels for self defense. Unless it was only for a mod, you can throw them at the monster to stun them very briefly. It was really useful for getting past a monster without getting hit
The only problem I remember having back in the day is the monster AI spawn. None of them stay for longer then 5 minutes so you essentially just have to hide and wait multiple times throughout the game and wait the music out.
Same. I still love this game to death, but after playing it enough times, you realize how predictable and short-lived the monster encounters can be. I personally think Frictional's previous franchise, Penumbra, handled monster AI way better in a lot of ways: the monsters respawned after you died, they patrolled the level continuously, and sometimes they weren't accompanied by music, so you wouldn't know they were in the level until either you saw them or they saw you.
@@erecbeaudoin8477 Luckily, hard mode has no danger music, but yeah. If this game was made now, I'd definitely have liked for bigger, more connected maps and roaming monsters.
Have you played the Penumbra series? It's in a lot ways the predecessor of Amnesia made by the same developer. Amnesia improved the gameplay mechanics and graphics by quite a lot but I found the story of Penumbra richer and sometimes even scarier.
Yup, Penumbra, especially Black Plague, used some really creative tricks to play with the player. Not to give away too much but the voices in you head, seeing monsters that are not there or not what you think they are, etc. there was a real attempt to drive up the psychological part of the horror. Also have to thank the combat being so bad in the original(this is what lead to combat-less horror in the games) leading to them taking it out completely in Black Plague. I enjoyed the story way more as well.
Penumbra is really nice as a way to see how frictional games found their way. Going from a survival horror game (a good one) with clunky fight mechanics to a pure hide-and-seek game (a great one). And then there was requiem which was fun, i guess.
Its impossible to overstate how big of an impact Amnesia had on the horror genre as a whole Amnesia: TDD was to horror, what half life was to FPS games.
My favorite horror game ever. I had played scary games before, but this blew everythinh out of the water. The immersive music and sound effects, the creepy medieval castle setting, the feeling of loneliness and impending doom, the visceral and terrifying monsters and the mistery surrounding the story make this an experience that I never had in any other game. My only gripe is that the graphics were never good enough, and I think a remake is long overdue.
One other element that really adds to the horror is the door mechanic. Since the player has to manually pull doors open with the mouse, the developers essentially created a way for the player to scare themselves. Like having all the doors in a chase sequence open one way, until you get to that one door that opens the other way. One of the best scares in my playthrough happened when I was caught off guard by a monster breaking through a door. In my panic I got myself stuck in a door and my brain suddenly forgot how doors worked.😂 Also, the door mechanic also lets players stress out over "do I leave this door open for a quick escape route, or do I close it in case a monster spawns behind me?"
An enemy can actually spawn in the cistern, yes most of the time players go through it before it’s actually loose but if you take too long the dude who was drowned by the player turning the valves eventually becomes a water monster and starts roaming the area. I’ve died to him ages ago.
Recently finished Amnesia The Bunker so I just have to re visit my all time favorite horror game, and a game that gives me nightmare still to this day. Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
I played this for the first recently. I thought it was a UA-camr horror game, but it was so much more. It's genuinely one of the most tense and spooky horror games I've ever played
Amnesia The Dark Descent is more than a decade old now, but it stood out among the rest at the time. The game encapsulated our fears of the unknown and even darkness, having that sanity meter to keep up on guard. But when you finally make it out of this labyrinthine corridors and abyss below, the satisfaction arrives. You are no longer alone and forced to deal with monsters; however ended that very nightmare you experienced thoughout.
"Descend into the darkness where Alexander waits and murder him." Likely the best, most engaging lines in video game storytelling full stop. This line by itself ropes you right into the story and helps get the player interested in the protagonist's motives. Until I played Amnesia TDD, I hadn't seen something more morbid in a game and considering the amount of violent video games out there that's saying something.
I think a big part of it falls in line with what Joseph Stalin once said: "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic." Sure so many games feed us with millions upon millions of murders but they are all impersonal and detached. In Daniel's case his tone conveys a sense of contempt long forgotten to present day Daniel.
Being in the room where you're hopping along the debris and the unseen water monster is trying to get you is still one of the core gaming memories that will always stick with me. Also, The Bunker was short but fantastic. This series is still going strong.
I just finished this game for the first time a couple months ago and wow what an experience and great game. I literally could not play this game at night due to the fact that I was just so scared about what was going to happen next. One of the best horror games in video game history and must be preserved for future generations.
Recently started playing amnesia for the first time. Found a remaster mod that ups the textures, make lighting look better, and makes a few minor changes, like you lose sanity slower in darkness but enemies dont glow in the dark. Also adds more monster variations and fixs some bugs.
Truly one of the best games ever made. The Custom Story system made it such a replayable title. Some people even managed to put custom monsters in the game. It was a golden age for UA-cam content.
