Probably not buying this one. :(

[Splinterheart]

I played all the Penumbra series games and enjoyed them very much, so I was naturally looking forward to Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I just finished playing the demo and if that's what the full game is going to be like (and I'm sure it will be) then I probably won't be adding it to my game collection.

The lighting and level designs are great and the physics even more so... the mood is good, scary yet inviting, but the whole thing with your "sanity"... the vision being contorted uncontrollably and all that.... is actually more annoying rather than immersive. I feel like I'm being forced to feel what my character is feeling instead of allowing MY own REAL reactions and feelings to come through! It's like the game is dictating what I should feel!

There are several moments when the character gasps and his breath trembles, the FOV stretches and all that, and I guess (?) I'm supposed to be witnessing some "unsettling" moment, but there's nothing happening for me to actually see. Very confusing! Did I miss it? Where was I supposed to be looking? Hmm, I think I'm supposed to be scared now, but I'm not. *sigh*

There was one spot right at the start where a door blows open from the wind... and my character practically wets his pants, but I was like, "Uhh, yeah, okay. Whatever. Classic, but cheap gag." If he would have just gasped quickly, that would have been good enough for that particular moment... but the vision distorts way out of whack and tilts to one side as if he just had a stroke.

I hate the fact that the darkness causes you to lose sanity and, for me, it doesn't work as a good game mechanic. Maybe it would work, I guess, if it didn't happen so quickly. One minute, my character is fine, but then the next minute (literally), he's having a complete mental meltdown. Speaking of which, the "teeth grinding" was about to give me a meltdown in the real world and is almost reason enough not to buy the game. If the game induces enough stress and fright to make the player grind their teeth, then let THEM hear the grinding of THEIR teeth. I don't need (or want) to hear someone else's teeth grinding. All I heard was... distraction... distraction... distraction....

Seriously, and this isn't meant to be disrespectful to what Amnesia is trying to do, but I got a bigger emotional and psychological reaction from Doom 3 the first time I played it. Major anxiety... could only play for about 45 minutes at a time before I had to get up and turn on the lights. And for anyone who's played Thief 3... the Shalebridge Cradle mission... yeah, you know what I'm talkin' about.

Anyway, back to losing sanity... Amnesia: TDD doesn't give you any time to wait in the shadows for enemies... or time for much else either. You have to find or create light to "survive", but that only causes you to be seen by the enemies (which makes you lose sanity even faster?), so it's a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't sort of situation that lowers the fun factor several notches. And the lamp oil... OMFG, how FAST does a lamp burn oil? (And I thought the battery drain in Penumbra was ridiculous.) Again, this just makes the whole "the darkness can kill you" idea even less fun.

It's like the game is constantly making me HURRY to solve puzzles and "make progress". (There's even an onscreen hint that says as much!) I like to take my time with this sort of thing... explore... creep... think. But Amnesia doesn't allow it. It's like there's a pushy, nagging hand at my shoulder that constantly suggests, "Hurry, or you'll DIE! Hurry hurry! Move it! No time to look at things, no time to take in the environment... GO! NOW!"

I'm not trying to say that the game is going to suck, or that the demo does... it just didn't work for me. I was expecting something very different, I guess. Again, I liked the Penumbra games a lot... very unique and immersive, and I loved the fact that you didn't even need to have a weapon to get through it. I thought Amnesia would be more like that but in a different time/place with a new story and characters. I had really been looking forward to this for the past few months, but now.... well, I'm not anymore. At the least, I'll say "Thanks" to the developer for releasing a demo so I can find out these sort of things before making a purchase.

If Amnesia: TDD was a little less pushy, a little less "in your face" with the character's over-the-top emotional dictation, and a little more forgiving with the rules, then it might be fun.


Anyway, my two cents. Hope the rest of you like it better than I did!

Peace out.

- S -

[Sexbad]

I completely disagree with you, but I understand where you're coming from. There are quite a few people who seem to dislike having an avatar in a game, and rather wish to feel like part of the world themselves, rather than a character in the world. I'm never immersed by games like Half-Life 2 or Call of Duty, or point and click adventure games like Dark Fall: Lost Souls because they all take place in an objective standpoint, but it's better for someone who wants to apply her own personality to the game.

