Did You Find "Amnesia: The Dark Descent" Scary?

[Kingjackl]

It scared me most of the time, but sort of lost me towards the end. maybe because the puzzles got too obscure and I had to start looking at walkthroughs to figure it out, which was not good for the immersion.

I've only played a bit of Machine For Pigs because I got bored of it; the lack of inventory or even basic fuel for your lantern took the sting out of everything; maybe it gets better if/when you actually start encountering monsters, because I'm still at the 'glimpses of something in the shadows' phase.

 

[Carpenter]

A horror game, much like a horror novel, cannot be scary on it's own and relies on you immersing yourself into the experience.

I know how defensive this sounds but it is on your end to be scared and if you find yourself unable to get sucked into the experience enough to feel tension or fear, it's probably just not the right game for you.

If you are going into a game expecting the game on it's own to scare you while you are busy listing it's flaws and nitpicks (as you did with Amnesia) then I'm sorry but it's on you for playing as a critic rather than just experiencing the game.

That goes for a lot of games, not just the horror genre.

Honestly, I really disagree with this. That's kind of you just saying "You're not aloud to look at this game critically, because then obviously it won't be good". If you looked at a game critically and it wasn't good, then surely that tells you that it wasn't. For example, games I played as a kid all seem great in my memory, but when I go back and play them (obviously with a more critical mind than I had back then), they're not as good.

As well as all that, It's down to what scares you personally. Some things scare people that don't others. It comes down to ones imagination a lot too (The Blaire Witch Project scared me more than any other film I've ever seen). I'm not saying the game should find something universally scary, because that thing doesn't exist. I'm simply saying that It's not my fauly (or the games) that I wasn't scared of it.

I never said "you're not 'aloud' to be critical of this game" I was saying that looking at a game critically while playing it isn't the same as just experiencing it.

I'm not saying your not allowed, I'm saying don't expect a game to give you an emotional experience if you are in a critical mode.

No, playing a game with a critical mind and finding nitpicks doesn't mean the game is objectively or universally bad. You can play a good game and only focus on the negative, you can also not enjoy a game that others love. It's opinion, not research.

If you're going to fall into that "oh I guess I'm just not allowed to criticism the game" just because I suggested that it might be the reason you didn't enjoy it, then maybe you just posted this for the sole purpose of having an argument. In that case, have fun.

You "disagree" right before saying exactly what I was trying to explain to you, fear comes from imagination. It's not the imagination of the game but the imagination of the player. If you are not experiencing the game, your imagination is not invested in it and it won't be scary.

You keep describing this as if there are objectively scary games yet you also admit that things that scare some may not scare others.

In my opinion, if you don't look at a game critically, you're not fully experiencing it.

I'm looking at the game critically, because, to me, that's how I can truly understand and play a game. I wasn't looking for nitpicks (I know, you didn't say I was), but I found them, and problems that were much bigger than nitpicks. Yes, it's opinion. That's basically what I said in my second paragraph.

I'm not looking for an argument, I'm looking for a discussion. I find it interesting to hear what other people find scary.

I don't disagree with you saying that fear comes from imagination. I disagree with you saying that it's on my end that the game wasn't scary. I agree to an extent, because the things in the game just weren't things that got to me personally. What I don't agree with is that you're saying that it was on my end because I didn't allow myself to be fully immersed as I played it with a critical mindset. I disagree with that, because I don't think it's a fair statement. I feel that the game didn't scare me because the scares in the game didn't hit me personally, not because I was judging the game while I played. In my opinion, all games should be judged while they're played. The Last of Us is an excellent example. Something about that game put me off (I'm not sure what it was and I still think it was slightly overrated), but I played it critically and fucking loved it. It was a very emotional experience regardless of the fact that I looked at it critically.

"If you looked at a game critically and it wasn't good, then surely that tells you that it wasn't" was a contradictory slip up on my part. I didn't mean that it was bad, I meant something more along the lines of the problems were there. I know that to some they weren't problems, but some of them stopped the game from being scary to me. It wasn't until the end of the game that I even noticed them and realised why I wasn't scared.