I think Amnesia and by extention Frictional Games is entirely deserving of their success. Amnesia came in during a time where the Horror genre was becoming stale and dying out. I think this is in part for two reasons. 1. The main horror franchises in gaming such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil had become more like action titles and lost what made the original games so successful. They attempted to market towards a more broad audience than make truly horrific games. 2. Video Games run times have become longer, and companies expected their devs to always produce a 20+ hour game. This made the games feel bloated or get boring halfway into the game once you got used to the enemies. Frictional came along and completely revolutionized Horror gaming, and in a sense brought it back to its roots. They managed to create a concise and impactful game that was truly terrifying and didnt overstay its welcome with a bloated run time. Their method of making the player feel hopeless like a hunted prey all the while having to solve puzzles and explore the map created for a terrifying experience. Their method of storytelling told through well voiced notes and minimal interactions with other characters (most of which you could chose to interact with how you please) didnt disrupt the flow of the game or break the tension. That accompanied by the first person pov allowed you to put yourself into the characters shoes. The monsters, while not visually anything remarkable compared to RE or Silent Hills grotesque monstrous figures, still made for a terrifying presence due to the ambience and the map feeling so cramped and claustrophobic. The game does an excellent job at making the player feel unsafe in any given situation. "Is turning this handle going to make a sound that will attract the monster?". I believe they managed to reinvigorate an otherwise dying genre, and many games, even from major dev companies have followed in its footsteps. They deserve all the credit they get.
Fun fact: in the cistern area if you had already completed the Morgue Area and escaped the brute when you attempt to exit the cistern the shadow will appear and block your path forcing you to take a way around and the water monster spawns to chase you
@@steelbear2063 If you didn't get scared by the Terry Akers section, then you're a liar. I've played a lot of horror games and the section with Akers in Theta is genuinely one of the most terrifying monster encounters I've experienced in a game next to Lisa in the P.T. demo.
@@fredster594 I think you've read like only the first half of my comment. And also no, Terry Akers was barely a factor, so I didn't get scared. And why would I? Oh no, a blind monster you can easily evade and trick, what ever shall I do.
There's a "custom story" that expands on what happens in the Agrippa ending. Basically Daniel gets shunted out of the Void and into this weird other dimension implied to be where Alexander is from. I haven't beaten it but I remember it being really well made.
It's always such a pleasure to find new videos about this game. I really love it, and it reassures me to see that it continues to fascinate other people too. Thanks a lot for creating and sharing this video!
It's one objectively massive mistake is how it so often flash grenades you with those white screens. Imagine doing this in a horror game where most will be playing it in a dark room.
Really? What games do you feel have been scarier since? The only horror experiences I've had that were scarier, imo, have been in VR, but that is because of the immersion in the headset and not necessarily the games themselves...
@@DiscoMachine-78 the Outlast games, Alien: Isolation, Visage, etc. I might be biased because I’ve played Amnesia loads of times (last being a couple of years ago) and it doesn’t really affect me anymore. Atmosphere is still excellent though.
@@DiscoMachine-78 Amnesia is definitely scary. If you haven't tried it tho, alien isolation is a masterpiece and the scariest thing imaginable in a game.
@@Guanjyn Those are great horror games too (Isolation, Outlast 1) but I'd rank them somewhat similarly scary to Dark Descent. Haven't tried Visage but its on my wishlist!
What a beautiful, serendipitous event. Happy to see you give TDD some love. I shall fantasize that some amount of my wiki work helped with any of your research for this retrospective review :)
As disappointing as the sequels were, between this game and SOMA I'll always eagerly await anything Frictional releases. The Bunker definitely looks like it could be great.
To this day only two games have ever scared me so hard that I’ve had to take breaks for my sanity. SCP containment breach and of coarse Amnesia. I wish I could forget the game and experience it all over again
Amnesia was the first true horror game I tried to play. I'm an old millennial, I was an adult at the time, but I couldn't get through it. I couldn't get through the wine cellar. Not because it was too difficult, but because it was just too damn scary. I've played through just about every Resident Evil game, Alien Isolation, and a couple Dead Space games with no problem. But I can't get through the Dark Descent to this day. I can't. It has this knack for winding me up with so much stress and anticipation and creeping existential dread and i just snap before it that tension can release. I can push my way through for a little bit, but I always end up quitting even to this day. Props to Frictional, especially their sound design, for getting to the heart of what makes an interactive environment truly terrifying.
I always knew the sanity meter doesnt do anything. Always weirds me out that lets plays treat it like a health state. Ive gone through the game with 50x tinderboxes, although it could help you navigate the samey hallways of the castle. Honestly it feels more dangerous to light things up in some of the encounters, the gatherers seemed blind in the dark
I think for me a large part of Amnesia's success is how "organic" it feels, we know what video games feel like, we know what horror games feel like, but the real physical way you interact with the environment, the motion of the players camera, how it and your movement is affected by "sanity", the player connecting with the character through their scared breath and heartbeat, you go into the menu and your state is literally depicted as organs. There's a real tangible "feel" to the game unlike anything else, besides dying when you're hit twice every other mechanic is kind of a mystery, and those little unknown thoughts build up fear and doubt in the player. The first time i played it i remember when suddenly the character starts crawling on the ground disobeying my controls and i freaked out, it was just a camera trick and some audio but it really got me, and it's because i was so immersed.
Thank you so much, I was waiting for you and also Avalanche Reviews to take a look at this game and you've just granted my wish! I hope you'll eventually cover the Penumbra games too. Your take on this format is amazing.
I've been sitting on this game for ages. I basically forgot I even owned it. But this video makes me want to finally give it a proper playthrough. EDIT: I actually went back and beat it. The scares lessen a bit over time but it doesn't overstay its welcome. Was definitely worth playing.
