My Impressions...to the victor goes the SPOILERS!

[graykin]

Okay, for those who have not completed the game and decided to ignore the all-caps "SPOILERS!" in the subject, I have been nice enough to encase my thoughts and feelings on the game in spoiler tags. You're welcome.

Spoiler below!

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.

To Frictional Games: I congratulate you on the game, and am looking forward to your next project.