![]() ![]() You can still see in the darkness if you've run out of both oil and tinderboxes since Daniel's eyes will eventually adjust to the deep-blue murk of darkness, but there's a moment of adjustment, mimicking the dilation of his pupils to altered intensity of light. Tinderboxes are also scattered around amidst ancient books and in dusty cabinets and used to spark torches to illuminate passageways and candles within kitchens and torture chambers to make it less psychologically taxing as you explore. A lantern is always available to light up corridors, provided you've enough fuel to keep it lit. Staying in the light is the preferred course for those who prefer to maintain mental focus. It contributes to an feeling of isolation and helplessness that adds to the sense of terror. Sanity degrades while in the dark, causing the scene to shift like the webs of light across sands under shallow water as sounds intensify, controls are muddied, and eventually insects crawl across your field of vision. Visual cues are also crucial to reinforcing the sense of terror, as Daniel's vision is affected by ghastly sights and revelations of gruesome acts to which his previous life was connected. On the soundtrack, scratches, clicking and footsteps from unseen spaces imply an expanse of unknown rippling just beyond the limits of your perception. The sensation is created by a combination of implied and observable events. ![]() ![]() Yet what really adds a quality of unsettling authenticity to the tale is the unshakeable feeling of pursuit and inevitability of some kind of horrific climax. By itself the story is strong enough, and told effectively assuming you take the time to explore and pick up a majority of the notes. What follows is a tale told mostly in flashback as you' re beset by ghostly visions and uncover journal entries on dimly lit desks that tell of scientific expeditions that lead to the discovery of ancient terrors. Unraveling the history of the place is part of what lures you forward, discovering how exactly you got to this point, what Alexander did to deserve an early death, and who is responsible for the grisly acts committed in the castle's depths. Soon after coming to, you discover a note written by your past self, instructing you to find and kill Alexander, the master of house. You play as Daniel, who awakens clueless on the floor of the huge and hauntingly empty Castle Brennenburg. Much of the horror and structure of the plot is inspired by the 20th century author, as sanity is eroded the closer you draw to the sinister heart of the tale. Lovecraft story before you'll find a lot that's familiar here. It's a fairly short game, but one that's near impossible to forget. It plays more like a first-person adventure game than anything else, and borrows many of the environmental manipulation mechanics of Frictional's previous Penumbra series. When a gruesome shambling creature rounds a corner on wobbly knees and its yawning rictus comes into focus, you can only succumb to its onslaught or flee in terror, hoping the shadows will provide safe haven. In Frictional Games' Amnesia: The Dark Descent, you get no gun. Games like Dead Space and the most recent Resident Evil titles can be scary but tend to be just as focused on action as they are on atmosphere. True survival horror games are rare these days.
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