izigame.me

I never played this game when it came out, I never watched any “Let’s Play”’s of it when PewDiePie & Markiplier playing it was on trending page, I had zero nostalgia bias.
But having played this game for the first time blind at 22, I can safely say this isn’t just one of my favorite Horror games of all time, this is one of my favorite games in general.
What I love:
- This game is perfectly balanced, you are never too unfairly crushed, but you are never getting by so easily, you are always on the perfect line of challenge where when you die, it is 100% your own fault as a player, you didn’t manage your supplies correctly? Manage them better.
You knew an enemy was nearby but you ran carelessly around the corner without even leaning to check? Take your time to hear enemies & maybe crouch more often.
& balancing is not an easy thing to do in games, especially in Horror.
Some Indie Horror games can be absolute bull$&@! where it’s too crushingly difficult to the point of an unfair advantage like having an intentional chase sequence, but you are barely given any room to hide.
But some Horror games can be too easy where you can run past enemies like they’re a sack of bricks, or you are given so much health to the point of fearing damage is gone.
Seeing this so perfectly accomplished in Amnesia genuinely impressed me & depressed me for the fact so many games with good potential get this wrong.
- The story has a perfect balance between story & gameplay.
The story goes seamlessly with the gameplay, not always removing you from progress in an obnoxious fashion, but instead working together through a mix of intriguing & easily comprehensible notes, and occasional visual storytelling through disturbing implications shown in the environments
- The story itself.
The story had me roped in from the very beginning, from when the protagonist Daniel stumbles out, seeming very shaken & disturbed, but without memory.
And of course up til you start piecing together why he is here through all the notes & environmental implications he finds.
Even though you don’t even I guess properly see other NPC characters throughout the whole game, the voices alone that you hear through the memories & seeing the notes written by others exudes so much personality you can easily grasp.
Alexander maybe one of the greatest Horror villains perhaps in just Horror fiction in general, into the grand sphere of both Horror games, films, & novels.
He is somehow both charismatic, hatable, disturbed, disturbingly confident, & disturbingly trustworthy-sounding all at once through how he talks & the way he words things.
Overall, it is a very very disturbing but fascinating structurally solid story with an unmatched pace.
- The gameplay.
I used to not be a big fan of Walking Sim or rather Horror games where you are unable to defend yourself, I always gave out unfair judgement of how it would be boring being unable to fight back or be too unfair.
But this game not only proved me wrong, but actually made me even more interested in Defenseless Horror games.
Funny enough, Amnesia was actually once planned in development to include a Bow & Arrow and even a Flintlock Pistol at some point, while that sounds fun on paper.
Amnesia ultimately is a better game without the ability to defend yourself.
It truly immerses you into the feeling of utter terror being unable to defend yourself when all you can do is run & hide, & while that in itself sounds like a repetitious concept, Amnesia does it very well where it cuts back on the commonly boring aspect of waiting around until an enemy goes away, in turn for having the enemy walk away quicker than it usually would.
& the thing is, this in canon makes sense, as terrifying as The Gatherers are in Amnesia, they are not exactly intelligent creatures, & that makes sense, they’re mangled up hideous abominations that were likely man-made & imperfect cause of that, they have the psychology of an infant where if an infant no longer sees a person who is hiding, they believe they don’t exist.
& while that makes them sound like pushovers, believe it or not, it doesn’t.
These enemies are still terrifying & can DESTROY you if you are not careful around them, they maybe limited psychologically, but you are also limited to their claustrophobic environment, so in a way, you are leveled on their playing field.
This is kind of random, but I also really enjoy the way the game controls, it really brings a fun degree of interactivity to drag your mouse to interact with certain contraptions without coming off as gimmicky.
What I don’t like:
- ….
Honestly, I was never frustrated with this game, I didn’t have a moment where I called bullshit on a death, I didn’t have a moment where I found a glaring plot hole in the story, & I never crashed or glitched once.
I will admit, a couple of the puzzles & objectives could be a tiny bit cryptic, but honestly, that is moreso my fault because I kinda suck at puzzles.
So I won’t count it against the game.
With that, I’d give this game a 👍+
Even if you aren’t a Horror game nut like I am, I still believe you should give this game a try.
TL;DR
IT’S A REALLY WELL BALANCED INTENSE SURVIVAL HORROR EXPERIENCE WITH A HIGHLY-DISTURBING BUT ENGAGING PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR MYSTERY STORY, MANY REALLY HEART ATTACK-INDUCING SCARY MOMENTS & MANY #&$!UP STORY MOMENTS.
SERIOUSLY IF YOUR KID WANTS TO PLAY THIS GAME BECAUSE THEY SAW SOMEBODY ON YOUTUBE PLAY IT, DON’T LET THEM, THERE IS UNCUT PENISES.