Is anyone even reading reviews?

[serotonin]

"The game doesn't fall into the closet monster trap"

Now you know that you'll never jump from some unexpected scare. Now you know you won't turn around and have a little Alma wannabe scaring you. It has provided you comfort in something that was previously an unknown, thus taking away from the game.

Except that presumption you erroneously make isn't true. You have PLAYED THE GAME, right? I've opened a door into a pitch-black room and had one the "nasties" form out of the gloom 6 feet from me. I've walked up to a pile of rubble and heard a voice whisper beside my ear "help me". Etc and so forth.

The writer is making a VERY broad point there, and you're just deliberately misreading it. All he's saying is that Amnesia doesn't make such moments basically 100% of the game's fear-factor, like games such as Doom 3 and FEAR have.

This is something the writer SHOULD make a note of, because it's exactly what a reader like me, who hasn't been scared of survival-horror games for years and years now, wants to know. It's what made me buy the game.

"The puzzles are always interesting and you rarely are stuck"

Now you know that everything will be fairly obvious and all you need to do is follow the logical steps to solve puzzles. This shows that the game won't really pressure your intelligence which leaves you with less to look forward to, thus again taking away from the unknown and the experience.

Again, you're baselessly putting words in the writers mouth and drawing specific conclusions from a non-specific statement.

All he's saying is that the puzzles are not frustrating. That's all. Nothing else. And again, that's exactly something he needs to make note of, as a reviewer.

Everything else you ascribe to the statement are truths you only know because you've played Amnesia. Someone who's never played it will not read that line in the article and instantly have the same degree of specific knowledge you do. Obviously.

"Luckily when you die you are not forced to restart and respawn in a close area"

Now you know that monsters are less a fear and more an inconvenience. Again, taking something away from the unknown. You instinctively shit your pants and run away when you are spotted by an enemy, but now, meh, if I get trapped I'll just take the death and respawn real quick.

More of the same nonsense from you. How are you saying this, when you should already know that your erroneous take from the statement is false, since you've played the game?

ALL DEATHS IN ANY GAME EVER should not logically make you afraid, of course. Amnesia no less than any other game. But it's the game's job to immerse you to the point that you don't think in game-logic terms when you're 'in the moment', and so you don't think to "take the death and respawn real quick", you just have an adrenaline response, instead.

Amnesia achieves that immersion, as you yourself should know. And the well-written reviews for Amnesia (i.e. most of them, so far) inform the reader of that.

The alternative -- forcing the player to replay large sections of the game any time he dies -- does not actually add to fear. It adds to frustration. Amnesia, CORRECTLY, does not subject the player to that.

Which is, again, something the reader needs to know.

Am I making any sense?

No, not really. Your stance is silly and you've done a poor job arguing it.



Look dude, you want to go about spending your money before knowing a product is actually a wise purchase, that's your business.

But don't kid yourself into thinking that's good advice for everyone else.

People like you are the ones who bought games like Too Human and Daikatana and then subsequently descended into a black rage after an hour of playing.

People like me are the ones who roll their eyes at the woes of people like you, because we read a couple of goddamn reviews first and never have that happen to us.