How do you guys handle it?

[ploppytheman]

It's actually really easy to break the paranoia, fear, and jumpiness and I can play through it w/o being afraid. But why would I get horror games (or movies/books) just to go immune and not be afraid. I'd rather be afraid and play the part than just steel myself. That's the fun of the game. Become the character. Be in the castle. Be afraid of your death. Take precautions.

If you really want to know how to not be afraid and ruin these games

Spoiler below!

Just tell yourself its a game and don't react to anything. Don't care if YOUR CHARACTER dies or if an enemy spots YOUR CHARACTER. Don't let the music or lighting affect your emotions (but don't turn it off thats cheating). I found myself steeling myself (repetitive) a few times and had to stop it b/c it would ruin the game. Just like when you watch a horror movie you can do this. I don't know if everyone can do this but I can and I assume one could train themselves to do it.

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I could play the game for a few hours before I felt exhausted and psychologically beaten. I will have to agree with most of the people in this thread though, this is a legitimately terrifying game. The jump scares were unpredictable and unsettling (if you go through desk drawers all the time like I did you will be in for quite a surprise around halfway through the game around you're thirtieth drawer). The atmosphere was constantly dark and fearful. I was always listening intently to the distant footsteps and howls, wondering if there WAS any reason to fear them. As for the gore I have seen worse. The torture chamber was very disturbing but it consists only of written descriptions and diagrams.

There is only one game which has scared me more than this and that would be Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, during the boat level. The Suffering is also nearly as scary as Amnesia but relied more heavily on gore.

CoC: DCotE was great and scary especially the hotel part. It was very buggy though and the boat part on PC is broken for many users requiring DLing a save. I actually posted on the games forum for a fix for PC users b/c there is no way to use the ship gun to shoot what you need to shoot.