Amnesia The Dark Descent It’s effective in scaring people because of multiple reasons. First, it doesn’t give you a chance to fight back, and you can only run and hide. Second, it does a good job of not telling you what the monster is, it either gives you a hint or flashes of it. That leaves the person’s mind to its imagination and a lot of people would come up with the worst scenario making the game a lot scarier. Also you can hear sounds making it seem like something will attack you at any second and puts you at edge. The game also doesn’t make it frustrating to beat a certain level because of a monster since it disappears once you respawn, it just adds a level of creepiness. ☯️🤷🏻♂️
the thing about the guest room grunt spawn,is that he spawns if you decide to aproach the right closet, not if you pick up the key item, so you can avoid the encounter entirely if you just avoid going to the right of the double closet room
I was 13 when this masterpiece came out and I remember playing with two friends on skype (same age), because we simply couldn't handle how scary (today I would say unpredictable) it was!
People don't realise just how incredible the soundtrack for the game is. I feel like if you played the game without the music, it'd be SIGNIFICANTLY less scary. The guy who did the music captured the essence of horror, loneliness, terror absolutely perfectly.
havent completed it but only the start seems to be scary. unlike other horror games, i havent heard anything about it. does it get better after you escape the ship?
@@joeJOE-zy7rw there are sections that are scary but there are HUGE chunks of the game in between enemies where its just walking and story beats / plot points. i felt at times i was watching a game more than playing a game. and the bits where u walk around outside underwater were annoying as all hell. but holy shit there are some scary ass sections of the game like unbelievably scary.
@@heyyoitsmebrian just completed it. the underwater parts werent good at all but the story is amazing. i really would like if they did more of the parts like when you need to update a chip and put it in the elevator. that was scary and fun.
@@joeJOE-zy7rw yeaaa like i said in my comment the other day .... some of the bits where u are being chased were sooo nerve wracking and tense i didnt even wanna play it. but there were def parts where i was bored, not sure where to go, etc. so a mixed bag for me personally. i agreei would prefer more enemies in the game/stalking sections. i much prefer Prey
This Game is by far, is one of my Favorite Psychological Horror Games I've ever played. I also made my own opinion video on this game, too... SOMA is quite good as well. I do Highly Recommend, too... Its made by the same developer that made Amnesia The Dark Descent, Frictional Games...
Note that in the cistern where you mentioned no actual water monster there, if your sanity is anything lower than crystal clear, when you turn the 3rd valve a real water monster will actually appear along with the shadow manifesting itself
Rewatching this and it boggles me the likes are 1.4k, which is still really impressive in the grand scheme of things but it is such an amazing video I want everyone to see it!
Replayed this game recently. I was HONESTLY shocked to find out that it feels like a "Baby's first horror game" experience. That's not knocking its quality, it is a great game. However after years of UA-camrs from back in the day acting like it was the scariest game ever alongside making it seem harder than it really was, I was surprised by how not only EASY it was but how short it was. It is a very short, digestible experience that I loved. It's like eating a good dessert; it might not last long but it has a ton of flavor.
I am still disappointed that SOMA wasnt the Biomechanical Horror game that the early trailers portrayed it as. Like the machines were harvesting human brains for as processors or something and it was very H.R. Giger. Amnesia devs doing H.R. Giger-like horror could have been great. Not to suggest released-SOMA was lacking in techno-horror, I just liked how alien the machines looked in the early trailers.
I definitely commended and respected frictional for challenging horror games during that period to bring some tension back into the genre. But the game definitely aged very fast imo. When i replayed it. I didn't really get scared or felt tension most of the time
Didn’t know Nintendo patented a game mechanic 😅 that’s p scummy of them. Then again they shut down anything having to do with their IPs even if it’s not profiting off of the used assets
I really enjoyed Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but I think it falls just short of its reputation. It's still great (and important), just not quite as good as the masses made it out to be. SOMA however IS that game. I think Frictional improved their formula in every way with SOMA. One of my favorite games I have played.
@@littlemoth4956 I don't necessarily blame the game for that opinion. I still find it great. It just got a reputation from UA-camrs that I don't think it completely delivers on. Then again, it would be hard for any game to do so. I found the game eerie and atmospheric, but with few truly "scary" parts for a game that holds the reputation that it does. Obviously what's scary is super subjective. Not to mention seasoned horror fans can be pretty desensitized, or even jaded, to the genre. But that's just how I felt about it. Amnesia is a great game and does a lot of great things. Is one of the most important games in the genre. But I feel they delivered a better overall package with SOMA.
I think their core games Penumbra -> Amnesia -> SOMA show a clear progression, each one is a refinement/improvement on its predecessor. Looking forward to what Frictional continue to do next.
I'll always prefer this game (and SOMA) over games like Alien Isolation purely because of the that the whole "You can't fight back" trope actually makes sense and works in those game. like the best you can do to defend yourself is throw props,rocks,books,chair at the monster you see because that's all you can find and you don't get actual weapons to defend yourself cus if there were Daniel/Simon would have certainly used them to defend themselves let alone kill the monsters. Meanwhile in Games like Alien Isolation where you'll get actual conventional weapons like Revolver,a Flame Thrower,a Bomb,a Moletov and a Fricking Shotgun but you're telling me none of that makes a dent on the Alien besides scaring it away ? i don't know chef,that imho kinda ruins the experience far more for me than games that are purely designed with hide n seek mechanic in mind with 0 weapons to defend yourself.
