So I just completed Amnesia last night...er, I mean VERY early this morning. While I think the game is good, there was something less-than-robust about the feelings inspired within me. The feeling of actually being the protagonist, the feeling of being a part of the world. Something was lost, from the translation of Penumbra to this new game, of which the title I am having trouble remembering. 3 things in particular, which I feel the need to mention.

1.) The Unexaminable Environment
One thing about Penumbra that I loved was being able to examine the environment. Being able to examine, to hear--I mean, read Philip's description of things really helped me to believe in the depth of the environment, and allowed me to understand Philip in a way that I felt was lost with Daniel. In Amnesia, there were no descriptions of anything, except those that were puzzle related. This brought me out of the experience somewhat. Instead of hearing Philip's voice with a description, it suddenly felt like the Game Developers were telling me what to do from far above. To be told of something in this fashion was unnatural, and further removed me from Daniel. I know it sounds inconsequential, but such a difference in the way Amnesia handles this invokes the powers of my metagaming mind, not the powers of my imaginative mind, which is counter what Frictional was hoping to do.

2.) Respawning
It was the first real encounter that scared me to death, in the guest room. I had picked up a note, and suddenly one of the grunts was beating on the door. I attempted to barricade it, but the door fell too fast and the grunt was upon me, and he killed me. The moment lingered in my mind, with my heart beating. Suddenly, the screen turns white and I reappear in a different section of the guest room, with the grunt long gone.

My first thought at this was, "WTF!?"

I felt robbed of something. I felt robbed of the challenge of getting around the grunt with my wits. I was not punished for failure, but rewarded for my stupidity in handling the situation. It felt like a cheap way to get around a persistent problem. But worse than that, it took away my fear, my immersion. If I was just going to pop up in another area, with the monster count reduced, why the hell should I care about my health? Why should I care about death? There is no punishment anymore, I'll just respawn like in Unreal Tournament. This is the one thing about the game that I truly, absolutely hated. Hated it. With a passion.

3.) Storytelling
I love notes. I love them to death. I love hearing the thoughts of people stuck in a horrible situation, love reading official reports by administrators or workers, and I love reading instruction manuals and backstory bits in games like this. They provide a nice chunk of the story, leave natural gaps in the things I know, and provide insights into the nature of the place I am, and the nature of the people who resided there. It helps me to take on the role as observer and interpreter, to wallow deep into the story.

Amnesia, dare I say it, felt more "cinematic" in the way the story was told. Flashbacks, hearing the voices of the past play in my mind in a fairly linear order, and reading only notes that pertained to puzzle-solving made me really feel like I was walking in a straight line in a video game, not in an interactive world. Daniel's diary entries, while providing some interesting backstory, yet again, were linear in design. It felt like the story was being told for me, and that I need only to find the next entry to have the gaps filled.


My criticism might sound harsh, but don't be fooled. I DID enjoy Amnesia and the story that was told. Amnesia is a total win on the technological aspects, having improved on everything that Penumbra had. I would still recommend Amnesia to those who enjoy a good story, or to those who enjoy a good horror game. However, Black Plague is still the most effective at instilling horror and immersion. For me anyway.

there isn't enough of it! It's always been a personal gripe that Frictional's characters always are well-imagined (and the writing is superb!), but there are never enough ancillary notes and supporting text detailing the character arc to really sink me into the game. For instance, in Amnesia, the major character arc that the story follows is Daniel's rediscovery of his past. It's an interesting journey of morality, but the amount of time spent on it in-game is not nearly enough. Basically, what I feel like the notes should have conveyed about Daniel would be something like this (every point having at least a couple diary entrees and several misc. notes surrounding the events, possibly from other characters' perspective):

1. Past, living and working in London; discovery of the orb in Africa
2. Return to London, ominous feelings; trouble sleeping
3. Obsession with the orb, correspondence with Alexander; friends and contacts meeting gruesome ends
4. Travel, meeting Alexander; staying in the castle
5. The dreams get worse, full access to the castle is denied; servants refuse to talk about the Baron
6. Learning about the orbs and the shadow; creeping feeling about the Baron, his skulking servants, and the castle
7. Discovery of prisoners! Daniel ponders the morality of the whole thing and thinks about them often; views on Alexander are tainted. Here the girl (the "get away from me!" girl) should have been introduced as a named(!) sympathetic character.
8. Alexander reveals the full brutality of the rituals, Daniel accepts the selfish necessity painfully, and worries about the girl. The shadow gets closer.
9. Daniel begins performing the rituals himself with Alexander as his mentor. Desensitization. Anger at the prisoners. Hollowness. Daniel's nightmares start slipping into his reality as a consequence. Madness. The shadow feels inescapable. Daniel's thoughts drift away from the girl and toward his work.
10. The girl escapes, and Daniel chases her down and kills her like a dog. He is thrown into despair. Begins hating Alexander. Can no longer grasp reality firmly.
11. Drinks the Amnesia drink to quell his tormented thoughts and horrible dreams. Events of the game begin.

This basic storyline is just a quick example of what a fully fleshed out character arc could look like. This one would be a painful journey of emotional discovery, pitting Daniel's fear against his morality (have to do terrible things to survive). It would have two diverse and interesting support characters in the Baron (mysterious, cold, withdrawn. He is intent on surviving no matter the cost to others. He is helpful towards Daniel but his motives are ultimately unknown. etc) and the girl (15 year old farm girl who was abducted by Wilhelm along with her mother. Naive, selfless, scared. Daniel takes pity on her but doesn't form a real relationship with her out of fear toward the whole thing. Her main role in the story would be as the catalyst for Daniel's breakdown after she escapes through that hole in the floor in the prison).

Instead of that, the game's story goes more like this:

1. Past, living and working in London; discovery of the orb in Africa
2. Return to London, ominous feelings; trouble sleeping
3. Obsession with the orb, correspondence with Alexander; friends and contacts meeting gruesome ends
4. Travel, meeting Alexander; staying in the castle
5. Learning about the orbs and the shadow; creeping feeling about the Baron, his skulking servants, and the castle
6. Daniel discovers the prisoners, hates them based on Alexander's lies. Briefly thinks (in ONE note) about whether it's right.
7. Daniel begins performing the rituals. Desensitization.
8. Hunts and kills the (largely unestablished) girl. Is thrown into despair, and hates Alexander(for... some reason). Drinks the Amnesia drink and the events of the game begin.

The important and scary parts of this story are largely ignored (most briefly touched upon in 1 part notes later on), and there is no character development for anyone but Daniel. Weyer and Agrippa are thrown in as ancillary characters with confusing or non-existent motives (Who is Weyer??? What is Agrippa's connection to all this, and who is he? Why is Daniel helping him?). Alexander has basically no role in the story despite being the main antagonist; the player is left to decide whether to hate him for what he's done or not, but is not given any info with which to decide.