AMFP Member Review Thread

[Rya.Reisender]

I think the game was okay.

>>Story<<
The basic story is great, though it leaves a few things unanswered

Spoiler below!

(like who the person in the iron lung is - we still discuss about it with no clear answer and I don't think "just some random sacrifice" is the answer, because you would only place a very important person right there)

. While the basic story is great however, it is far too linear. There aren't even different endings. The story is actually pretty massive and could have been content for 10+ hours of gameplay, but it's just being rushed through, which results in a game that is too short, but still feels big.
Score: 7/10

>>Graphics<<
I think they are great, there are several technical problems with the engine it seems, I had to set up a computer without antivirus protection to even get it to work. Other than that, there is a good variety, much better than in the prequel. Not much to complain about it.
Score: 9/10

>>Music<<
I enjoyed the music in the game (at the times there was music). Some regions are not scary enough, though. It's often just silence and there is only noise if there is really something happening (even if it's just a scare scene). I'd have wished there would also be other background noise, even if there was no danger or a scare scene. Other than that it was good.
Score: 8/10

>>Gameplay<<
Most of the things changed to Amnesia like the removal of an inventory is a decision I can understand. No inventory improves the immersion and it really was unnecessary most of the time anyway.
Also the removal of music to indicate danger and replacing it by flickering light is a nice idea. Nothing I want to complain about.
The biggest flaw of the game however is the whole dungeon and puzzle design. The game is mainly a linear road you HAVE to follow. You can't even go the wrong way because walls and doors will appear everywhere you shouldn't currently go to. This was incredibly disappointing. The story leaves a lot of potential to allow a lot more free exploration that what is given to the player. Puzzles are super easy to solve as you can only interact with options required for a puzzle in the first place. This whole linearity and super simple puzzle cause you to never have to backtrack or explore and effectively is the reason why the game is so extremely short, despite the massive story. It's basically a horror movie.
The dangers in the game also were quite disappointing. While the encounter themselves are indeed scary, there are only few of them and they NEVER force you to do some smart thinking. You never have to close a door so later a monster won't appear through it. You never have to block a path. There are never mistakes you can make that will lead to instant death. All of this felt completely missing in the game. It's just some monsters working around in places that are super obvious after the first encounter.
There are some great ideas like

Spoiler below!

when the village is attacked

, but it all gets ruined by the lack of interaction. You can save no one, you can't even be killed most of things you see. They won't even notice you when they can't reach you even if you make loud noise and run around with your light active.
All of this was incredibly disappointing. Yeah the things I mentioned at the beginning were just design decisions and I'm okay with those changes as they have a good reason, but there is no good reason to make the game completely linear and remove all the interaction. It just made the whole thing boring as a game and makes me think that it would be better of as a movie. Which is a big shame because the whole story had really a lot of potential. Seems nobody really bothered trying to make it into a great game, though.
What makes it even worse is that the trailers gave a completely different impression of the game.
Score: 3/10

>>Overall<<
Overall, I think it was an okay game to play. I enjoyed the story, the graphics and the music, but the gameplay just wasn't really there. The gameplay is certainly far below average, but the other aspects are still above average. I guess a solid average score fits to my overall impression best, so I'll give it a 5/10.