!! The Inspiration of Amnesia !!

[RedFaust]

I've started this game , and like penumbra , i did have the feelings that the main inspiration of frictional's games were from novels ... Unlike for example , its clearly comes from some movies. I mean of course the novels of Lovecraft.

But on that new game i did have the feeling that theres also something from Gustav Myeyrink. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Meyrink

This guy is an european writer, he developped a lot in his novels the encounter of occidental and middle east cultures. Most of its novel took place in Pragua, that symbolized this link. Its very esoteric and its like a kind of european lovecraft. I can add that on some moments when ive read this guy i did have the same feeling as in amnesia / penumbra. Frightening

I guessed theres also something of edgar allan poe... or if you have any suggestion of good "lovecraft-like" to read i would be happy . Lets talk about that :p.

---

Ive found something else on wiki :

"The Lovecraftian world has also made its mark on gaming. The board game, Arkham Horror, is in its fourth edition and a steady stream of expansions 22 years since its initial release. Chaosium first made its mark as a publisher of games based on Lovecraft's Mythos. Several horror adventure games are influenced hevaily by Lovecraft such as the Alone in the Dark, Chzo Mythos, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened and the Penumbra series. Blizzard's World of Warcraft has several references to Lovecraft, such as the boss Dextren Ward and the boss Yogg-Saron. " The first-person shooter Quake also references Lovecraft - even having a boss called the Shub-Niggurath. Also, whilst not always Lovecraft based at their essence, references to his work are common in other games such as Fallout 3, Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse and Blood."

The fact that wow has something of lovecraft. God damn i didnt expected that, poor lovecraft .

[Yuhaney]

Checked on Wikipedia and looks like one inspiration for Amnesia comes from The Outsider written by Lovecraft.

[Thomas]

Checked on Wikipedia and looks like one inspiration for Amnesia comes from The Outsider written by Lovecraft.

One should not believe all one see on Wikipedia

[RoadCrewWorker]

I'm sure there are a lot of ideas, works and concepts that were an inspiration during the design and influenced the game, as well as more than a few similar stories that the developer never heard of.

I don't think the idea of pinpointing it to one specific story is valid.

[thrash242]

Everything Frictional makes is pretty obviously inspired by Lovecraft. The engine is even called HPL after all.

[RoadCrewWorker]

Haha, nice catch, i never made that connection, but now there's no way i'm ever going to unsee that!

[wrath]

Surely any story is going to seem similar to a given work, especially if that work has been enjoyed in the past by the author of said story. I wouldn't go wild and speculate on any sort of base story. Although it does seem like it might kind of fun if you're into it (just for kicks). Certainly I wouldn't put it past these guys pay plenty of homage to HPL or maybe even some other well known, or hell even obscure author (though that only seems vaguely productive, unless maybe they aim stir up interest in something or somesuch). Who the hell really knows but the authors. So more speculation it is then?

[kea]

Well, Lovecraft, yes of course. But I feel amnesia has a much more classical-gothic-horror side to it than the penumbra games.
Also, Alexandre has a very Vincent Price-sque voice :-). All the torture settings and grand-guignole bits look like an hommage to the horror films golden ages (hammer, bava etc.)
The penumbra games were much more "pure lovecraft", I think.