If you think "experiencing a game" means searching for problems (that's what "being critical" means) then I kind of feel sorry for you considering you will never have the kind of experience many of us have with games and books.

Yes, if you are "playing critically" you are looking for problems, or "nitpicking" as it's called. Saying "I am playing critically" and then "I am not looking for nitpicks" is like saying you enjoy swimming but you hate moving through liquid.

Bottom line, we disagree. I believe it's a combination of the game and the audience that creates the "fear" not the game itself.

You say you were looking for a discussion but that hardly fits with your "oh so I'm not allowed to have criticisms?" response.

People tend to ignore or just not realize how much of themselves and their own imagination they put into something like a novel or video game. That's exactly what there is no objective judgement of either, because we have different experiences because we are all creating part of our own experience.

Now on this subject, considering many other people found the game to be great, I have to assume that you and I didn't enjoy the game because of us, not because of the game. I'm not saying you have to try to enjoy the game, I am saying if you are not going to try to enjoy the game, it's not on the game devs when the game is enjoyable.


I don't enjoy the dead or alive games. I am able to understand that it's a well crafted game and that most people seem to enjoy it but I don't enjoy it because of my own thoughts and experiences and opinions. I think of nothing but negative and unpleasant things when I play DOA but that's on me, not the game developers.

That's all I'm trying to say.

 

[bafrali]

Yep I was positively terrified after a few hours. So much so that I decided not to go back to the game and have not since then. I thought I was immune to this horror stuff thanks to my exposure to the Resident Evil 4 but having no shotgun to blast things in a horror game appears to be my kryptonite.

 

[Venom 3135]

A horror game, much like a horror novel, cannot be scary on it's own and relies on you immersing yourself into the experience.

I know how defensive this sounds but it is on your end to be scared and if you find yourself unable to get sucked into the experience enough to feel tension or fear, it's probably just not the right game for you.

If you are going into a game expecting the game on it's own to scare you while you are busy listing it's flaws and nitpicks (as you did with Amnesia) then I'm sorry but it's on you for playing as a critic rather than just experiencing the game.

That goes for a lot of games, not just the horror genre.

Honestly, I really disagree with this. That's kind of you just saying "You're not aloud to look at this game critically, because then obviously it won't be good". If you looked at a game critically and it wasn't good, then surely that tells you that it wasn't. For example, games I played as a kid all seem great in my memory, but when I go back and play them (obviously with a more critical mind than I had back then), they're not as good.

As well as all that, It's down to what scares you personally. Some things scare people that don't others. It comes down to ones imagination a lot too (The Blaire Witch Project scared me more than any other film I've ever seen). I'm not saying the game should find something universally scary, because that thing doesn't exist. I'm simply saying that It's not my fauly (or the games) that I wasn't scared of it.

I never said "you're not 'aloud' to be critical of this game" I was saying that looking at a game critically while playing it isn't the same as just experiencing it.

I'm not saying your not allowed, I'm saying don't expect a game to give you an emotional experience if you are in a critical mode.

No, playing a game with a critical mind and finding nitpicks doesn't mean the game is objectively or universally bad. You can play a good game and only focus on the negative, you can also not enjoy a game that others love. It's opinion, not research.

If you're going to fall into that "oh I guess I'm just not allowed to criticism the game" just because I suggested that it might be the reason you didn't enjoy it, then maybe you just posted this for the sole purpose of having an argument. In that case, have fun.

You "disagree" right before saying exactly what I was trying to explain to you, fear comes from imagination. It's not the imagination of the game but the imagination of the player. If you are not experiencing the game, your imagination is not invested in it and it won't be scary.

You keep describing this as if there are objectively scary games yet you also admit that things that scare some may not scare others.

In my opinion, if you don't look at a game critically, you're not fully experiencing it.

I'm looking at the game critically, because, to me, that's how I can truly understand and play a game. I wasn't looking for nitpicks (I know, you didn't say I was), but I found them, and problems that were much bigger than nitpicks. Yes, it's opinion. That's basically what I said in my second paragraph.

