Games in which you felt more immersed than in Amnesia

[Zgroktar]

That wasn't my point, the movement and handling are of a minor importance for me. Amnesia is better in the elements of the story, atmosphere, and is many times more horrifying than Penumbra. For me Penumbra, while a decent game, just doesn't deliver quite a punch like Amnesia.

I agree the story is superior, but I find the story in Amnesia to be considerably weak as well. I think the real improvement was in the storytelling, not the story itself. The first half of Amnesia has an admirable sense of dread and mystery to it and the set-up is simply put amazing - but I think the way it progressed and the way it was eventually tied up was monumentally bad, passable at best.

In regards to the atmosphere, I think both games are equal. Different, but in terms of having an oppressively thick atmosphere and number of/effectiveness of scares I think they are pretty much exactly equal. The only difference, in my opinion, is that the scariness in Amnesia is mostly smoke and mirrors, but since this is almost imperceptible if you're properly immersed I don't think it should be considered in any serious manner.

As for your statement that it doesn't deliver the same punch as Amnesia, I wonder whether it's possible you forgot the final third of Penumbra: Black Plague, which I consider to be comparable to or even superior to the majority of Amnesia. It is incredibly scary and in my opinion the way the tension builds and builds until the end is handled with much more finesse than in Amnesia. The idea in both cases is identical, essentially a

Spoiler below!

giant fetch quest.

Only, in Penumbra I am always genuinely afraid to continue because this section is filled with very uncomfortable sections, whereas in Amnesia I was annoyed at the prospect of having to gather all of these orb pieces.

It was transparent and you could almost say it was padding which I found very unwelcome seeing as the game had been going on for too long by that point. And these are not old recollections poisoning my opinion, I just recently replayed it and found the experience identical.

Sorry it took me so long.
Considering the story of Amnesia in Penumbra, one can agree they aren't particularly complex. It is basically smaller scale horror plot based on a Lovecraftian universe. But however, both Amnesia and Penumbra have redeeming qualities entangled in the story, and in Amnesia that would be the conflict and the story of Daniel and Alexander which I found very intriguing. Yes, you are perfectly right if I understood your point correctly, the storytelling in Amnesia is superb, so you easily forget any obvious plot holes.

However, I do not like everything about Amnesia, for instance, I think that the ending is done badly, and I have a similar opinion about Penumbra ending; The Tuurngait trials are not done very well, and the ending itself is a little bit lacking. It seems that Frictional has a little problem with proper ending of their games. Considering Amnesia, there shouldn't be several endings, but only one ending and it should have been probably based on the one where Alexander escaped and Daniel is left to confront the Shadow. I also have very mixed feelings about Agrippa, and whether he should have been included in the game, and I could easily raise the same question about Clarence.

To answer you other question, I remember perfectly well the last third of Penumbra, and of course, it was terrifying, but nothing can compared to the feeling of dread I've got by the Transept and the Choir levels of Amnesia, when I fully realized what kind of monster Daniel is. The whole games I was terrified of the Shadow and was starting to hate Alexander with a passion, and it turned out that Daniel was even a bigger monster than both of them.. That really blown my mind.

And oh, one more thing why Amnesia is more immersive that Penumbra, it has a bloody good soundtrack which I remember note by note. I've played Penumbra twice, and can only vaguely remember the main menu music, and some monster encounter music.