In 2010, Frictional Games released Amnesia: The Dark Descent for PC, paving the way for countless entries in the horror genre. Sadly, I never had a PC that would run the game properly (believe me, I tried). It was overwhelmingly popular, described as a true horror experience that YouTube stars made out to be a downright terrifying game. Following the groundwork laid by the original, they followed it up with Justine and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, which yet again, I never had a rig capable of running. Now, almost a decade later (and following a successful PS4 release) the full collection has been released for the Xbox One. Since this is a collection, I am breaking down the review by each game and will provide a score of the collection as a whole as well.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

The first entry in the series begins with you awaking in an eerie, run down castle. Early in you’ll learn that you are Daniel, a character that has left a series of mysterious, often insane sounding notes claiming he needs to seek out the owner of the castle and end his life. The why and how of this plays out before you, as the game skips the whole cutscene craze and puts all of the action (or lack thereof) right in front of your eyes. The story is drip fed via the messages, giving the player the backstory of Daniel, as well as the history of the manor you explore.

The game is primarily a walking sim, as it set the standard for the games that followed suit, with resource gathering, minor puzzle solving and hide and seek mechanics sprinkled in for variety. Along the way you’ll need to keep your lantern full as well as collect tinderboxes used to illuminate various light sources that are liberally placed throughout the game. The puzzles are well designed and typically logic or physics based, often requiring you to pick up something and throw it at something else, or find specific items or keys. It provides just enough direction to point you to your goal without holding your hand, which was a nice change since most similar games fall way too far on either end of that spectrum.

While there are creatures that stalk the manor, they are not overly horrifying, partially due to the dated visuals. One of the more challenging ones is completely invisible, only appearing as movement within water (this was probably the most unsettling and rewarding encounter the game throws at you). I wasn’t particularly impressed with their overall design on the single enemy you can see; the jerky movements were mildly creepy and elevated them beyond just being a lumbering humanoid figure. Most of the horror elements stem from psychological themes, as the world will change as you transition between areas, or in some cases, before your eyes. Again, due to the dated visuals, this is not as fluid as newer horror games, such as Layers of Fear, but works well enough. The true threat is Daniel’s ever descending journey into madness, as spending too much time in the dark or seeing too many strange occurrences will cause him to lose it mentally and you’ll be treated with a game over screen. I found this mechanic to be unique, but I found the notes that I previously mentioned to be much more intriguing than anything the game threw at me visually, being my primary reason for pressing forward only to uncover the mysteries found within.

The visuals are passable for a game that is almost a decade old, but are nothing to write about in your nightmare journal (if you have one). The various pools of gore and viscera that litter some of the more horror themed areas look like piles of red mush opposed to anything recognizable. Many of the items you interact with appear to move fly from nowhere when thrown, despite your hand appearing if you opt to use the lantern. As your sanity goes deeper and deeper into the toilet, the game throws a blurring effect at you regularly, which stops all movement and drops you to your knees. This plays out well, but the blurriness caused rather frequent headaches. My biggest issue with the presentation is the fact that everything, even when in complete darkness, looks overly washed out after spending a fair amount of time fiddling with the TV and in game gamma settings. I found the occasional roach or bug that would crawl across the screen out of nowhere to be a nice touch, but not overly scary. Despite the visuals being dated, the sound design is on point and immerses you within the game world. The creaking doors and obvious sounds of movement just outside of your view sound like they are emitted from within your home and really put you in the shoes of the protagonist.

The Dark Descent is a fairly linear experience that can be completed within a few hours, with little reason to return unless you are aiming to find all of the collectibles for the associated achievements. While it fails to meet the levels of terror inspired by the likes of Outlast, I would recommend playing it if you’re a fan of the genre, if only to see how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time, much like I would recommend the original Doom to any FPS fan who may have missed it.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Amazing Narrative
• Sanity Mechanic
• Great Direction

Cons

• Dated Visuals
• Blurring Effect is Headache Inducing

 

Justine

Our second stop on the train to Nightmare Town is Justine, which was originally released as free DLC, developed in part as a tie in to Portal 2. The story follows the titular character on her own journey into Hell, as she awakens from a self-induced experiment in which she drank a concoction containing Lithium, as well as other mind altering drugs. Much like Daniel and his notes, Justine has left audiologs (as well as notes) scattered about, leaving hints for herself, advising her that she must decide the fates of a number of individuals locked away in her manor. Fans of Portal or the Saw films will feel right at home with this game, as it leans more towards the visual side of horror with its use of traps and experiments opposed to the psychological elements that The Dark Decent relied on to spook the player, leaving a much longer and deeper impression on me than the previous game in the series.