I'm not looking for an argument, I'm looking for a discussion. I find it interesting to hear what other people find scary.

I don't disagree with you saying that fear comes from imagination. I disagree with you saying that it's on my end that the game wasn't scary. I agree to an extent, because the things in the game just weren't things that got to me personally. What I don't agree with is that you're saying that it was on my end because I didn't allow myself to be fully immersed as I played it with a critical mindset. I disagree with that, because I don't think it's a fair statement. I feel that the game didn't scare me because the scares in the game didn't hit me personally, not because I was judging the game while I played. In my opinion, all games should be judged while they're played. The Last of Us is an excellent example. Something about that game put me off (I'm not sure what it was and I still think it was slightly overrated), but I played it critically and fucking loved it. It was a very emotional experience regardless of the fact that I looked at it critically.

"If you looked at a game critically and it wasn't good, then surely that tells you that it wasn't" was a contradictory slip up on my part. I didn't mean that it was bad, I meant something more along the lines of the problems were there. I know that to some they weren't problems, but some of them stopped the game from being scary to me. It wasn't until the end of the game that I even noticed them and realised why I wasn't scared.

If you think "experiencing a game" means searching for problems (that's what "being critical" means) then I kind of feel sorry for you considering you will never have the kind of experience many of us have with games and books.

Yes, if you are "playing critically" you are looking for problems, or "nitpicking" as it's called. Saying "I am playing critically" and then "I am not looking for nitpicks" is like saying you enjoy swimming but you hate moving through liquid.

Bottom line, we disagree. I believe it's a combination of the game and the audience that creates the "fear" not the game itself.

You say you were looking for a discussion but that hardly fits with your "oh so I'm not allowed to have criticisms?" response.

People tend to ignore or just not realize how much of themselves and their own imagination they put into something like a novel or video game. That's exactly what there is no objective judgement of either, because we have different experiences because we are all creating part of our own experience.

Now on this subject, considering many other people found the game to be great, I have to assume that you and I didn't enjoy the game because of us, not because of the game. I'm not saying you have to try to enjoy the game, I am saying if you are not going to try to enjoy the game, it's not on the game devs when the game is enjoyable.


I don't enjoy the dead or alive games. I am able to understand that it's a well crafted game and that most people seem to enjoy it but I don't enjoy it because of my own thoughts and experiences and opinions. I think of nothing but negative and unpleasant things when I play DOA but that's on me, not the game developers.

That's all I'm trying to say.

To me, being critical isn't searching for problems, it means seeing it for what it really is and if you find problems whilst doing that, then that's just the unfortunate truth. So I do experience games in the exact same way that everyone else does.

The statement above basically answers this paragraph also.

No, we do agree. I'm clearly not getting my point across. I don't disagree with you that it's down to the player (with the help of the game) to find the game scary. What I do disagree with is your statement that playing the game critically (although now I understand we have different understandings of the term) would affect how scary the game is.

That wasn't my response. It was more so pointing out that the way you defended the game was almost (key word) like saying that people who are criticising the game won't enjoy it. Yes, I saw problems in the game, but I still enjoyed it. I just didn't find it scary. But to me you seemed to be saying that I didn't find it scary, simply because I had criticisms for it, which isn't true.

Again, I agree. I always agreed. It's down to the player's imagination to dictate how they experience the game. All I was disagreeing with was that I don't think criticising the game changes anything.

I did enjoy the game a lot. I thought it was very good. Just not scary. The narrative was excellent, the first half of the game had fantastic level design, the atmosphere was phenomenal. Also, I did try to enjoy it. I went into it expecting a great, scary game. I got a great game. It just wasn't scary to me.

I never ever said that I thought it was a bad game because of the developers. All I was saying was that the developers design choices made the game less scary to me. Now that doesn't mean it's their fault, clearly, as many, many people found it to still be a terrifying experience.

I hope that the statements made above have clarified this a bit. I tend to struggle to get my point across clearly sometimes. I'm not very good with words. But I feel like what I've said above should make what I meant a bit clearer.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

I enjoyed it much the same way I enjoy a horror novel. The scares weren't as visceral as closet monsters jumping out at your from dark coners, though it tried on occasions.

