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Games Like Amnesia: Hide in the Dark, Don't Fight

Amnesia: The Dark Descent made a whole kind of horror: first person, no weapons worth the name, a light source to manage and something in the dark that you must avoid rather than fight. These games follow its rules, starting with the rest of the series and Frictional Games' own work.

The games

  1. Amnesia: The Bunker art: a soldier's hands, one holding a revolver, as a pale clawed creature reaches out of a dark tunnel SurvivalAmnesia: The BunkerA WWI bunker, a revolver that starts with one bullet, a generator to keep fuelled and a creature in the walls that hunts by sound.
  2. SOMA key art: a dripping robot head with glowing blue lights and hanging cables beside a frightened woman's face and hand pressed to wet glass PsychologicalSOMAFrictional again: no weapons on a failing undersea station, with horror that turns inward.
  3. Penumbra: Overture key art: a man with a red backpack stands alone between snow-covered rooftops beside a wooden frame, facing a white Greenland snowstorm SurvivalPenumbra: OvertureFrictional's game before Amnesia: an abandoned Greenland mine of physical puzzles and creatures to hide from.
  4. Penumbra: Black Plague key art: a lone figure with a red backpack stands in a snowstorm between two snow-covered roofs, beside a frozen post hung with charms PsychologicalPenumbra: Black PlagueThe Penumbra sequel and the closest thing to an Amnesia prototype: unarmed, physics puzzles, infected staff in the dark and a voice in your head.
  5. Amnesia: Rebirth key art: Tasi holds up a lit match, a pale clawed creature lurking in the dark beside her PsychologicalAmnesia: RebirthMatches, a lantern and growing fear across the Algerian desert, in the series' own rules.
  6. Outlast library art: a hulking scarred inmate with a stitched grin and glowing eyes stands in a dark asylum corridor, seen in green night vision SurvivalOutlastAn asylum, a camcorder with night vision and nothing you can fight, in Amnesia's footsteps.
  7. Still Wakes the Deep key art: the silhouette of a man filled with the image of an oil rig, glowing over a dark sea SurvivalStill Wakes the DeepA 1970s oil rig breaking apart as its crew turns into monsters, with no weapon, only hiding, climbing and swimming.
  8. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs key art: a painted Victorian engine room of brass pipes, gauges and a ladder beside a red armchair, with a round hatch smeared with blood PsychologicalAmnesia: A Machine for PigsThe Chinese Room's story-led Amnesia: an industrialist's descent into his own factory and machine.
  9. Monstrum key art: a hulking monster with a glowing orange face fills a dark ship corridor SurvivalMonstrumA randomised cargo ship, one of three monsters each run, and permanent death.
  10. Visage key art: a figure under a pale sheet in front of rain-streaked glass, next to the Visage logo PsychologicalVisageA house where families died, with light as your only defence for your sanity.
  11. ROUTINE key art: a cosmonaut in a pale spacesuit holding the boxy C.A.T. device, framed by white flowers and a dark robot silhouette in front of a large full moon SurvivalROUTINEAn abandoned lunar base with no waypoints, where you run and hide from hostile machines.
  12. Layers of Fear key art: a torn blood-red canvas, with an eye and part of a painted face showing through the rip and an empty picture frame behind PsychologicalLayers of FearA painter's mansion that rebuilds itself behind you, with no fighting at all.
  13. Song of Horror key art: a dark robed figure with roots spreading below and two huge ink-smeared eyes above it on a pale wall SurvivalSong of Horror Complete EditionHelpless survival horror in fixed cameras, where the Presence hunts you and characters die for good.
  14. The Designer's Curse key art: a bald, doll-like figure with a bloodied, nail-studded torso in a dark brick corridor, beside the white title Puzzle horrorThe Designer's CurseA free Amnesia-style manor of puzzles and creatures you cannot fight, scored by Amnesia's composer.
  15. Perception key art: a frightened woman with glowing teal eyes looks up in blue light, moths on her face and hair, beside the title and braille dots PsychologicalPerceptionA blind woman sees a mansion only by sound, and every sound she makes draws the Presence that stalks it.
  16. Hollow Cocoon key art: a pale long-haired figure with dark markings on her bare back stands among red ropes and paper talismans in a green-lit room Multiple endingsHollow CocoonTrapped in a 1980s Japanese mansion with a tall, pale creature you cannot fight, only hide from.
  17. The Occultist key art: a bearded man in a jacket dangles a skull pendulum before a glowing teal occult circle of runes Puzzle horrorThe OccultistFirst-person puzzles and hiding on a cult's abandoned island, with a pendulum instead of a lantern and spirits you cannot fight.
  18. Alien: Isolation key art: Amanda Ripley's face inside a space helmet lit green against black SurvivalAlien: IsolationOne alien no weapon can kill hunts you through a space station, and you hide in lockers holding your breath.
  19. Conarium key art: a pale man's face with glowing white eyes and a light shining from his forehead PsychologicalConariumFirst-person Lovecraftian descent from an Antarctic base into ancient ruins, avoiding what lives there rather than fighting it.
  20. SCP – Containment Breach key art: the game's title in scratched, blood-spattered letters over a dark textured background SurvivalSCP – Containment BreachFree and unarmed: escape a facility that changes every run, from a statue that moves when you blink.
  21. Consternation II key art: a red pixel-art factory with tall chimneys and dead trees, its smoke forming a spiky face and a hooded figure SurvivalConsternation IIFree and first person: a walled-off paper mill explored by flashlight, where each pursuer can only be escaped by running and hiding.