Could you elaborate on streamer bait indie titles, give specific titles? I wanna know what kind of games would those be, I'm guessing it's all the co-op Unity 4v1 horror games
While I think dark descent is a better game overall it didn't manage to unsettle me in the same way a machine for pigs did, the massive and impossible structure of the machine and the horrific torture and conditions people endured. However the lack of survival elements to transition it to more of a walking simulator bogged it down a bit. Love both games though.
to be fair, a lot of games and systems have a Sanity System, so it's really like... hard to justify a patent on it. Call of Cthulhu (both the horribly buggy pc game and the tabletop RPG) have a sanity meter as a core mechanic, and had it as a system throughout the duration of that copyright, so it's safe to assume nintendo knew and didn't care about it because they had no actual basis on the claims to it.
I like SOMA over Amnesia. The deep story and atmosphere are amazing. It isn't a pure horror game though there are some very scary sections. Maybe this is the reason it didn't get as much attention. It isn't streamer bait.
please do a vid on the OG halo games and the old call of duty campaigns COD4 to black ops 2 would be interesting to see your takes on them considering a lot of games you cover have fallen to the trend of "we want the Call of Duty audience" :)
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Can you do a video like this for both a machine for pigs and rebirth?
It is hard to explain to young gamers what it was like when Amnesia came out and to play it for the first time. I’d only played one of Frictional’s previous games. Like BP says the tropes and conventions of this horror game subgenre weren’t entrenched yet and part of the spookiness was that you didn’t know what to expect.
For about half of my first playthrough I could only handle it for a bit at a time, and needed to play it during the daytime so when I needed a break I could go and walk around the yard in the sunshine to decompress, LOL.
You're just a cornball 🤡. The game isn't that scary. And I'm not no "young gamer" The first time I played the game I only seen the monster 1 time, ONE time the whole game, the part where you have to get a lever in the basement or whatever. Then I watch a walkthrough a couple years later and see the monster in a bunch of areas. The ai sucks in the game,, old gamer, young gamer, whatever the situation is the game sucks
Drop the age gap crap.
Age gap crap? What? Amnesia started a paradigm of horror game design. Younger gamers likely won't be surprised or scared the same way people were in 2011
@@Frazerfelix why not? Not everyone is a horror fan, so most people who would play this wouldn’t know the “tropes”
It’s really not a age thing. I also grew up when it came out but I only played i recently, the game is just scary. Outlast is not scary whatsoever, RE7/8 are way more action focused, Alien Iso can be considered scarier but it ends up being more frustrating then anything. The only game that has came out since that was scarier is PT and maybe Visage(havent played yet). Horror games just arent being made, I just hope SH2 remake goes all in on the horror like they used to
I loved this game so much because its such a "beautiful lie".
Monsters despawn but you had a feeling they are always around, sanity does nothing fatal yet you thought its really matters throughout the game. Its such a nice presentation overall in which making a predictable game feels deep and unpredictable.
wrong opinion
Eh not really
First thing I noticed was that half of their appearances were 100% scripted and they despawned
and the "Looking at enemies will make them find you" not being true at all too
low sanity will kill you actualy
@@BatuhanDere looking at enemies makes your sanity drop,and you will die
I remember getting cornered by the monster so I made a fortress of boxes to hide and it actually worked. 10/10 game just for that
The water monster turned out to be the only monster that's actually killable. Throw a box on them and they instantly drown, leaving bubbles.
Mm yes, drown the water monster 💀 Pretty sure they just got hurt by the furniture you just threw at them lol
@@littlemoth4956I think its rather the monster is walking in the shallow water. And Daniel can throw a box at it so it can fall over in the shallower waters and drown, or maybe I'm just dumb.
8:44 I think you can actually use boxes/chairs/barrels for self defense. Unless it was only for a mod, you can throw them at the monster to stun them very briefly. It was really useful for getting past a monster without getting hit
I made a fortress out of boxes to hide, it worked!
Yeah, that was part of the base game, I remember just chucking a chair into one and watching it stumble back lol
The ambience music is so powerful in the first Amnesia
The only problem I remember having back in the day is the monster AI spawn. None of them stay for longer then 5 minutes so you essentially just have to hide and wait multiple times throughout the game and wait the music out.
Same. I still love this game to death, but after playing it enough times, you realize how predictable and short-lived the monster encounters can be. I personally think Frictional's previous franchise, Penumbra, handled monster AI way better in a lot of ways: the monsters respawned after you died, they patrolled the level continuously, and sometimes they weren't accompanied by music, so you wouldn't know they were in the level until either you saw them or they saw you.
@@erecbeaudoin8477 Luckily, hard mode has no danger music, but yeah. If this game was made now, I'd definitely have liked for bigger, more connected maps and roaming monsters.
I wouldn't have been able to beat this game if it didn't have this
I disagree
Well, but that's what the game is about. You ARE supposed to hide and wait for the monster to go away, not confront it.
The sound design in this game is unreal
Have you played the Penumbra series? It's in a lot ways the predecessor of Amnesia made by the same developer. Amnesia improved the gameplay mechanics and graphics by quite a lot but I found the story of Penumbra richer and sometimes even scarier.
I was hunting through the comments so I didn't end up blindly echoing this very sentiment. Completely agree.
Something I'll look at down the road.
Yup, Penumbra, especially Black Plague, used some really creative tricks to play with the player. Not to give away too much but the voices in you head, seeing monsters that are not there or not what you think they are, etc. there was a real attempt to drive up the psychological part of the horror.