The new tale of terror takes no time in throwing new and visually improved enemies at you. My first attempt saw me leisurely strolling through the decrepit tombs, expecting the game to take it’s time slowly digging it’s claws into my brain like the first entry, only to be ripped to shreds within seconds of walking through the first doorway. The visual upgrades are minor, as the creatures appear to be the same found in the main story, but look more akin to someone who had their face bashed in, opposed to scowling creatures with their twisted, misshapen mouths.

Since this was DLC, I won’t bother repeating myself referencing the visuals or controls, as they are essentially the same as The Dark Descent with one noteworthy change – permadeath is in place. That’s right, if you befall one of the many (much more interesting I might add) enemies, you’re done, and will be kicked back to the main menu. This alone ratcheted up the terror to eleven for me, as I had grown quite fond of the frequent checkpoints from the previous entry and seemed to miss the memo that the new mechanic was in place on my first attempt. While I can get behind permadeath, I was a bit disappointed to find I had to complete the entire experience in one playthrough, as saving the game at any point is not an option. This is forgivable, simply due to the short nature of the story, clocking in around thirty minutes to an hour (if you can survive that long); you will need to set aside a decent chunk of time to carefully navigate the short trials.

Justine adds a sense of terror and urgency that the first game in the collection lacked, partially due to the unforgiving nature of the permadeath system. While it is an extremely stressful game, it takes everything that made the original so effective and streamlines the experience. No true horror fan should miss it, especially since it’s included in the package.

9 out of 10

Pros

• A Faster Pace Than The Dark Descent
• The Visual Horrors Standout Among the Package
• Improved Antagonists
• Permadeath

Cons

• Visuals Are Still Dated
• No Save States
• Permadeath

 

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

The final game in the collection is Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, which takes an interesting turn compared to its predecessor. This strips away many of the psychological elements that made the original stand out, leaving a much prettier and accessible story that relies on horrors that you see and hear. Without resource management (you now have a lamp that doesn’t require fuel and you can turn on lights without the previously required tinderboxes) and the sanity meter being removed entirely, this feels like the original horror walking sim. The player is tasked with exploring the game world, seeking out scripted segments, and completing some of the most boring puzzles I’ve ever encountered in a video game, horror related or otherwise. Gone are the vague hints and puzzles requiring you to seek out specific items – progress now only requires you seek out specific items and interact with them, akin to just flipping a light switch or turning a handle.

The story follows Oswald Mandus, another troubled protagonist in line with the theme of the stories, who is investigating the disappearance of his children. They appear in strange visions early into the game, working as a form of breadcrumb trails guiding you through the world. As you follow the winding road the visions take you through, you’ll slowly unlock additional areas while descending into the horrors that await our hero. Vague, dread filled audiologs, notes, and phone calls all point to your children being held by someone or something deep in a “machine” hidden below the city. Since the story is the big ticket item, I won’t speak on it further to allow you to experience it for yourself, as you rightfully should since it is one hell of a ride.

The visuals are a huge step in the right direction, looking light years ahead of the previous games in terms of detail, gore, and lighting, all the while being five years old at this point. The locales are much more varied, reducing the feeling of being lost within the mansion or sprawling underground tombs and the end result feels much more like a well-oiled machine, working out many of the gameplay related kinks the previous games stumbled with at times. The enemies are improved as well, as least visually – the hulking pig creatures will likely have you second guessing how cute and cuddly the small pigs are the next time you are visiting a petting zoo. What’s more unsettling than their appearance is the distinct sounds they utter when you get within earshot of them, which will likely send chills down your spine and stick with you long after the credits have rolled in the six hour journey.

As I mentioned before, the horror themes rely much more on what you do see than what you don’t, with hidden rooms revealing the old school one way mirror in the paintings and makeshift living quarters within the mansion’s walls, letting you know something or someone was watching the family prior to events of the game. Coming from a world where we put so much value into privacy, revelations such as this put me into a sense of unease that felt all too real.

While it sacrifices some of the better qualities of the previous games in the series, it also improves on many of the presentation issues, resulting in a true horror experience that puts Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs on a pedestal with the greats such as Resident Evil. 

10 out of 10

Pros

• Streamlined Horror Approach
• Impressive Visuals That Greatly Improve on the Predecessors
• The Pig Creatures

Cons

• Lame Puzzles

 

There you have it, it was a long journey into the various horrors that The Amnesia Collection offers with its unique mind-bending narratives. While the original game doesn’t hold up as well as the rest of the collection, this should not be missed. With the collection being offered on most of the current gen consoles at this point, now is the perfect time to descend into madness.

10 out of 10

Pros

• Hours of Horror Filled Content
• Interesting Narratives
• Bargain Pricing for Three Great Titles

Cons

• The Dark Descent Hasn’t Aged Well

The Amnesia Collection was developed and published by Frictional Games. It is available on PC, PS4 and X1 as of 2018. The game was provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of The Amnesia Collection, check out the developer’s site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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