If there was a competition for manliest man, I wouldn’t be in the finals, I wouldn’t even be in the regional qualifiers. I’m not squeamish, I’m not scared of spiders or snakes or the dark. But I do take pride in my emotions, and for an atmospheric game such as Amnesia, I am the perfect customer. I sink in to the world of a game with very minimal friction when everything falls in to place. Amnesia provides so little friction that it’s like sliding on Teflon. Every single aspect of the game slots together perfectly to bring you an experience that’s not only atmospheric and terrifying, but brilliant, engrossing and addictive.
The music and sounds in the game are perfect, flawless in both stereo and surround sound, they give you the right atmospheric setting at the right time, allowing your senses to recover between jolts and the abuse it will throw at you, creaks, cracks, slams and scrapes all come at you but in glorious quality, sounding so realistic you might spin round in your chair once or twice. To get the full Amnesia effect though, darkness is recommended. Light in this game is not always a good thing, creatures are attracted to light, and it’s also a limited commodity, your lantern requires oil which will constantly drain while on, tinderboxes will allow you to light stationary candles and torches in the world to give you a momentary respite from the darkness and what it holds.
What it does hold however, is seen and unseen, moving and non-moving, here and not at the same time. You have no weapons, hiding or running are the weapons you dual-wield in this game and you will be using them frequently even when nothing is actually around, the suspense the game gives you will make you cautious at all times, you’ll be scared of empty rooms, you’ll be cautious of dark corridors, but one thing that you will fear for a reason, above all else… You will fear the water.
