I didn't care about getting to the inner sanctum, and I didn't care about getting the items I needed to solve the current puzzle. I've been startled, agitated, and even creeped out a little, but I have never, ever been as stunned by fear as I was at that moment. My hand trembling over the mouse, I couldn't move, couldn't think, and couldn't even motivate myself to exit the game. I could hear it getting closer every now and then, and sitting in the dark caused my character's sanity level to slowly drop, which in turn caused the screen to distort and cue disturbing sound effects. I began to sweat, and my heart beat faster. There was no thought other than " please just make him go away" crossing my mind. I wanted to stay in my hiding spot in the dark where I felt safe.
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I wasn't thinking about killing it, I wasn't thinking about getting out of its line of sight, and I wasn't even thinking about how to get past it. The first time I actually encountered a monster, I ran and I hid. This made things a bit less stressful, but the game still had quite a few tricks up its dark, hideous sleeve. After seriously considering giving up, I chose to soldier on… With the lights on, of course. This felt incredible-the game was literally too good for me to handle. I only lasted about two hours or so with the dark/headphones setup before I had to turn the lights on. Why not? If the game is going to lay out the terms by which it should be played, why should I not oblige?Īmnesia is an extremely intense experience even with the lights on, and taking the game's advice on how to play makes it visceral.
Turn the lights off and put headphones on, it said, with a wicked smile inflected in the words. While true horror fans will likely salivate at this prospect, the crippling fear the game instilled in me nearly made me give up on it.Īt the very beginning, Amnesia gives a few statements as to how this setup works.ĭon't stay in the dark for too long, it said. When combined with the aforementioned aesthetic, the game managed to keep my pulse elevated nearly the entire time. My only recourse when encountering a scary-looking thing was to literally run and hide, and hope that they would go away. The player is completely defenseless against the horrors of the castle. We're always in a position of power, to a certain degree.Īmnesia is different. Even in "stealth" games there's usually a way to take out or at least avoid a given enemy. No matter what, the player always has some kind of weapon to use against the bad guys. You see, the first thing any gamer thinks when encountering an adversary is, " how do I kill it?" That is the lesson we've had pounded into us. This prohibition on combat creates a sense of helplessness that challenges every video game instinct I've had burned into my psyche. On top of the aesthetic, the structure of play is designed to ensure that the player is always on edge since there is absolutely no fighting back against the various enemies encountered. The wonderfully disturbing castle combined with subtle visual and audio effects are seamlessly woven together to create something terrifying on a level I've never experienced before. Completely alone in the castle, Daniel must contend with all the things going bump in the night on his own, with no map and completely unarmed save for a lantern.Īmnesia creates the best atmosphere I've ever seen. That's the entire setup, and the simplicity of this concept lends itself brilliantly to the sense of isolation that Amnesia conveys so well. The player takes the role of Daniel, the main character who wakes up in a dark castle with no memory of who he is or why he's there.
Not scared as in a short burst of shock, but in a heart-pounding, sweat-inducing, I-need-to-stop-playing-so-I-can-calm-down kind of scared.
Ask yourself, have you ever felt truly afraid in a game? Have you ever felt for yourself the imminent danger that the player character is supposed to be feeling? I can't say I ever have.Īmnesia: The Dark Descent is to date, the only game that has ever scared me. Still, there is one emotional state that I've never felt in a game-fear. Over time the range of responses that games are able to invoke has only increased, getting the player more and more involved in the goings-on of their worlds. We get choked up when Aeris dies, we laugh at the antics of Phoenix Wright's quirky witnesses, and we get angry when Mega Man can't quite make that jump over the pit. Games, like any other art form, are capable of eliciting very strong emotions. WTF: Encountering a monster for the first time and being forced to run and hide LOW: Encountering a monster for the first time and being forced to run and hide. HIGH: Encountering a monster for the first time and being forced to run and hide.
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