Amnesia: The Dark Descent
| Amnesia: The Dark Descent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio | Frictional Games |
| Publisher | Frictional Games |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
September 8, 2010 |
| platform | Linux , Mac OS X , Microsoft Windows , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One |
| Game engine | HPL2 |
| genre | Survival horror , adventure |
| Game mode | Single player |
| medium | Download |
| language | English (subtitles in German, English, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish) |
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a survival horror - computer game of the independent game developer Frictional Games , which previously the closely related Penumbra created -Spieleserie. The horror adventure played from the first person perspective was released in September 2010 for Windows , Mac OS X and Linux .
action
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is set in the 19th century. The protagonist Daniel wakes up in a dark, apparently uninhabited castle without being able to remember how he got there and who he actually is. All he knows is that his name is Daniel and that he is on the run from something that is chasing him. By finding a note from Daniel to himself it finally turns out that he has deliberately wiped out his memory by means of a potion and set himself the goal of finding and killing a certain Alexander von Brennenburg in the castle. However, the reasons for this will only be revealed as the game progresses.
A few years ago Daniel accompanied an excavation in Algeria that was supposed to uncover the tomb of Tin Hinan . Due to an accident, Daniel is briefly locked in the central burial chamber and finds a bluish glowing ball there that seems to attract him magically. When touched, Daniel's visions of a strange world with endless deserts and "impossible geometry" are revealed; the ball bursts and Daniel loses consciousness. After his rescue from the burial chamber, he is sent back to London by the excavation director Prof. Herbert for health reasons .
Daniel takes the sphere home with him, but finds out that the individual parts of the sphere do not fit together. Inquiries after Prof. Herbert's expedition show that the remaining participants have disappeared in the desert. All scientists Daniel consulted about the strange sphere - including geologists and historians - were brutally murdered after a short time. Meanwhile, Daniel manages to put the ball back together - as if by himself and without the help of glue. Desperate in search of help and plagued by nightmares, Daniel sneaks into Prof. Herbert's office at the university and steals his address book. Among the addressees of Daniel's calls for help is the Prussian nobleman Alexander von Brennenburg, who promises to help him and invites him to his castle near the Baltic Sea. Alexander points out to Daniel that the stealing of the ball from the grave in Algeria has awakened its guardian, a horrific, cosmic beast that Alexander calls the "shadow". In order to stop this guardian, a mystical form of life energy, the vitae , is required , which living beings - most effectively humans - develop similarly to adrenaline under great physical pain and fear.
Terrified of the shadow and lack of another way out, Daniel agrees to help Alexander with the kidnapping, repeated torture and finally murder of countless people and to use the tapped vitae in rituals in the "inner sanctuary" of Brennenburg Castle to push back the shadow. Some of these people, above all former mercenaries and lower nobles from the Thirty Years' War , Alexander transformed into grotesque, undead servant creatures by means of poisoned wine and subsequent application of Vitae, who sneak through the dark corridors of Brennenburg. Only later does Daniel resist Alexander's methods, as he finds out that he only wants to gain the power of the ball for himself in order to get to a "different world" from which Alexander was banished centuries ago. Daniel realizes that Alexander is a telepathic, centuries-old being who only traveled into our world through a sphere like the one he found in the grave in Algeria. This realization, combined with the extreme guilt of his horrific deeds, leads Daniel to erase his memory of his crimes with the very potion that is given to the victims after each torture to erase the memory of the pain suffered and habituation and to prevent mental dulling.
With the support of the early modern polymath and occultist Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa , a former close friend of Alexander, who was kept alive by Alexander's Vitae, Daniel succeeds in penetrating the "inner sanctuary" of the castle and preventing Alexander from entering "his." World "to return. Agrippa's goal is to follow his former student Johann Weyer , who managed to travel to one of the foreign worlds, and to step through the portal instead of Alexander.
The player can decide for himself what happens in the end. Either you do nothing, you get killed by the shadow and watch as Alexander escapes unhindered through the portal. This end can also be reached beforehand in the prison cells by simply remaining in his cell. This will get the shadow's attention, who then kills Daniel in his cell. Or you throw Agrippa's head, which had been sawn off shortly before and whose soul was trapped in it by means of alchemy, into the portal, which would result in the presumed death of the protagonist and the subsequent rescue by Johann Weyer in the afterlife. The third option is to overturn the pillars that supply the portal with energy, which prevents the portal from opening. As a result, Alexander is killed by the shadow and Daniel is now free to leave Brennenburg.
