Amnesia:The slightly less dark descent

A friend once described jump scares as the fart joke of the horror genre.

"I am not a pregnant woman, nor do I plan to be." Nice to have that clarification.

"I am currently not a pregnant woman, nor do I ever plan to be." Famous last words.

When is the Kentucky Fried Dating Sim review

A machine for pigs is still one of the coolest names for a game ever

I believe Grip said that Frictional didn't really establish a "goal" for their gamemaking until after SOMA. Apparently their goal now is to make games that "change people", in the sense that they want players to feel different after finishing the game. I only wish I remembered where he said that so I could link the source. Anyway, will be interesting to see the other project they're working on, they recently reorganised the company so they work on two games at the same time.

I actually got scared when the puppy barked at me Edit: both times

When did we collectively decide we need our protagonist to narrate literally everything we're doing? "Hmm if only I had a lantern", shit like that is better left to players to actually think themselves instead of spelling it out for whatever dumb reason. Feels bad man

Respect for criticizing your own SOMA review. Humility is a charming trait.

'I already feel like a depressed bag of shit most of the time anyway'. Hey Gman, just know we're always here for you man. Oh and for your mom as well.

"Get this montage of horrific images and loud noises ... until you regain your senses in the same area and get to continue onward" So its approach to horror is youtube mid-roll adverts?

Games like Silent hill didn't rely on jumpscares and was genuinely creepy and unsettling .

"Okay, he's gonna put a dog bark soon." *few seconds pass* "Well, maybe not." *woof* "MY HEART"

an amulet that transports you to an alternate dimention? wolfenstein vibes

If anything, I am happy to hear the game is good, because let's be honest, nothing will ever truly match what The Dark Descent did, and that's precisely why they arent' capturing that anymore, they keep trying new things.

Those hallucinations are pitiful compared to the ones in The Dark Descent. You would straight up miss monster encounters in that game if your sanity was high. But in here you just get a low res image flashed on your screen? What the hell?

“So my name is Daniel, it’s 1839 and I’m in Prussia. Right. The first things doctors ask you is “Who are you? What year is it? And where are you?” and if you can answer those questions, you don’t have amnesia.”

0:03 "Pooh DePai"

main character constantly telling me what to feel is like canned laugh in non funny comedies

I'm so glad I was old enough to see how cringeworthy the horror game youtubers were even back in the day. Then again I used to think 9gag was funny so I'm not entirely clean myself.

Sounds like their new philosophy on game design is what's responsible for their official implementation of that no-enemy mod for SOMA in the console releases. I understand what they're trying to pursue, but designing away from challenge goes towards defeating the purpose of this being a game in the first place.

"Heavy on story, light on horror" So basically like SOMA. Good. I'm all in!

Oh yes I can finally play as a pregnant woman going down insanity

Playing as a pregnant woman in a horror game is a rather interesting concept. It's ridiculous that the game uses this concept in a game where said pregnant woman survives a plane crash, which communicates that the baby's survival is going to be a non-factor for the whole game.

speaking of horror games, cry of fear is getting a remake, old classic horror games are getting a comeback and i love it

I personally loved Soma. I thought it was one of the best games of the generation. Considering what they did with what they had, plus the amazing ending in that game. I will never forget it.

I was hoping we would see Frictional take another stab at making a "proper" Amnesia game, but maybe that's just not meant to be. Maybe it's time to just accept that The Dark Descent was the kind of lightning in a bottle that can't really be captured again. I greatly enjoyed SOMA once I accepted it as a narrative story-driven puzzle game instead of a horror game, but honestly, it was a bit hard to do the same with a game that proclaims itself to be a succesor to Amnesia. Rebirth is a good game. But I agree with the sentiment that it would probably benefit from not being an Amnesia game, so that it isn't burdened by expectations it can't possibly meet. In other words - if games like SOMA and Rebirth are what Frictional is going to do now, I'm 100% onboard with that, but maybe they should put the Amnesia IP to rest in that case.

Dark Decent will always be the best.

*KZfaq is getting real comfortable with these double 15 second unskipable ads*

I'm enjoying the game, despite an assload of environmental sticking. I'm constantly like, "Jesus Christ, what am I stuck on now?! Oh, a rock again". It is good, but it is definitely no Dark Descent.

