Amnesia: The Dark Descent

About Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a first-person horror game made by the small Swedish studio Frictional Games and released in 2010. You are Daniel, a young Englishman who wakes in the halls of Brennenburg Castle in Prussia with no memory of who he is. A note in his own hand says he chose to forget, and that he must go down into the castle and kill its master, the baron Alexander.

The game takes away the weapon. Daniel cannot fight anything, so when a Gatherer shambles into the room the choice is to hide in a closet, crouch in a shadow, or run and slam doors behind you. Light is your other resource: you carry an oil lantern and pick up tinderboxes to light candles and torches, and both run short. Darkness keeps you hidden from the monsters but drains your sanity, and a low sanity bends the screen, makes Daniel stumble and fills the sound with whispers and insects.

Between the encounters you explore the castle's archives, cellars, prison and sewers, drag and stack objects with the mouse to solve physics puzzles, and read notes and memories that slowly tell you what Daniel did here and why. The story draws on cosmic horror: an orb from another world, the baron's rituals, and a Shadow that pursues Daniel.

It was one of the games that set the shape of modern first-person horror, where the player hides instead of shoots; Outlast, SOMA and many indie games followed its lead. It suits patient players who want slow dread and a story told through notes, rather than action. The same studio later made SOMA and Amnesia: The Bunker, and on consoles it is sold in Amnesia: Collection with A Machine for Pigs and the Justine expansion.

How to play Amnesia: The Dark Descent

1. Move with WASD and look with the mouse; hold the mouse button on doors, drawers and objects and drag to open or move them.
2. Pick up oil and tinderboxes and use them sparingly to light candles and your lantern.
3. When you hear or see a monster, look away, hide in a dark corner or closet, or run and shut doors behind you.
4. Read notes and diary pages to learn the story and find clues to the puzzles.
5. Solve the puzzles in each area, often by moving, stacking or combining objects, to go deeper into the castle.

Screenshots

Tips

• Do not stare at a monster: looking at it hurts your sanity and can give you away.
• Spend tinderboxes on candles in rooms you will come back to, not on every light you pass.
• Sanity recovers when you solve puzzles and move forward, so do not stay hidden in the dark too long.
• Closing doors behind you slows a pursuer down.

Questions