In April 2011 the free add-on Justine was published as part of the Portal-2 - Alternate-Reality-Game (ARG) . This is not a continuation of Amnesia: The Dark Descent , but deals with a self-contained storyline . In the add-on, the player controls the female protagonist Justine, who is sociopathic and suffers from a mental illness . You can only find out about their history from a few notes scattered throughout the game. Justine wakes up in a locked cell and is told via a phonograph that she is now part of a test. In the course of the game, the player encounters three prisoners and has the choice of killing them or solving a puzzle in order to advance. The decision affects the end of the game. Only at the end does the player find out that Justine locked herself in and subjected herself to the test to check whether she can still show feelings and humanity after torturing and mutilating several people in her basement. Within the game there are several allusions and references to the video game Portal 2 .
Game principle and technology
Similar to the Penumbra series by Frictional Games , Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a first-person adventure that combines horror elements with physics-based interaction of objects. The player does not carry any weapons with him during the entire course of the game and must therefore hide from opponents or sneak past them. The built-in physics engine makes holding, throwing and interacting with objects more realistic. For example, doors cannot be opened by simply pressing a button, but have to be moved by clicking and dragging with the mouse.
The game contains a system that is supposed to represent the psychological state of the game character, similar to the system in Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth . If the player hears weird noises, meets opponents or experiences other disturbing events, his consciousness deteriorates in the game and he begins to perceive things differently than they are in reality. An important role here is whether you are in the dark or near light sources such as your own lantern or candles. In the dark, the player quickly loses his mind and his psychological state worsens, but it is very difficult to be detected by opponents if you do not move.
If desired, different audio comments from the developers can be played in the background. If this function is activated, special symbols are sometimes displayed in the levels, with which you can interact. The total duration of all comments is about 60 minutes.
It is possible to create your own stories for Amnesia: The Dark Descent , which can then be loaded into the game. For this purpose, various tools are offered for the HPL2 engine , which enable the creation of your own levels , models , particle effects and materials . Extended game logic can be implemented in the form of a C -like scripting language .
Production notes
An indirect sequel, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs , which was co-developed with The Chinese Room , was released in September 2013.
reception
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Amnesia: The Dark Descent received a largely positive response from the trade press. From 44 aggregated ratings, the game on Metacritic achieved a score of 85. The specialist magazine Adventure-Treff criticized the basic idea of the plot as being exhausted, but pointed out that the initial tension continued until the end of the game. According to Adventure-Treff, the outstanding feature of the game is the “intense atmosphere”, which is mainly created by suitable and frightening sound effects. The magazine criticized the predictable appearance and behavior of opponents. Above all, Amnesia stands out due to the cleverly constructed, gloomy atmosphere. In contrast to previous titles from Frictional Games , the more contemporary graphics can convince with more details. The somewhat short playing time of around 8 hours seems to be justified by the relatively low purchase price.
On the negative side, it is noticeable that the game is hardly suitable for repeated play. The difficulty of the more easily solvable puzzles than in Penumbra is also criticized. The very rare encounters with real opponents in the game also give reason for criticism.
“With the impressive horror adventure Amnesia, the indie developer Frictional Games shows how to create memorable moments. And sheer panic. "
“To be betrayed by your own mind without any weapons at all is a very neat thing. This Swedish contribution is very well implemented in terms of the gloomy look and sound technology at the highest level. "
- IGN : 8.5 out of 10 points
- EuroGamer.net : 8 out of 10 points
- GBase.ch : 8 out of 10 points
- GameStar : 80 out of 100 points
- TVGC : 8 out of 10 points
- 4Players : 86 out of 100 points
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frictional Games: Amnesia: The Dark Descent - official website
- ↑ Amnesia: Justine In: Amnesia Wiki . Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- ↑ Portal 2: Playing "Potato Sack" accelerates Release In: www.gamersglobal.de . Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- ↑ Amnesia: The Dark Descent - PC Hands On Eurogamer
- ↑ Amnesia: The Dark Descent Preview - PC Preview at IGN - Page 1 IGN
- ↑ a b c Amnesia: The Dark Descent Review - PC Review at IGN IGN
- ^ In The Games Of Madness: Commentary on Commentary Frictional Games
- ^ Making of Amnesia - Composer Mikko Tarmia Frictional Games
- ↑ In The Games Of Madness: Editors are out! Frictional Games
- ↑ Tools - HPL2 Documentation
- ↑ Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs . Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- ^ A b Benjamin Braun: Test: Amnesia. In: Adventure-Treff . September 14, 2010, accessed August 15, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Metacritic.com: Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Retrieved January 17, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Amnesia: The Dark Descent (PC) in the test at GameStar.de - Conclusion GameStar
- ↑ a b Amnesia: The Dark Descent PC Review Eurogamer
- ↑ Amnesia: The Dark Descent at GBase.ch - valuation, conclusion GBase
- ↑ Amnesia: The Dark Descent at GameStar.de - Rating, Conclusion GameStar
- ↑ Amnesia: The Dark Descent at tvgc.de - evaluation, conclusion TVGC
- ↑ Rating and conclusion on 4players.de - Rating, conclusion 4Players