You know, it's probably just me, but games like Amnesia just don't scare me that much. Sure it'll probably get my with a jumpscare, but other then that, nada. For me, I guess the reason is because of the lack of ability to defend myself. I get that feeling defenseless is supposed to be scary, but that only last a short period before it just becomes infuriating because for most games that do it, seven times out of ten it just "run, hide, sit there for a bit, wait for enemy to get bored, solve puzzle, repeat." Meanwhile for something like Alien Isolation, you're not defenseless for the whole game, because you'll eventually get a Flamethrower that can drive back the threat but never remove it completely; or you have the ability to kill the Working Joes, who are scary on their own, but it takes so much and usually does attract the Alien, so you need to decide. So maybe it's just the feeling of having to be on top of it all and how that will slowly whittle you down until you get really nervous as your supplies lower to empty.

SOMA is one of my favorite games off all time. finished it twice.

Honestly, this is what I was afraid of. Amnesia is about having a good story but also being a horror game, if you don't have good horror or any horror elements at all then is it even Amnesia?

I always preferred soma over amnesia so I'm cool with the story focus

Damn man you getting Prerelease Review Code now?!? Congrats! Also any chance of a Hunt Showdown video?

I remember being bored to tears with Penumbra, but I really loved SOMA. If anybody hasn't tried that one, do it, it's brilliant and haunting.

The voice actor for Daniel was my chemistry teacher in highschool

I didn't expect this to live up to Dark Descent, and with that mind set going in, I'm having a good time, and I am invested in the story. This is way better then a machine for pigs though, that is for sure.

Aw, I liked A Machine for Pigs. More specifically I liked its premise. The idea of journeying through a massive machine akin to a steampunk Lovecraftian creature was fascinating to me, as well as the reveal of what the machine is and what it does.

Never really considered just how important the first Amnesia was. It popularized let's plays on youtube, the horror revival, and arguably opened the door for indie games to be taken seriously. Not to mention looking absolutely amazing for the time it was released, that lighting still holds up.

Yea. I dunno, man. I've replayed the OG Amnesia like 6 times. When I compared it with Machine for pigs, there's something unique and "charming" with the first game that the second one doesn't have. I don't even know what specifically, but the game was telling you the story mid game by showing what happen to the environtment and surprising you with some encounters with some monsters. Not saying it's a one trick pony, but once you already face the same fear and over it, doing the same trick on the second game just feels meh.

Nicely done as usual, i always saw these as atmospheric experiences rather than horror even though you could die. Also, Crysis remaster review (On Switch) when?

Is there a VR Amnesia game? That'd be awesome.

That new Phasmophobia seems to be the better combo of horror and goofy fun time with friends. (Especially in VR, I can only imagine... It's Early Access tho so the player models are iffy, other than the ghost models which look terrifying and weird lol)

Pewdiepie's Let's Plays were truly the most horrific content of all.

All quests in Amnesia : Go fetch something from a dark room so as to start a generator in other dark room, which will open a door to another dark room.

The beginning was a little slow and i felt like i wasn't stuck on the story, but eventually it grew on me and i didnt really care for Tasi at first but she did turn into a badass for her baby.

started off sooo so strong. :'( they totally neutered the sanity effects and survival horror aspects, I never once used Laudaunum to heal. The fort is probably the best part

I was hoping for something dark, creepy, and disturbing like The Dark Decent or even Soma. But I didn't get that with this game. One example is that after my first encounter with a Ghoul I was like "Really? That's the monster? That's the best they could come up with?" I remember when I first saw a Grunt in TDD, how freaked out and disturbed I was by it's appearance. The Ghouls just look very mild and generic compared to that. This game was a let down for me.

Very excited for this one. Was suprised you'd have it this early!

Condemned Criminal Origins is the only to ever scare me

And this is why, touch wood if I’m ever in a plane crash.. I’d just wanna be splashed on impact, earlier if possible 😅😂

6:54 well to be fair, you don't rotate the mouse to turn the wheels.. that'd be awkward af.. you just move the mouse in circles lol

Honestly after finishing the game today I’m very happy with what I got. And without getting into spoilers I’m 101% sure after the ending (depending which one you get) that we’ll be getting it more Amnesia.

Rarely are sequals better or even equal to their predecessors. Thanks for saving me some money, think I'll just watch someone play it.

I didn't mind A Machine for Pigs. The whole, industrialization and the death of humanity with it theme was kind of neat.

I love their dedication to immersion.