Amnesia is told with a subjective standpoint, meaning it's biased toward one way the player should or will probably behave. It has things like head bob and realistic idle movements. The game itself allows for more freedom of interaction than Call of Duty or Half-Life 2, but it comes at a cost, meaning that it tries to keep you in the insanity mindset by having your avatar react to stimuli as much as you do. Going into the room that goes dark near the end of the first level was a really intense thing to me because I like games with subjective standpoints more and Danny's reaction reflected my own. I like to be an actual character rather than the noiseless, inhuman Gordon Freeman, and if Daniel is a man with a story and quirks like these, it works for me.

[fenixkane]

I do recall that when they were talking about the demo that they said they made the insanity effects take a lot less to go crazy.
In the final game they should be more subtle and would probably take much longer to get to the crazy point.

[Tanshaydar]

Demo is too short, so will be the game. I'm not gonna purchase it. (Pre-purchased on March )

Well, joking aside, being afraid of Doom 3, this makes me to categorize people. I felt the horror in first thirty minutes, then the game became my showcase "look how I'm gonna finish it with just pistol, lots of headshots yeah!". It was my friend that he was too afraid to play, so he called me to play for him.

I mean, seriously, what kind of horror are you looking for? I had run a Silent Hill fan site, and for years I saw many people seem to like to compare Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. Of course, one can love both of them, but will love one of them more than other one. Which arises from the difference of horror elements in those two series.

I'm so surprised someone says that s/he liked the Penumbra: Black Plague didn't love Amnesia. Of course, demo was lack of many actual game elements, but I find it very hard to agree with you at many of your points. If I were Daniel, I wouldn't listen my former self and would get out of the castle as soon as I could. But Amnesia didn't let me! What's there to get bitchy about? One can say it's a game, so what if Daniel is afraid of darkness? It's something like going into fire and crying for why player's health decreases, blaming game not letting to walk and dance in the fire; whereas Amnesia derives a very wide interactive world.

Amnesia doesn't make us to do anything other than some heavy sanity effects. It was nearly same thing in Black Plague that Clarence was screaming and distracting player.
Others, they're just hints. One can do anything possible in game. Look at this thread: http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-3769.html , game allows you to go that near to this creature. But sure, there'll be outcomes for this action.

Of course no-one has to love the game nor the demo. However, reasons you count, they're just unlogical for me to agree. It's like playing a horror game with the strong decision of "I'm not gonna afraid!".

And for the demo. It's a demo, it's not a cut of part of actual game.

Playable demos generally have the exact same gameplay as the upcoming full game, although game advancement is usually limited to a certain point, and occasionally some advanced features might be disabled.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_demo

After I released Turkish localization of the demo in my personal blog, one person came and complained about the game. He claimed that the game has only one type of enemy, and it is invisible! He blamed developers for being lazy.

[Spooder Wekd]

I agree, but I intend to just remove the portion of the code that controls the sanity thing.

[suibriel]

I agree with the OP - but I know it'll still be a memorable game.

I've ALWAYS enjoyed games more when *I* am the character. If my character talks or has set lines (Buldars Gate and Fallout being exceptions due to the large amount of choices. Thief being an exception due to, I dunno, Garrett's hot? Actually there a bunch of exceptions!) I tend to disconnect with the game and my character (not really my character as he/she is everyone's character) and lose interest.

Though, like I mentioned, there are many exceptions. Maybe it's due to me having no faith in developers to create characters that I personally can identify with (most 'characters' in these games tend to be total dipshits. Except obviously Solid Snake...) or maybe knowing that there is a script and I am just a puppet master detracts from the overall experience.

[SHODANFreeman]

Can't you turn off the insanity effects? I remember a checkbox that said "insanity" in the settings.

[MassacrMan]

Can't you turn off the insanity effects? I remember a checkbox that said "insanity" in the settings.

That is worth investigating, someone go do it. I'm lazy.

[suibriel]

I think it turns off the actual visual effects, the wavering, zooming, etc. The acting gasping and view control is a core part of the game they wouldn't have an on/off option for.

[SHODANFreeman]

I would test it, but I already deleted the demo to prevent myself from replaying it endlessly. :p