What do you think of the game's length?

[mansarde]

I voted "perfect", although I too feel the ending is a little bit anti-climactic. But just a little bit!
It was just that the game has a constant build up of anticipation and you wonder all the time, how the encounter with Alexander will be like, what he will say, what surprises will happen, etc.

If there might be the possibility for a sequal though, then the ending is perfect.
But even if there won't be a sequel I like the ambiguity and the mysteries you've left.
The thing is, after you read all of the journal entries and notes again, then you will notice all the details in them which will give you enough information to draw your own picture of events and people.

I really like the story and I have to say I even like Alexander, because in a way I can understand him. Don't get me wrong, HOW he tried to achieve his goal was wrong (morally and ethically).
But given that he's not what you first think (in more than one way) and because of some of his messages which reveal his innermost thoughts I really feel more pity for him than anything else.

Spoiler below!

If it weren't for my (Daniel's) death by letting Alexander go home through the portal, I'd be happy to let him go.

[Jinix]

I want to see the next episode starting from the end part where Daniel can be thrown back to another adventure to satisfy some dark quests that the orbs invoke. Or where the orbs creator(s) wants all the orbs returned and Daniel (or his brother?) have to go find them.

by the way I let Alexander go where he wanted to it was only fair after all the work he went through for immortality.

Is it really necessary to include heavy spoilers in this thread without any sort of warning?

That's a spoiler?
well sorry I thought is was too vague to be a spoiler.

[Robin G]

Amnesia's length is perfect for me, but I’m a very slow paced player (Thief old school). The game took me 15 hours to complete, taking my time on reading the notes carefully and enjoing the atmosphere.
And the length will grow thanks to the editor. Actually, this game has not ending for me.

[fruitsaladninja]

It took me around 10 hours and i finished it in 2 days (yeah i didnt have much else to do haha)
I thought the length was good but wouldn't mind an extra 3 hours or so. Yeah as said before another hub level or 2 would be perfect!

Great game

[Spiegelman]

I believe these reviews are bullshit, sorry for the language. 6 - 10 hours for a game priced at $20 is fitting; I bet most of those reviewers ran through the game on high gamma, sound off, with the lights on. It took me at least four days to complete because I was scared out of my wits in some areas, but I believe if the game had drawn on any longer it would have eventually lost its charm.

Also, as you stated in that blog, the issue of replay-ability is up in the air. This game actually has a lot of replay-ability if you include the Custom Story editor. Hell, I even went through the main story again and found lots of things I missed, such as some "sanity events" and hidden items.

A lot of people are spoiled now-a-days with multi-player like Halo. They can have a shitty campaign, but they make up for it with the multi-player which takes everyone's mind off of main story so no one complains. It's hard to do that in a game like Amnesia because... well, there is nothing else besides the main story to review, not that it's a bad thing.

TL;DR - A lot of gamers are spoiled by hyped franchises like Halo and Call of Duty. I believe it's just the majority of gamers don't know how to enjoy a good story line and immerse themselves in games anymore. Also, in my opinion, games like Resident Evil 5 are ruining the definition of "Survival Horror."

[Bloody_Eugene]

It seems short because it's so good you won't leave it!
Like anything good, when it ends you want for more!

It's the standard Kane&Lynch/Modern Warfare/Dark void lenght....
But Frictional has the most honest price!

[popsUlfr]

I'm not sure I can partake in this poll. I assume it wasn't your intention to make the game as short/as long as possible but create a consistent, engaging, logical experience for the player?
I also take into account the content you could effectively produce as a small team with limited resources and in that timespan.

To give you my personal stance: as such there's no "too long" in games for me. In practice there's a "too long" when the game introduces "artificial" stretches (e.g. repeat of same pattern, unneeded walks, etc... [somewhat vague I know but I might have some more clear examples later]).
A "too short" means a game that failed to convey its whole point/narrative to the player and the end credits come as surprise (I'm ok with cliffhangers, things left unexplained as long as the game could succesfully set up an overall idea of the setting and didn't leave the player in a mess of story pieces).

Your game is neither nor. There are some places where you could have used those artificial stretches I spoke of earlier, but you did not.

What I'm worried about is your definition of long. If it means giving narrative, immersion, engagement lesser priority in favour of copy-paste corridors, events/quests, "dubious" gameplay mechanics then I will be in disagreement.

[d50l3m]

It took me about 11 and a half - 12 hours I would estimate. (I admit I am probably more cowardly than most though.) I think $20 dollars wasn't enough to charge, $25 or $30 seems like a better price - I mean Portal 2 will probably be about 8 to 10 hours for the single player and according to Gamestop that is going to be $45 dollars for the PC and $55/$60 for the Xbox/PS3.

It felt shorter than Penumbra (Black Plague, my favorite) though I'm not sure if it actually was. It may have been partially due to the puzzles seeming more difficult in Penumbra (and taking me a lot longer to figure out), or simply due to the fact that I really hated going back into that giant hallway area to get from room to room for fear of running into one of those guys walking around patrolling it.

[Tommy Gun]

Look it took me around 5 hours to complete, but that's because I know the styles of puzzles you guys do and it made it easier for me to play it and solve. I chose #2, but i reckon it's a bit harsh, the game is absolutely amazing with pure immersion and fear running throughout the entire game, right up until that very interesting and much needed finale.
However, it would have been nice to feel absolutely insecure for maybe another level worth. But I'm not complaining. Congratulations on the scariest game to date.

[udm]

I voted the third option. I would have paid more than $20 for the final product anyway. IMO, any longer and it would have been less fun, since towards the end one can roughly deduce the monster patterns. Any shorter, and, well, I'd probably come out feeling underwhelmed. Overall I spent about 15 hours on the game, though about 4 hours were spent on aimlessly wandering, trying to find out what to do in certain parts of the game.