The Humble Bundle has previously provided the top indie games to people at very reasonable prices. The customer chooses the price they pay and collects a package of the best indie games around. The Humble Bundle V recently landed bringing with it 8 of the best that the indie world has to offer.
First up in my firing line is Frictional Games first person survival horror Amnesia:The Dark Decent. In Amnesia you play as Daniel, a man suffering from the old video game cliché amnesia and must find out why he is trapped in a horrible castle. The game uses a first person perspective to the action to involve you more with the character of Daniel, you literally know nothing when you boot up the game. As you progress you find notes from people, yourself and have flashbacks to time before the game.
Daniel is there to fight a force known only as the darkness and escape castle Brennenburg. You have no combat mechanics in Amnesia, physics based combat and survival is key. The lighting aspect is also put to good use, for instance; if you stand in a well lit area you can be seen easier by monsters however if you stay in the dark you begin to go insane but are less visible to monsters. With no combat mechanics Amnesia genuinely makes you scared. For the first hour or so I didn’t even see a monster however I could hear them, see traces of where they had been and that they were following me, the monsters themselves aren't scary, the scarecrows with big floppy mouths are more of a novelty than there for scares but the atmosphere the game builds around itself and the lack of a way to defend yourself makes for a non stop shock experience. You can hide from the monsters in the darkness but when doing so you risk your sanity level which could draw them to you again, it is an interesting game play mechanic that makes you use light sparingly that never gets tedious or old.
The games art direction is reminiscent of a 1800's setting. The stone walls, grand hallways, creaky wooden beams all scream out Victorian London to me yet the game never feels that it has a time period. It is set in 1839 but you wouldn’t be too mistaken for thinking it was just set in old old building during modern times. It has a distinct 1800's feel to it without ever feeling outdated. Everything looks genuine of that time period. The graphics for an indie title are remarkable and can compete with a couple of the market leaders. The lighting engine is something different than what I have seen used before, when you stare at a dark room you cannot see a single thing yet after a few seconds in the darkness your eyes adjust to the surroundings. The sound is what drives this game in atmosphere, you can hear the wind howling outside the castle, water dripping from pipes, footsteps coming from upstairs and screams from down the hallways. If you played Amnesia without the sound it wouldn’t be half the game it is.
For an indie title it lasts a good solid amount of time, your looking at a minimum of 6 hours if you know what your doing but can easily be in the 10+ region for first timers. Amnesia is not for the faint of heart and should be played with headphones for optimal experience but even on a 17” laptop with mid range speakers made my heart pump for a solid 8 hours. For the price I paid (£5.13) for all 8 games, Amnesia was worth it and I would have gladly paid the Steam asking price of £12, Amnesia is a game horror fans should not miss.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent – 9/10
+Genuinley Scary
+Audio/Visual Standard
-Uninteresting Story