The funny thing is frictional gamesactually did make an amazing successor to amnesia with SOMA

I honestly agree, when i wanted to see some death animations or some shit, instead of the monsters killing you, you just simply turn into one of those first monsters that you encounter, how lame

11:45 spot on. my expectations were admittedly too high because it's another Amnesia game. turns out, Rebirth is in my opinion much more similar to layers of fear than it is to The Dark Descent or Machine for Pigs. only connections it has with TDD are some lore references, working towards operating some grand contraption to achieve x y or z which are available as separate endings, resource management, sanity and that's about it. aside from that Rebirth has absolutely nothing to do with TDD, at least that's my impression. that eerie atmosphere and the constant questioning and anticipation which keeps you on your feet that TDD perfectly executed like no other game has is completely lacking in Rebirth sadly. it being similar to layers of fear isn't a problem since unlike most people I actually liked both the first and the second LoF game, the problem is that it only has the bad LoF elements, mainly the one everyone used to joke about back when the LoF games were hot, that it was a walking simulator. the games were indeed walking simulators, but you had constant puzzles, room and detail changes, and very consistent story telling, which all together made the atmosphere continuously interesting enough so that you don't get bored while just walking, literally just walking with an occasional sprint and crouch and a handful of actual encounters (if I'm not mistaken LoF 2 had only 3 encounters lol). the stories were also interesting, the first game had it's thing with painting, the second game had it's thing with acting, meanwhile Rebirth has it's thing with... pregnancy and motherhood? I can delve into an immersive story about panting, acting or some other art form, but as a man I can't really say the same for such a boring and mainly unreletable concept that is pregnancy. also not too keen on every chapter starting by you knocked out on the ground slowly recovering from unconsciousness, I get it starting the game off like that (TDD) but multiple times throughout the game just gets old pretty fast. also, loading screens are too frequent and too long even with NVME. the long loading screens wouldn't have been a problem if not for the family & childhood photo book splash art that doesn't really have anything horrific about it. I get it that such art was used to enhance the story telling, but the whole topic of the story was boring to being with. Rebirth's story and concept might've been good as a book, but as a video game it's just mediocre. it's not a bad game, but nothing remarkable either, perhaps my expectations were too high, or the fact that I prefer a 1800s in a huge Castle theme over an Alien esq. 1930s one, who knows.

I've played Frictional games since the first Penumbra. I really thought their games got better every time. Amnesia the Dark Descent still is the scariest horror game I've ever played, and Soma is one of my favorite and definitely the best Frictional Games game out there. I STILL think about that story occasionally. I was really... surprised to be so bored during this one. The only scary parts were in the castle when I got Dark Descent flashbacks, that's It. The alien ghosts or whatever they were just didn't do it for me. I found them more annoying than scary. The match sticks that burn out WAYY too fast in 5 seconds were annoying. The fucking lantern that burns gas like a 4 wheel drive was annoying. This game really was a boring annoying experience with no real takeaways after it. Of course, looking forward to see what Frictional comes up with next, missteps are often followed by success!

Heavy on story, light on horror - that is up my street

I was imagining this game to be terrifying like tdd not a spooky desert tunnel walking simulator.

this review feels somehow... matured. its a really good review.

Amnesia Rebirth good things: -hey it's actually a really good game bad things: -they didn't add the monster chase theme from the dark descent

The 2 puppy bark jump-scares got me more than watching someone playing it on Twitch ever did! :D

As for the physical trauma that should have killed her baby a thousand times over, it is heavily implied that the alien queen is healing her and her baby whenever they take a tumble.

What bothered me the most in this game was Tasi. Me, as a girl, couldn't feel connected AT ALL with her and the "mother" stuff. I'm personally terrified of pregnancy and if I discover I'm pregnant in the middle of desert it would be THE WORST scenario ever and Tasi simply doesn't SHUT UP about the baby. She doesn't shut up even when she must be quiet! She be like "omg I must be quiet" when the monster is near... I mean... It seems like the developers want to shove the story down our throats intead of focus on the psychologic horror that worked on TDD. The only time I felt scared was on the fort, but when I passed it felt like the gameplay started to downfall... I didn't knew if I was playing Layers of Fear, Skyrim of a less interesting version of SOMA. Besides all that, I would give a 7/10 because I liked the graphics, the inventory/memories and the brilliant OST by Mikko Tarmia

IMHO Frictional's best is SOMA, followed by Penumbra and then Amnesia. Will see how Rebirth is though, I hope its more existential horror and less physical horror.

Looking forward to what you think about the ancient gods pt 1. My lord it doesn't let you warm up

Its bizzare that i got scared and more invested with a guy who dosen't talk, while i can't symphatize with a prego panicing woman

Its another great walking sims, even more so because people are stuck at home

As amazing and terrifying as The Dark Descent was, I actually think I like Soma just a little bit more. That game wrecked me for a solid week, and I still wake up in the middle of the night and think of just how messed up it was. Either way I’m a fan of Frictional Games for life, and glad to see them add to the Amnesia universe. I’m definitely playing Rebirth for Halloween Sunny Jim!