Also have to thank the combat being so bad in the original(this is what lead to combat-less horror in the games) leading to them taking it out completely in Black Plague.
I enjoyed the story way more as well.
Penumbra is really nice as a way to see how frictional games found their way. Going from a survival horror game (a good one) with clunky fight mechanics to a pure hide-and-seek game (a great one). And then there was requiem which was fun, i guess.
@@dolu6434 Yeah, Requiem is a misstep.
Its impossible to overstate how big of an impact Amnesia had on the horror genre as a whole
Amnesia: TDD was to horror, what half life was to FPS games.
My favorite horror game ever. I had played scary games before, but this blew everythinh out of the water. The immersive music and sound effects, the creepy medieval castle setting, the feeling of loneliness and impending doom, the visceral and terrifying monsters and the mistery surrounding the story make this an experience that I never had in any other game.
My only gripe is that the graphics were never good enough, and I think a remake is long overdue.
this game has always been my "if you couldn't fight back in a resident evil game". awesome games.
Ah yes, my favorite sub genre of Resident Evil-likes:
"Residon't Evil"
The only horror games that actually get to me. Can't explain fully why but if i can fight back in a horror games then i just dont find it scary.
@@D0ubleYouEss bad opinion
Where's everybody going? Bingo
@@lewispooper3138fight or flight horror games have their place
But running from a monster is scarier than fighting one
One other element that really adds to the horror is the door mechanic. Since the player has to manually pull doors open with the mouse, the developers essentially created a way for the player to scare themselves.
Like having all the doors in a chase sequence open one way, until you get to that one door that opens the other way.
One of the best scares in my playthrough happened when I was caught off guard by a monster breaking through a door. In my panic I got myself stuck in a door and my brain suddenly forgot how doors worked.😂
Also, the door mechanic also lets players stress out over "do I leave this door open for a quick escape route, or do I close it in case a monster spawns behind me?"
An enemy can actually spawn in the cistern, yes most of the time players go through it before it’s actually loose but if you take too long the dude who was drowned by the player turning the valves eventually becomes a water monster and starts roaming the area. I’ve died to him ages ago.
No matter how many times I've played it, Dark Descent has never become any less disturbing, or less disturbingly thrilling.
Even tho Amnesia started the trend of "run, hide and wait", it is the best one of its kind because the gameplay is more focused tbh
Recently finished Amnesia The Bunker so I just have to re visit my all time favorite horror game, and a game that gives me nightmare still to this day. Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
I played this for the first recently. I thought it was a UA-camr horror game, but it was so much more. It's genuinely one of the most tense and spooky horror games I've ever played
wrong opinion lebron james said the game sucks
Amnesia The Dark Descent is more than a decade old now, but it stood out among the rest at the time. The game encapsulated our fears of the unknown and even darkness, having that sanity meter to keep up on guard. But when you finally make it out of this labyrinthine corridors and abyss below, the satisfaction arrives. You are no longer alone and forced to deal with monsters; however ended that very nightmare you experienced thoughout.
"Descend into the darkness where Alexander waits and murder him."
Likely the best, most engaging lines in video game storytelling full stop. This line by itself ropes you right into the story and helps get the player interested in the protagonist's motives. Until I played Amnesia TDD, I hadn't seen something more morbid in a game and considering the amount of violent video games out there that's saying something.
I think a big part of it falls in line with what Joseph Stalin once said: "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic." Sure so many games feed us with millions upon millions of murders but they are all impersonal and detached. In Daniel's case his tone conveys a sense of contempt long forgotten to present day Daniel.
Being in the room where you're hopping along the debris and the unseen water monster is trying to get you is still one of the core gaming memories that will always stick with me. Also, The Bunker was short but fantastic. This series is still going strong.
I just finished this game for the first time a couple months ago and wow what an experience and great game. I literally could not play this game at night due to the fact that I was just so scared about what was going to happen next. One of the best horror games in video game history and must be preserved for future generations.
Super stoked for The Bunker, it looks like it will be a sort of return-to-form for the series.
Recently started playing amnesia for the first time. Found a remaster mod that ups the textures, make lighting look better, and makes a few minor changes, like you lose sanity slower in darkness but enemies dont glow in the dark.
Also adds more monster variations and fixs some bugs.
Truly one of the best games ever made. The Custom Story system made it such a replayable title. Some people even managed to put custom monsters in the game. It was a golden age for UA-cam content.
I think Amnesia and by extention Frictional Games is entirely deserving of their success. Amnesia came in during a time where the Horror genre was becoming stale and dying out. I think this is in part for two reasons.
1. The main horror franchises in gaming such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil had become more like action titles and lost what made the original games so successful. They attempted to market towards a more broad audience than make truly horrific games.
2. Video Games run times have become longer, and companies expected their devs to always produce a 20+ hour game. This made the games feel bloated or get boring halfway into the game once you got used to the enemies.
Frictional came along and completely revolutionized Horror gaming, and in a sense brought it back to its roots. They managed to create a concise and impactful game that was truly terrifying and didnt overstay its welcome with a bloated run time.
Their method of making the player feel hopeless like a hunted prey all the while having to solve puzzles and explore the map created for a terrifying experience.
Their method of storytelling told through well voiced notes and minimal interactions with other characters (most of which you could chose to interact with how you please) didnt disrupt the flow of the game or break the tension. That accompanied by the first person pov allowed you to put yourself into the characters shoes.
