It’s almost Halloween time, and being that it’s that time of the year – I decided I needed a good scare game. The timing was perfect, as Frictional Games, the folks who brought us the Penumbra series (which was part of the Humble Indie Bundle), just released Amnesia: The Dark Descent – a first person graphical horror adventure game. It’s not kidding around about the horror bit, either.

Amnesia gives me the feeling of a Dead Space/Silent Hill-type game. Your basic survival horror in terms of genre, yet there is even less a chance for your survival or ability to defend yourself in this title, along with some other added little bonuses for uniqueness. The first thing I noticed when I entered the game was how wonderful everything looks. The game looks clean, has great lighting for added mood, and it is simply scary.

You wake up in a wobbly castle with no memory (big surprise) and a sudden sense of fear, or maybe that was just me. You have your standard health bar, but you also are thrown a mix with the sanity bar. Your characters sanity decreases the more time you play in the darkness, the more monsters you lock eyes with, and the more creepy events you witness. You slowly restore sanity in the light, or by progressing the story. Light is limited, and so is your ability to create light – so insanity to a slight degree, even if it’s ever so slightly, is going to ravage your characters feeble mind. The less sanity your character has, the more hallucinations you have and the easier it is for monsters to be alerted of your shaking bones. Beware.

Monsters are not pleasant with the lack of a weapon.

Without giving too much story away, you play a fella named Daniel that has decided to drink a memory erasing potion, for good reason – but without letting you know why, all you really know is that something is hunting you. You wake up in a castle, it does not seem to have a solid foundation as you tumble about, and you’re left hunting for diary entries and other such things to help uncover your past or whatever you decided was necessary to forget. You have the ability to interact with your environment – picking things up, blocking doors with tables to protect yourself, etc. The ability to interact with objects is also used to complete complicated puzzles by fixing things, moving things around, etc.

On top of all that, the sound is really where this game shines. Using technology to increase the scared noises your character makes depending on what he is seeing, experiencing, or involved in. If monsters are around, you’ll breath heavy. If something scary is about to happen, the music will slowly become more menacing and ominous. I’m actually surprised there isn’t a sound effect for your character soiling himself, because that really seems to be an effect that goes hand in hand with this title.

They also have a tool kit where you can create your own custom maps, which leaves lots of room for beautifully constructed (hopefully) add-ons by the community at a later point, really adding to some longevity after you’ve completed the original story.

Overall, it’s a great game that is tons of fun that promises to leave you scared of turning corners. You can pick it up on Steam or from their site for $20 – it’s available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux! Oh yes, Game-play teaser below! Enjoy!

"Uhm... Hello..?" /Gulp