Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a first-person horror adventure game developed by a Swedish independent studio Frictional Games and released in September 2010. This is not your typical action game, where the main hero hunts monsters and kills everything in his way. Here, the main character is a poor lost soul who has to hide, scared of everything that moves. He doesn't fight monsters, instead he runs at first suspicious sounds, and waits for the danger to pass.
The player takes the role of Daniel, a young Englishman awaken in the dark Brennenburg Castle. He barely remembers his name, and nothing about his past or himself. As he starts to wander around the castle, he discovers a note written by himself explaining that he erased his memory on purpose, for an unknown reason. The note also urges him to go to the castle's Inner Sanctum in order to find and kill the castle's owner, baron Alexander. With this, the "dark descent" into the deep of the castle begins.
An intense, gothic atmosphere is gradually built up as the game advances, accentuated by the visual and sound effects. All kinds of monsters, a living substance growing from the walls, visions from the castle's horrendous past, or Daniel's own past, creates a unique feeling for the player.
Daniel's mind is another battleground. Every time Daniel stays too much in the dark or sees something frightful, his sanity drops fast and he starts to hallucinate. The only way to remain sane is to stay in light, using found tinderboxes to light candles and torches scattered throughout the way; or use the lantern as often as possible, and to gather all the oil you can find to keep it working. Solving a puzzle will also restore the sanity, if it's drained.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is an excellent horror game, with a very good story and brilliant design. The developers recommend that you play it in a dark room with your headphones on, but be sure to take it easy on yourself.
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