The monsters, while not visually anything remarkable compared to RE or Silent Hills grotesque monstrous figures, still made for a terrifying presence due to the ambience and the map feeling so cramped and claustrophobic. The game does an excellent job at making the player feel unsafe in any given situation. "Is turning this handle going to make a sound that will attract the monster?".
I believe they managed to reinvigorate an otherwise dying genre, and many games, even from major dev companies have followed in its footsteps. They deserve all the credit they get.
Fun fact: in the cistern area if you had already completed the Morgue Area and escaped the brute when you attempt to exit the cistern the shadow will appear and block your path forcing you to take a way around and the water monster spawns to chase you
this game is easily my favorite horror game of all time. glad to see you cover it!
SOMA is one of the best games I've ever played. Its amazing
Soma has such a big and complete story…it’s an experience all right
SOMA is not a horror game. It's a dread game
@@steelbear2063 If you didn't get scared by the Terry Akers section, then you're a liar. I've played a lot of horror games and the section with Akers in Theta is genuinely one of the most terrifying monster encounters I've experienced in a game next to Lisa in the P.T. demo.
@@steelbear2063 amnesia machine for pigs was a great story but the mechanics sucked ass. Bye bye lattern fuel and inventory system.
@@fredster594
I think you've read like only the first half of my comment.
And also no, Terry Akers was barely a factor, so I didn't get scared.
And why would I? Oh no, a blind monster you can easily evade and trick, what ever shall I do.
Also I'm surprised your channel only has 77k subs, your content is always quality.
wrong opinion
- michael jordan
There's a "custom story" that expands on what happens in the Agrippa ending. Basically Daniel gets shunted out of the Void and into this weird other dimension implied to be where Alexander is from. I haven't beaten it but I remember it being really well made.
Omg do you know what its called???
It's always such a pleasure to find new videos about this game. I really love it, and it reassures me to see that it continues to fascinate other people too.
Thanks a lot for creating and sharing this video!
It's one objectively massive mistake is how it so often flash grenades you with those white screens. Imagine doing this in a horror game where most will be playing it in a dark room.
Crazy how far the bar in horror has moved since this game. This was pretty much the scariest horror game at the time.
Really? What games do you feel have been scarier since?
The only horror experiences I've had that were scarier, imo, have been in VR, but that is because of the immersion in the headset and not necessarily the games themselves...
@@DiscoMachine-78 the Outlast games, Alien: Isolation, Visage, etc. I might be biased because I’ve played Amnesia loads of times (last being a couple of years ago) and it doesn’t really affect me anymore. Atmosphere is still excellent though.
@@DiscoMachine-78 Amnesia is definitely scary. If you haven't tried it tho, alien isolation is a masterpiece and the scariest thing imaginable in a game.
@@iHaveTheDocuments I love Alien Isolation! I first played it on PS4 when it was released, but I'm planning to re-play it on PCVR soon.
@@Guanjyn Those are great horror games too (Isolation, Outlast 1) but I'd rank them somewhat similarly scary to Dark Descent. Haven't tried Visage but its on my wishlist!
What a beautiful, serendipitous event. Happy to see you give TDD some love. I shall fantasize that some amount of my wiki work helped with any of your research for this retrospective review :)
As disappointing as the sequels were, between this game and SOMA I'll always eagerly await anything Frictional releases. The Bunker definitely looks like it could be great.
_Ooooh I have a bag of milkyways!_
It's not traditional fire.
Ah I had been anticipating your coverage of the Frictional games catalogue, thoroughly enjoyed this and looking forward to what's to come
Now I hate this kind of game but I remember at the time being the scariest experience I had playing.
To this day only two games have ever scared me so hard that I’ve had to take breaks for my sanity. SCP containment breach and of coarse Amnesia. I wish I could forget the game and experience it all over again
I’ll always think of Yahtzee’s review whenever someone mentions Amnesia 😂 ‘Oh my god there’s JAM coming from the WALLS!’
Amnesia was the first true horror game I tried to play. I'm an old millennial, I was an adult at the time, but I couldn't get through it. I couldn't get through the wine cellar. Not because it was too difficult, but because it was just too damn scary. I've played through just about every Resident Evil game, Alien Isolation, and a couple Dead Space games with no problem. But I can't get through the Dark Descent to this day. I can't. It has this knack for winding me up with so much stress and anticipation and creeping existential dread and i just snap before it that tension can release. I can push my way through for a little bit, but I always end up quitting even to this day. Props to Frictional, especially their sound design, for getting to the heart of what makes an interactive environment truly terrifying.
I always knew the sanity meter doesnt do anything. Always weirds me out that lets plays treat it like a health state. Ive gone through the game with 50x tinderboxes, although it could help you navigate the samey hallways of the castle.
Honestly it feels more dangerous to light things up in some of the encounters, the gatherers seemed blind in the dark
How did you know?
Play hardcore mode. Sanity meter kicks you if it fills up.
The idea is that when your sanity is low, monsters are harder to escape from.
I think for me a large part of Amnesia's success is how "organic" it feels, we know what video games feel like, we know what horror games feel like, but the real physical way you interact with the environment, the motion of the players camera, how it and your movement is affected by "sanity", the player connecting with the character through their scared breath and heartbeat, you go into the menu and your state is literally depicted as organs. There's a real tangible "feel" to the game unlike anything else, besides dying when you're hit twice every other mechanic is kind of a mystery, and those little unknown thoughts build up fear and doubt in the player.
