If you look at the past entries in the Amnesia series, they have relied heavily on building terror through highly atmospheric storytelling, asking the player to collect bits and pieces of knowledge and put the big picture together in a methodical manner unlike any other experience on the market. Amnesia: Rebirth is no different, but manages to take this foundation and create something that holds true to its own history and builds upon that groundwork exponentially.

The game starts off with a bang in the form of a plane crash that finds our protagonist Tasi left stranded in the middle of the Sahara alone without any recollection of why she is there and where the other members of her party have gone. Struck with a slight case of amnesia (heh) and the need to get out of the harsh sun, you set forth into the depths of madness as you try to escape the normal horrors you’d face surviving an event such as this before knowing what is actually under the surface, waiting to strike. Overall, the game leaves you to find your way without any waypoints or objectives thrown at you with big flashing lights. This game focuses heavily on leading you along intuitively with the carrot and the occasional otherworldly element that works as the stick, pushing you where it wants you to go. Much like the past entries in the franchise, the darkness is just as dangerous as anything that seeks to do you harm, if not more, and tasks you with constantly finding light sources, or in some areas, making your own. The danger is much more palpable here, as Tasi is suffering from a strange ailment that causes her physical pain if she veers too far into the dark, but at least she has some options to combat this.

As a first in the series, you will need to find matches, as well as the returning lamp, to light the path forward and keep the darkness at bay. The matches not only look amazingly lifelike, but function as they would in the real world – quickly burning down to the end of the wooden handle, getting slightly brighter as you light something else with them, and getting blown out by the slightest gust (often times coming out of nowhere suddenly), or by your own sudden movements. This added a whole new layer of tension to an experience that is anxiety-inducing on its own anytime you’re sneaking about as you’re down to your last match.

Akin to most of the horror games on the market, this is a walking sim at its core and relies heavily upon exploration as you piece together the story of Tasi and her missing team, with some mild puzzles sporadically placed. I didn’t struggle with the solutions, but some of these are so bland it made me wonder why it was even a puzzle and not just a switch on the wall to flip, because picking up the handle two rooms over didn’t really add anything to the experience. Outside of this, you’ll spend meager amounts of time evading ghouls, this entry’s version of the stalking otherworldly beings that wish to make you their lunch, as well as combat the darkness while you take in the mysteries the narrative provides. Working as a continuation of sorts, with some clear callbacks to the previous games in the series, it is a tale that doesn’t require you to be an expert in the lore, but it definitely helps. With the exception of one minor plot point that seemed off that I won’t delve deeper into for spoiler’s sake, I was engaged throughout the approximately ten-hour story.

If you’re a fan of horror, you know that some of the best scares out there come from what you don’t see, or something that comes in a flash, and this is no exception. I’m no stranger to the genre and normally don’t rattle easy, nor do I exhibit any of the telltale signs of fear in these situations, but some of the flashes and flickers of ghouls as they scuttle across the floor or wall, leaving as quickly as they appeared, left me with chills. Many horror games fall into a pit where the antagonists pursue you relentlessly without any breaks to the point that eventually, it loses its luster. Amnesia Rebirth strikes the balance perfectly – when the ghouls show up you notice and it immediately places you at the edge of your seat until you’re damn sure it’s safe. The ghouls lost some of their mystery once I got some better glimpses of them in full light during a single AI bug that found the one that was stalking me stuck on a corner. Honestly, they look like a next-generation incarnation of the beings found in Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but their longer than average appendages that often move in a way no human could lingered in my brain long after my playthrough concluded.

From start to finish, this game looks and sounds amazing. At no point did I find myself stumbling upon something that looked out of proportion or featured inaccurate textures. The only portions that broke immersion for me were the instances where Tasi’s hands were visible and the item she was interacting with just kind of floated in front of her until it completed its specific task. This is a norm for the genre, but one that annoys me every time I see it. Realistically, the only thing that could’ve improved this game beyond this gripe would’ve been the inclusion of VR.

Because I live in a household with a child that is often attached to my hip, I spent the opening hour or so through the PSVR headset, with my television turned off (I’ve heard rumors of some suffering from long term mental scars due to the works of Frictional, so I wasn’t going to subject my kid to this). This forced me to use my cheap headset for audio, and I’m honestly kind of relieved I started the game this way, as I kept the trend going, only replacing the PSVR unit with my 4K set once he was off to bed. It’s a rare instance that I have the time and mental fortitude to play through a horror game in one single sitting, but this is such a well-oiled machine, I completely lost myself in the world, along with my sense of time, and didn’t stop until it was 6 AM and the credits were rolling.

Amnesia: Rebirth is easily one of this year’s best horror experiences across any medium. Outside of a single case of the AI breaking character, I was fully immersed in the world Frictional Games expertly crafted. This is the definition of a slow burn in which the payoff is worth its cost of admission tenfold.

10 out of 10

Pros

• Impressive Life-Like Visuals
• The Matches
• Perfectly Balanced Horror
• Interesting Story Welcomes Newcomers as Well as Veterans

Cons

• Lack of VR Support (Please Frictional?)
• Some Mediocre Puzzles

Amnesia: Rebirth was developed and published by Frictional Games. It is available on PC and PS4. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Amnesia: Rebirth, check out the official site.

 

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