Frictional Games’ Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a survival horror adventure game that debuted on PC, Mac, and Linux in 2010, followed by PS4 and Xbox One in 2016 and PC, PS4, and Xbox One in 2018. Daniel, the game’s protagonist, explores a creepy castle called Brennenburg while fighting to save his sanity by dodging creatures and strange happenings. Two prizes at the Independent Games Festival and a slew of rave reviews attest to the game’s widespread acclaim.
After its initial online-only release, 1C Company in Russia and Eastern Europe and THQ in North America have both issued retail versions of the game. In addition to the video game, a collection of five short tales written by Mikael Hedberg and drawn by the game’s concept artists was released. There is also a paid soundtrack, the free Justine content extension, and a plethora of user-created material for the game’s “Custom Story” feature.
On September 10, 2013, a film named Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs was released as a sort-of sequel to the 2010s The Dark Descent. On November 22, 2016, for PlayStation 4, and on September 28, 2018, for Xbox One, The Amnesia Collection was published, including The Dark Descent, the Amnesia: Justine addition, and A Machine for Pigs. On September 12, 2019, the same collection debuted on the Nintendo Switch. Frictional Games’ Amnesia: Rebirth, a sequel announced on 6 March 2020, will launch on 20 October of that year.
Is there going to be a movie based on – Amnesia: The Dark Descent?! – http://t.co/csDwzk0faS pic.twitter.com/MbZ3sEtzmI
— Amnesia – TDD (@TDDAmnesia) March 24, 2014
Amnesia: The Dark Descent Gameplay
With its first-person perspective and survival horror mechanics, Amnesia: The Dark Descent is an exciting adventure game. Take control of Daniel as he navigates Castle Brennenburg while dodging traps and figuring out riddles. The gameplay still makes use of actual item interaction, such as opening doors and mending equipment, much as in the original Penumbra games.
The inventory menu is where you’ll put smaller goods while holding down a mouse button and pushing or pulling the mouse will lift a bigger object. The mouse may be used to simulate the physical movement of controls for things like doors and levers. Once a game has started, the difficulty setting cannot be changed.
As with Daniel’s physical well-being, his sanity has its own gauge, and it revolves around a fear of the dark mechanism. “The notion was simply that darkness itself should be an adversary,” designer Thomas Grip said. Exposure to the prolonged darkness, disturbing situations, or direct eye contact with monsters may all have a negative impact on one’s sanity.
A loss of sanity causes temporary immobility and, on harder levels, instant death due to visual and aural hallucinations and an increased likelihood of attracting monsters. Relying on candles, torches, or an oil-burning lantern for illumination may help Daniel regain his sanity if he has to. However, tinderboxes and oil are in short supply, especially in the more challenging settings.
A monster will pursue Daniel until he is out of sight. Daniel is helpless against monsters and must either hide or flee. After taking a few hits from a monster, Daniel will die and load the game’s most recent save. Daniel’s health may be restored by the player with laudanum, which can be obtained at several locations. The player may impede the monsters’ progress by shutting off entrances and constructing barriers out of whatever materials are at hand.
Nonetheless, monsters have the ability to break down doors and knock down furniture. Daniel can also be successful by hiding in dark places where monsters won’t be able to find him, albeit this will have a negative impact on his mental health. On harder settings, the monsters will increase their speed, damage, and time spent looking for Daniel.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent Development
The studio started making the game when they were still doing Penumbra: Requiem. Early versions of the game included the names “Unknown” and “Lux Tenebras” as temporary labels. It wasn’t until November 3rd, 2009 that the game’s current title, Amnesia, was revealed, and it wasn’t until November 13th that the game’s website and trailer were made public.
The creators wanted to bring back more combat aspects akin to those used in their first commercial product Penumbra: Overture, hence early ideas of the game were quite different from the final game. However, the design was modified to be more in line with the guidelines established by Overture’s successor, Penumbra: Black Plague, when the creators learned that they ran into many of the same issues and challenges that plagued the fighting in that game.
The game’s alpha release was announced on February 5, 2010, for all platforms. A second teaser video including genuine gameplay footage was published by the creators two weeks later, and pre-orders for the game were made available on the website. It was also stated that testing has begun on all three planned platforms. A simultaneous release of the game was also confirmed for all platforms in August 2010.
The original release date was May 2010, however, it was pushed back to September 8th, 2010 due to delays. In a subsequent announcement on August 27, 2010, it was said that the game has gone Gold and will soon be available for purchase. The demo, including cutscenes and a small portion of the game’s content, was published on September 3. On September 8, 2010, it was released to the public with no problems.
Extra material for the game was promised by Frictional if the game received 2000 pre-orders before May 31, 2010. Early in the month of May, the target was reached thanks to the discounted pre-orders that ran until May 31. The original Humble Indie Bundle included Penumbra: Overture and its success prompted the developers to take this step.
It turned out to be commentary, and its creators noted in the same page’s comments that it was meant to serve a purpose similar to Valve’s commentary system, which debuted with the Half-Life 2 games. The creator’s credit Carl Zimmer’s “Soul Made Flesh” for setting the ambiance for the game, as well as classic horror films like The Haunting. The game’s plot has been compared to the works of H. P. Lovecraft, say some reviewers.
Later, one of the game’s main developers, Thomas Grip, wrote a post-mortem for The Escapist called “The Terrifying Tale of Amnesia,” in which he detailed the process of the game’s development, focusing on the game’s constantly shifting design and the financial issues that plagued the developers throughout development.
The Dark Descent, Amnesia: Justine, and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs are all included in the PlayStation 4 edition titled Amnesia Collection, which was published on the PlayStation Network on November 22, 2016.
Two days following its PlayStation 4 release, developer Frictional Games tweeted that the port has made back its development and publishing expenses, plus some. It was revealed that Amnesia: The Dark Descent will be released under an open-source license on September 23, 2020.
Final Words
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