When you hear about survival horror the first thing that pops into your mind would be Resident evil ,Silent Hill or F.E.A.R.This Genre has become increasingly popular over last few years and also slowly becoming the favorite genre of hardcore gamers.The very idea of this type of games is to put the player in a vulnerable position where everything and anything count as a measure to survive the environment.The main objective would be to solve puzzle to escape the scary and dark maze like environment.There are lots of good survival horrors released past few years and the one that really stand above all is the game Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
Amnesia:The Dark Descent is a game released by Frictional Games who are known previously for their survival horror series :Penumbra.The game was released only for PC.The game does not have high end textures or graphics but for what the game is developed it is like ten times more scary than any latest survival horrors with high end graphics engine.The game is extremely scary and terrifying and its really not for the faint hearted.
Storyline and Gameplay
In Amnesia you play the role of Daniel who wakes up in a castle..who well is suffering from amnesia .You awaken to find a dark lit castle with creaking sounds and echoes.The story unfolds through flashbacks and notes you find along the way,what might many think it would be take long tiring and boring gameplay Amnesia pulls and raises above the bar to grasp the audience with breathtaking gameplay.Unlike most of the other survival horror you wont have guns or ammunition or grenades to throw around ,Amnesia follows a complete new system you won't have health bar instead you have a sanity meter if the player is in the darkness for long time you will go insane ,causing hallucination which draws the attention of monsters nearby.You may either run to the nearet light emitting source or find tinderboxes to lit candles and lantern so that sanity is fully restored.But these resources are limited and they should be used up wisely other wise you will run out of light in the most needed places and will go insane.
When Daniel withness anything supernatural like doors opening on its own or sounds echoing nearby the character will start to breath heavily and screen will begin to blur out of focus also the player will begin to get dizzy and start to loose control and fall down.Since you don't have any weapons your only option is to run and hide as soon as you see any monster.If the monster spots you it will chase you and no obstacle will stand its way it will break down doors ,wood etc. and they will be surprisingly fast.
Now back to the lore you will continue collecting notes and journal entries slowly everything will come back to how Daniel reached the castle .Daniel was working in Africa as an archeologist.His team came across an Orb in one of the ruined temple it was brought back to England . The Orb began to haunt Daniel's mind with fear and nightmares and killed many people who came across Daniel and the Orb.Not knowing what to do he receives a letter from a Baron names Alexander who claims he can help Daniel.
Daniel laters understands the baron is a Alien lifeform and is trying to use the Orb open the gateway back to his world .The Baron requires a substance which can be harvested from the blood of tortured human beings he also needs the Orb Daniel found.The baron tricks Daniel into believing that hes torturing criminal in harvesting the substance and Daniel was made a torturer but Daniel later finds that the Baron is holding people as his prisoner's and he plans to kill them all.Daniel witness the Baron murdering a girl in cold blood .With guilt taking over him and traumatised by what he witnessed he erases his own memory and the story of the game starts from here.
My Thoughts about the game
Well i dont want to spoil the end of the story .Amnesia:The Dark Descent is hands down by far one of the most entertaining and scariest games i have played.Even though the game is short for one matter it is worth every second of it. The game really puts you in the edge of the seat from the starting to the end.At the starting of the game the developers have a made a note of the game saying"“Amnesia should not be played to win. Instead, focus on immersing yourself in the game’s world and story.”And also use headphones.The only flaw I found in this game is that one the graphics could have been more better,but considering you dont need to fill up half of the hard disk like current games available in the market ,Amnesia:The Dark Descent is like 2.5gb.An overall i would give a 4/5 to this game .Enjoy the game!!
Thanks for Reading
In SR3 you freely explore the world performing missions and side jobs.The mission can be started using mobile phone found in your inventory.Sucessfully completing mission will earn you in-game money,guns and the street respect.There are experience points similar to World of Warcraft where completing the quests earns you exp points and grants you level where the maximum level in the game is 50.While leveling you are able to purchase attributes to improve your character skills .If you having trouble completing a mission or having problems with enemies you can call up your gang and have them swing by your side to help you.Around the city ,there are plenty of things to do,there are different types of mode to finalize mission.You can pretty much call an airstrike to blow up the enemy skyscrapers and buildings.Aside from the single player mission you are able to Co-op with a friend and complete the game with that person.But still the game isnt as smooth or fun as the first two parts of the game but still you can pretty much enjoy the chaos and havoc.
