Was Amnesia your first horror game?

[Atwa]

My first one was Silent Hill on the original Playstation. That damn radio still gives me creeps.



After that I have been in love with horror games. Amnesia quickly because my favorite one, no other game has managed to straight up scare me like it does.

I still think SH1 is the best horror game ever, along with Amnesia. Both games present a bit grotesque interpretation and representation of a horror and scare. Instead of a creepy-looking demon with tons of spikes or a disgusting zombie, they give you unusual environment and unusual in design enemies, which is not just "scary" looking, but they do actually have a good, deep idea behind their look and design, acting and existence. This makes setting and universe consistent, interesting for exploration and investigation.

While I do think both Amnesia and Silent Hill have quite excellent and grotesque monster design you are right, the strength of these games does not lie in how the monsters look but rather how they are used. Take Dead Space as an example, a supposedly scary game. It has great graphics and quite good enemy design but still not scary in the least cause the game keeps throwing these enemies at you every opportunity they get.

With how the human brain works we are always more afraid of what we cannot see. Therefor the term less is more applies in very high degree to horror games. Both Amnesia and Silent Hill only shows us the monsters enough to create a dread towards them but never so much as making us used to their presence. In reality most the time is spent expecting a monster to show up that never does. This tension is infinitely higher than any horde of monsters in front of you could ever do.

Silent Hill 1,2,3(and 4 to a certain extent) hold a very dear place in my heart for really being the pioneers of this more psychological horror experience. The reason Amnesia overtook them is probably because of me being a huge HP Lovecraft fan and Amnesia is basically one of his stories in playable format.

I wish that this type of horror could sell millions of copies instead of Dead Space. But I guess the mainstream audience don't want to get scared. At least not in the degree that Amnesia is capable of.

Amnesia was the first horror game I played, but I still haven't beaten any horror game.
I've been hoping my cousin will finish it for me while I watch, but I don't think that's going to happen.. Maybe I should force myself back to Amnesia..

The reason I wanted (correction, needed) Amnesia was because it seemed so immersive, so real, so scary.. And it was even better than I expected. I continuously look for other horror games that interest me, but the search is not very succesful.

Have you tried Condemned: Criminal Origins, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Silent Hill 2 and 3, System Shock 2, Clive Barkers: Undying. The last two are a bit older but the rest should be no problem if you are petty about graphics. All are available on PC.

Obviously Penumbra too but that should go without saying!