The first time i played it i remember when suddenly the character starts crawling on the ground disobeying my controls and i freaked out, it was just a camera trick and some audio but it really got me, and it's because i was so immersed.
Thank you so much, I was waiting for you and also Avalanche Reviews to take a look at this game and you've just granted my wish! I hope you'll eventually cover the Penumbra games too. Your take on this format is amazing.
I've been sitting on this game for ages. I basically forgot I even owned it. But this video makes me want to finally give it a proper playthrough.
EDIT: I actually went back and beat it. The scares lessen a bit over time but it doesn't overstay its welcome. Was definitely worth playing.
Amnesia The Dark Descent It’s effective in scaring people because of multiple reasons. First, it doesn’t give you a chance to fight back, and you can only run and hide. Second, it does a good job of not telling you what the monster is, it either gives you a hint or flashes of it. That leaves the person’s mind to its imagination and a lot of people would come up with the worst scenario making the game a lot scarier. Also you can hear sounds making it seem like something will attack you at any second and puts you at edge. The game also doesn’t make it frustrating to beat a certain level because of a monster since it disappears once you respawn, it just adds a level of creepiness. ☯️🤷🏻♂️
Biggest scare for me was seeing DSP put a warning next time dude.
The pigroach is the scariest monster in the entire video.
the thing about the guest room grunt spawn,is that he spawns if you decide to aproach the right closet, not if you pick up the key item, so you can avoid the encounter entirely if you just avoid going to the right of the double closet room
I was 13 when this masterpiece came out and I remember playing with two friends on skype (same age), because we simply couldn't handle how scary (today I would say unpredictable) it was!
People don't realise just how incredible the soundtrack for the game is. I feel like if you played the game without the music, it'd be SIGNIFICANTLY less scary. The guy who did the music captured the essence of horror, loneliness, terror absolutely perfectly.
Amnesia TDD and Penumbra series are superb. Truly underrated gems. Guess I'll finish this game for the 5th time just for nostalgia sake.
If i was stuck in this mansion you bet i would also be scared of the dark
Their Magus Opus will always be Soma. You really have to play it.
Soma is a much better psychological game but im unsure if its better at the horror aspect of things 🤔
havent completed it but only the start seems to be scary. unlike other horror games, i havent heard anything about it. does it get better after you escape the ship?
@@joeJOE-zy7rw there are sections that are scary but there are HUGE chunks of the game in between enemies where its just walking and story beats / plot points. i felt at times i was watching a game more than playing a game. and the bits where u walk around outside underwater were annoying as all hell. but holy shit there are some scary ass sections of the game like unbelievably scary.
@@heyyoitsmebrian just completed it. the underwater parts werent good at all but the story is amazing. i really would like if they did more of the parts like when you need to update a chip and put it in the elevator. that was scary and fun.
@@joeJOE-zy7rw yeaaa like i said in my comment the other day .... some of the bits where u are being chased were sooo nerve wracking and tense i didnt even wanna play it. but there were def parts where i was bored, not sure where to go, etc. so a mixed bag for me personally. i agreei would prefer more enemies in the game/stalking sections. i much prefer Prey
This Game is by far, is one of my Favorite Psychological Horror Games I've ever played. I also made my own opinion video on this game, too... SOMA is quite good as well. I do Highly Recommend, too... Its made by the same developer that made Amnesia The Dark Descent, Frictional Games...
This game is even scarier in Hard mode.
Note that in the cistern where you mentioned no actual water monster there, if your sanity is anything lower than crystal clear, when you turn the 3rd valve a real water monster will actually appear along with the shadow manifesting itself
I bet old capcom horror games helped influence this game
Yo the fucking timing. I just finished replaying it :D
Rewatching this and it boggles me the likes are 1.4k, which is still really impressive in the grand scheme of things but it is such an amazing video I want everyone to see it!
Replayed this game recently. I was HONESTLY shocked to find out that it feels like a "Baby's first horror game" experience.
That's not knocking its quality, it is a great game. However after years of UA-camrs from back in the day acting like it was the scariest game ever alongside making it seem harder than it really was, I was surprised by how not only EASY it was but how short it was. It is a very short, digestible experience that I loved. It's like eating a good dessert; it might not last long but it has a ton of flavor.
hard mode:
"The Great Work" custom story:
"The Attic" custom story:
JUSTINE:
Would love to see your take on the other Amnesias!
I am still disappointed that SOMA wasnt the Biomechanical Horror game that the early trailers portrayed it as. Like the machines were harvesting human brains for as processors or something and it was very H.R. Giger. Amnesia devs doing H.R. Giger-like horror could have been great.
Not to suggest released-SOMA was lacking in techno-horror, I just liked how alien the machines looked in the early trailers.
I definitely commended and respected frictional for challenging horror games during that period to bring some tension back into the genre. But the game definitely aged very fast imo. When i replayed it. I didn't really get scared or felt tension most of the time
I just can't play horror games that you can't kill everything that scares you. It's really terrifying
That's part of what makes them so special.
Thats the point
I'm gay for unspeakable monstrosities
wrong opinion
Didn’t know Nintendo patented a game mechanic 😅 that’s p scummy of them. Then again they shut down anything having to do with their IPs even if it’s not profiting off of the used assets
Thank you for your great videos!