Start with the series. Amnesia: The Bunker is the most like a survival game: a World War I bunker, a revolver that starts with a single bullet, a generator to keep fuelled and a creature in the walls that hunts by sound. Amnesia: Rebirth sends Tasi Trianon across the Algerian desert with matches and a lantern, solving puzzles and hiding as fear builds. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, made by The Chinese Room, is the most story-led, a descent through an industrialist's factory with fewer encounters.

Frictional Games' other horror is just as close. Penumbra: Overture came before Amnesia: a Greenland mine, physical puzzles and creatures you hide from in the tunnels. Penumbra: Black Plague continues it with no weapons at all, in a research complex under the ice where infected staff roam and a voice in your head works against you. SOMA keeps the no-weapons rule on a failing research station on the sea floor, and turns its horror toward questions about the mind.

Outside Frictional, Outlast follows the same rules: an asylum, a camcorder with night vision, and nothing you can fight. Still Wakes the Deep, also from The Chinese Room, puts you on a 1970s oil rig breaking apart as its crew turns into monsters, with only hiding, climbing and swimming. The Designer's Curse is a free game made in Amnesia's image, with music by Mikko Tarmia, who scored Amnesia and SOMA: puzzles in a dark manor while creatures you cannot fight hunt you. Monstrum randomises an abandoned cargo ship and one of three monsters each run, with permanent death, and ROUTINE leaves you on an abandoned lunar base with no waypoints, running and hiding from hostile machines.

For slower, more psychological dread, Visage is a house where families died and their ghosts close in, with only light to protect your sanity, and Layers of Fear is a painter's mansion that rebuilds itself behind your back. Song of Horror moves to third-person fixed cameras, but keeps the helplessness: an entity called the Presence hunts you, and any character can die for good.

Two more keep you unarmed in a house. In Perception you play Cassie, who is blind and sees the mansion only by echolocation, so every tap of her cane lights the halls and also calls the Presence to her. Hollow Cocoon traps a student in an abandoned 1980s Japanese mansion with an unnaturally tall, pale creature you can only hide and sneak from.

The Occultist keeps Amnesia's mix of puzzles and hiding on an abandoned cult island, where a paranormal investigator uses a pendulum to see what happened and slips away from the spirits that remain.

Three more take the rules to other places. Alien: Isolation is Amnesia with one hunter that learns: a single alien no weapon can kill stalks a space station, and you hide in lockers and vents holding your breath. Conarium is the closest in spirit to Amnesia's Lovecraftian side, a first-person descent from an Antarctic base into ancient ruins, with macabre beings to avoid rather than fight. SCP – Containment Breach is free: an unarmed test subject escaping a facility that changes every run, where a statue moves each time you blink. Consternation II is free too: an abandoned paper mill in rural Maine explored with a flashlight and a camera, with a new pursuer each level that you can only outrun or hide from.

If you only try one, play Penumbra: Overture to see where Amnesia came from, or SOMA for a slower story about what makes a person.

Questions

What is the closest game to Amnesia: The Dark Descent?

The other Amnesia games, especially The Bunker and Rebirth, and Frictional Games' Penumbra games and SOMA, which share its no-fighting first-person design.

Who makes the Amnesia games?

Frictional Games made The Dark Descent, Rebirth and The Bunker, and published A Machine for Pigs, which was made by The Chinese Room.

Are there games like Amnesia with no combat at all?

SOMA, Penumbra: Black Plague, Visage, Layers of Fear and Outlast give you no weapons; The Bunker gives you a revolver with very little ammunition that cannot kill the creature, only drive it off.

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