Routine: A New Horror Game

[Statyk]

What's your reaction in that kind of hardcore game when you actually do die and have to restart? Do you find the same level of engagement persists the next time you're replaying the same section?

In contrast, what do you think about the extremely low consequences for death in Amnesia TDD relative to Hardcore mode on DS2, in terms of your level of engagement? (not comparing with Justine because that's deliberately short)

It was a bit frustrating, I admit, to have gotten far and died (usually to environmental causes, like giant fans or moving machinery. I haven't died from monsters in DS2 Hardcore). But going through the same process still worried me a bit as I knew I would have to start over. It still scared me the same to a degree, I didn't go, "well, time to do it again, la de da". It was more of, "I have to do that again, shit, I hope I don't die...". Remember, I played the game on every difficulty before Hardcore. I already knew where every monster came from and how to kill them. But knowing each time that if THEY killed ME, I'd have to start over. And that made me more paranoid than I had ever been in that game, no matter how many times I played it. This is why I'm not concerned of the permadeath in Routine. I'm also believing that if they are making a game centered around permadeath, they must have balanced it around that concept (enemies probably don't kill you instantly like Amnesia, you probably have more health, etc. I HIGHLY doubt these enemies kill you in one hit).

When it came to Amnesia, the difference is a little hard to compare. DS2 had a fight mechanic, which makes it less scary, but the Hardcore mode bumped it back up. Amnesia loses its scariness by its instant death (having the monster be able to hit you more than once would make it a lot scarier during a chase. One-hit-kills ruined a bit of the game for me) and when you respawned, the enemy disappeared. I always thought this was a bug, and it eventually took away the scariness knowing that "hey, I'm running from this monster, but if he kills me, he'll just disappear after and I'll be okay". A choice the developers thought helped immersion by relieving frustration, but in my opinion, did the opposite. So all-in-all, when it comes to DS2 Hardcore VS Amnesia: TDD, I think my fear level was about the same. If Amnesia didn't do the things I listed above, it would've taken the cake. This is why I think Routine will be awesome. It knocks out all the things I think are good in a horror game. I just hope it DOES have balancing mechanics toward permadeath. One-hit-killing is a no-no.