Mr. Boulder Punch any plans for a video on the Faith trilogy? I feel they are a masterclass in horror, especially the style the game is made in.
18:16 LOL
"Patenting Video games mechanics is silly" Me: *side eyes nemesis system*
I really enjoyed Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but I think it falls just short of its reputation. It's still great (and important), just not quite as good as the masses made it out to be.
SOMA however IS that game. I think Frictional improved their formula in every way with SOMA. One of my favorite games I have played.
"I think it falls just short of its reputation."
This is your opinion, so I can't say it's wrong, but it's wrong. Sorry.
@@littlemoth4956 I don't necessarily blame the game for that opinion. I still find it great. It just got a reputation from UA-camrs that I don't think it completely delivers on. Then again, it would be hard for any game to do so.
I found the game eerie and atmospheric, but with few truly "scary" parts for a game that holds the reputation that it does. Obviously what's scary is super subjective. Not to mention seasoned horror fans can be pretty desensitized, or even jaded, to the genre. But that's just how I felt about it. Amnesia is a great game and does a lot of great things. Is one of the most important games in the genre. But I feel they delivered a better overall package with SOMA.
I think their core games Penumbra -> Amnesia -> SOMA show a clear progression, each one is a refinement/improvement on its predecessor. Looking forward to what Frictional continue to do next.
I'll always prefer this game (and SOMA) over games like Alien Isolation purely because of the that the whole "You can't fight back" trope actually makes sense and works in those game.
like the best you can do to defend yourself is throw props,rocks,books,chair at the monster you see because that's all you can find and you don't get actual weapons to defend yourself cus if there were Daniel/Simon would have certainly used them to defend themselves let alone kill the monsters.
Meanwhile in Games like Alien Isolation where you'll get actual conventional weapons like Revolver,a Flame Thrower,a Bomb,a Moletov and a Fricking Shotgun but you're telling me none of that makes a dent on the Alien besides scaring it away ?
i don't know chef,that imho kinda ruins the experience far more for me than games that are purely designed with hide n seek mechanic in mind with 0 weapons to defend yourself.
Amnesia is a master class horror game
I think this video is why I checked out the bunker. I ended up buying it and enjoyed it a lot. So thank you
Could you elaborate on streamer bait indie titles, give specific titles? I wanna know what kind of games would those be, I'm guessing it's all the co-op Unity 4v1 horror games
Amnesia, Outlast. Crappy indie first-person horror games with cheap jumpscares
modern examples would be Garten of BanBan, Poppy’s Playtime, stuff like that. Mascot Horror those games are meant to merchandise and nothing else
FNAF
@@anaccount1005 anything past 1 prettymuch, at least noone say the original coming.
@@anaccount1005 fnaf kickstarted the mascot horror. But it wasn't on purpose.
I don't care if that monster is officially called The Brute. to me and many others he will always be known as the Mooseman.
I LOVE AMNESIA 🦅🦅🔥🔥🔥🔥
I dunno, I think you had a good look at that enemy. You had the chance to turn, stare and die lol
My issue is two things
The gatherers leave within a few minutes just poof, and are gone once you die and respawn
Otherwise, favorite horror game
Very nostalgic game
Call of Cthulu also used a sanity meter, i believe
Amnesia wasnt as scary all the way till the end of the game, few horror media are, but the puzzles were so damn satisfying man, at least to me
yea idk why people say it the puzzles were hard, they were pretty easy. but the CUSTOM STORY PUZZLES? YEA I UNDERSTAND
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEEE DO A REVIEW OF AMNESIA: A MACHINE FOR PIGS
Hmm. You like to harp on the indie scene a bit with this one, even though they're the only ones really trying anything new.
This is the only game I couldn't complete for health reasons since I had about 20 heart attacks my first time playing. During the day.
actual heart attacks?
While I think dark descent is a better game overall it didn't manage to unsettle me in the same way a machine for pigs did, the massive and impossible structure of the machine and the horrific torture and conditions people endured. However the lack of survival elements to transition it to more of a walking simulator bogged it down a bit. Love both games though.
Based and Stephano-pilled
I remember watching pewdiepie do a walk through of this when I was like 13 😂😂 and man back then this game was scary as shit
Would really love to see what you think of SOMA. I hope you'll make a video for it some time soon :)
to be fair, a lot of games and systems have a Sanity System, so it's really like... hard to justify a patent on it. Call of Cthulhu (both the horribly buggy pc game and the tabletop RPG) have a sanity meter as a core mechanic, and had it as a system throughout the duration of that copyright, so it's safe to assume nintendo knew and didn't care about it because they had no actual basis on the claims to it.
I like SOMA over Amnesia. The deep story and atmosphere are amazing. It isn't a pure horror game though there are some very scary sections. Maybe this is the reason it didn't get as much attention. It isn't streamer bait.
Why is it that this game, with graphics that are basically obsolete, is just so perfect, even nowadays? No game can match it
I think the Grunts are called Harvesters
Funny im literally replaying now.just got to the water monster so its break time lol
once you reach that spot with the brute... good luck
Waiting for that Cry of Fear analysis!
please do a vid on the OG halo games and the old call of duty campaigns COD4 to black ops 2 would be interesting to see your takes on them considering a lot of games you cover have fallen to the trend of "we want the Call of Duty audience" :)
5:36 isn’t that bugs crawling on the floor and not teeth grinding?
Good stuff