Amnesia: The Dark Descent or Penumbra: The Black Plague?

[Nyarlathotep]

That improved the immersion for me.

To each their own. I'm just personally glad that Frictional seems to be building on what they started with Amnesia, from what their blogs suggest.

[maarten12100]

Penumbra BP for sure.

[Zgroktar]

Amnesia definitely, it is one class above Penumbra in my book.

[Amnesia Gamer]

Amnesia: the dark descend is actualy the best IMO. Due to the monsters, scenography and graphics it' s just amazing.

[Damascus Rose]

It looks like this thread has been necro'd, but whatever I'll post my thoughts anyway.

I would say Amnesia is the better game, though I really enjoy both. Keep in mind I'm not considering Penumbra: Overture in my comparison, because that was improved on by Black plague. Penumbra is rough around the edges, in terms of puzzles, graphics, gameplay, monsters, atmosphere, actually mostly everything except maybe story. I liked the story a lot and I think that's maybe one thing Amnesia has less of than Penumbra, even though Penumbra is riddled with long and boring notes. I just find that Amnesia does everything it does better than Penumbra, so I feel like Penumbra is just the young puberty version of Amnesia (if that makes any sense). Frictional obviously took what they learned from Penumbra to the next level with Amnesia. Puzzles are less ridiculous (though still ridiculous at times), graphics improved, monsters are waay scarier (I mean a hell of a lot scarier, though I liked how Penumbra had many of them!). For gameplay, there is less pointless stuff like the flares and two sources of light. I felt Amnesia creates also a scarier environment, with better ambiance and setting, it created a bigger sense of dread for me. I just really like the Amnesia setting for horror games, I think it's the scariest I've seen but that's just me.

I'm not sure really why Penumbra is above Amnesia for so many, the answer seems to be clear to me but perhaps that is because I played Amnesia first. I tried to be as unbiased as possible, though.

Also, I wish this thread was made as a poll!

[Slanderous]

Amnesia is better imo, Penumbra didnt't make me almost cry and the

Spoiler below!

BP monster with this umbilical cord looks really funny. And the dogs in Overture are even more funny.

Also I prefer old castles, creepy dungeons and stuff like that more than modern settings because there are a lot of games set in modern places amd its simply boring.

[Onlinezigeuner]

A difficult question fine sir. I would say amnesia made everything a bit better. Except soundtrack, puzzles, variety...those are a lot better. Both games are great and one of my favorite tough.

[Alardem]

Penumbra was a revelation as a horror game, proving that it was indeed possible to combine a first-person perspective with stealth-based gameplay in order to create an unnerving experience.

Amnesia may have improved on the mechanical aspects, but it was simply a refinement of what Penumbra introduced to me. I also found Amnesia's castle setting far less interesting than the modern-day equivalent to The Thing's frozen base.

Story-wise, I enjoy each on their own merits. Philip's struggle was more sympathetic and tragic, while Daniel's story is morally questionable.