Did we play the same game? 😅 The last half of Rebirth with the light monsters was downright terrifying

I swear, I can’t fucking stand it when developers go way too far with the voiced protagonist thing and decide to have the character talk every 10 goddamn seconds any time you do anything in the game.

Pregnancy is the go to "make it more awkward" thing. It works, for sure, but it is just shoe-horned into most cosmic horror.

Return to Castle Wolfenstien remake would be great on this engine.

I lost it when the dog popped up.

Those barkscares made me chuckle

"AMFP had a pisspoor story" - Probably the best story of the three games in total and the better soundtrack as well. If it had better gameplay, it would've beaten TDD by a long shot. I find it weird that every plane crash experience in videogames has to be compared to Bioshock these days. Pretty cliché comparison. "The kind of trauma Tasi goes through would turn a human embryo into liquid." Looks like you didn't pay attention to the story. Queen Tihana wants the child to survive and makes sure it survives whenever Tasi gets hurt (as evident after Tasi falls down 5 stories in the Tank). She said she felt her ribs break but she feels no pain even though she could feel them break.

So the main problem with this game is that is called “Amnesia” probably just a marketing move.

Low key Australian MandaloreGaming here and I love it. Subbed.

I subscribed because the dog made me jump, this guy knows what he's talking about

4:33 In the game its explained why she and the baby can survive all that. SPOILERS: There's a part where a metal thing falls in her tummy and knocks her out. When she wakes up she even says to herself how is she ok she remembered something breaking. Probably the fact that she's turning into a monster makes her regenerate.

You know I always hate these games I feel like they're just spooky haunted house simulators I know I'd probably be running like hell most the time and try to get away from these monsters in real life but a lot of times I'm going to go Arnold Schwarzenegger and build some traps

"Poodapie". That's an appropriate name for him.

*sees the jumpscare hallucinations* HELL YEA, WITCHAVEN IS BACK BABEY

Soma was a masterpiece. This seems... less so.

I think Frictional Games made the mistake of pulling out their best card with The Dark Descent. Although their later games have been good and intriguing, none have come close to the utter terror and disturbing atmosphere of The Dark Descent. It’s just one of those games that’s hard to improve on or build off of.

"lucky it wasn't hard"... Man I love these moments...

I skipped the video until I got to play it. And I agree with you 100%. I do not know what Frictional Games is doing, but it isnt working. It worked for Soma, it does not for Rebirth.

The game left me a bit disappointed as well. It wasn't as scary as the first one but that wasn't the worst thing. There is actually a mechanism for the protagonists evolution during the game. Tasi becomes a monster thanks to a curse given by the queen. (as it is hinted by the doctor you have to avoid losing your sanity) However when you avoid losing sanity during your playthrough, she remains ok. In the final level when you're chasing the doctor you come across a fountain. Upon looking at her reflection, Tasi gives a comment on how she looks. If you never lose your sanity, she declares herself to be ok and that De Vries looked way worse than her, all she'll have to do is go home with her child. When you lose your sanity multiple times during your playthrough, she appears to have become a monster. This effects only the ending where she escapes to Paris. On the picture during the credits she'll appear normal or as a monster. I found this a cool mechanism but it was very poorly executed, a bit of a missed opportunity. It should have influenced the gameplay a lot more.

Hold the phone....rebirth is out???

Legend has it she meets Verdino Sba in the end

I just played and beat Soma (on Safe Mode, no lie) on PS4 and I fucking loved everything about it. (minor note: contrary to popular belief (probably because most people just heard about the mode and then never tried it) the monsters can very much attack and knock you unconscious and kill you, they just seem to have a much harder time making up their minds about it and will sometimes just follow around behind you. It was tense as fucking shit, and deeply unsettling) I bring this up in this video because I was very happy to hear you say that you were grading it previously on how you wanted it to be, and not for what it was, and that says a lot about you as a man (mostly positive things, I swear) and separates you from every other KZfaqr who reviewed the game that I've watched, who were mostly angry the monsters either didn't look good (when oh my fucking god, go check our their character models sometime, you fucking heathens) or because the game wasn't the one they wanted to play, even if the story ended up being exactly what they always wanted to experience.

This game looks really neat.

I liked the Amnesia games so will definetely play this one. It looks beautiful.

"Poo da pie" Lmao

That dog scared the shit out of me!