There was a gradual strengthening feeling of foreboding and terror, but it never manifests as pants shitting horror.

Some of the flaws in the game probably took away from the teeth chattering and sphincter clinching fun (enemies appearing under predictable cues), but the story (for context) and atmosphere were superb.

I especially loved that feeling of been pursued by shadows. Certain sections had you running from something that was grander then the physical horrors, which I thought were very thrilling since they were far less predictable on your first go.

Also, it could have just been my mind getting more engrossed, but by the later parts of the game I always felt when turning around too fast I would see the shadows retreating. Not shapes or forms, but the actual shadows in a room, like a dark blob creeping back when I turn to face them.

A more apt description of the horror in this games is Chilling. If you let it, it will get under your skin.

Also, should note, I played this game in one sitting. Not hardman talk, but its how I play horrors, all one sitting or not at all. Its easy to become accustomed to an atmosphere if you give it a break, so I take it all at once, unfiltered by my rational mind.

 

[StupidNincompoop]

I'm glad i'm not the only one who wasn't even slightly moved by amnesia. This is coming from somebody who is very easily scared- for example, the first encounter with the dogs in resident evil 3 when they jump through the fire was so scary that it took me ages to play the game again out of fear of those dogs. Lone survivor was pretty scary. Hell, even dead island and dead rising surprised me once or twice.
______________________________________________________________

But amnesia doesn't even phase me. I might have felt on edge once or twice but it was never actually that scary. The whole "sanity" thing is just annoying rather than adding to the atmosphere because i couldn't even tell what some of the sounds were supposed to be. Seriously, one of the first noises that happens when you're losing sanity i think it supposed to sound like you're biting your nails but to me it just sounds like somebody is dropping something slimy onto the floor.

Also, the monster design isn't scary to me, it's actually sort of funny because of how dumb it looks rather than menacing. The water monster part seems to me more like the developers just couldn't be bothered to actually model the water monster.

Although it probably doesn't help that i don't really like castle environments in horror games, but the entire thing seems to take place in a mansion/castle/dungeon thing. it's all just one big environment and it doesn't really seem that interesting and more like it's just a big maze of corridors.

I wasn't exactly expecting too much as well since i played it before it started getting well known, around when it was first released.

 

[diligentscribbler]

I think dread suits amnesia more than fear.

it was I think called the dark descent for a reason, the more you go on the less you want to, both for dread of the horrors that lurk the castle and the toll the narrative pieces take on yours and Daniel's psyche.

i consider a horror game a success when the game is actively discouraging me from completing it.

 

[Carpenter]

A horror game, much like a horror novel, cannot be scary on it's own and relies on you immersing yourself into the experience.

I know how defensive this sounds but it is on your end to be scared and if you find yourself unable to get sucked into the experience enough to feel tension or fear, it's probably just not the right game for you.

If you are going into a game expecting the game on it's own to scare you while you are busy listing it's flaws and nitpicks (as you did with Amnesia) then I'm sorry but it's on you for playing as a critic rather than just experiencing the game.

That goes for a lot of games, not just the horror genre.

Honestly, I really disagree with this. That's kind of you just saying "You're not aloud to look at this game critically, because then obviously it won't be good". If you looked at a game critically and it wasn't good, then surely that tells you that it wasn't. For example, games I played as a kid all seem great in my memory, but when I go back and play them (obviously with a more critical mind than I had back then), they're not as good.

As well as all that, It's down to what scares you personally. Some things scare people that don't others. It comes down to ones imagination a lot too (The Blaire Witch Project scared me more than any other film I've ever seen). I'm not saying the game should find something universally scary, because that thing doesn't exist. I'm simply saying that It's not my fauly (or the games) that I wasn't scared of it.

I never said "you're not 'aloud' to be critical of this game" I was saying that looking at a game critically while playing it isn't the same as just experiencing it.

I'm not saying your not allowed, I'm saying don't expect a game to give you an emotional experience if you are in a critical mode.

No, playing a game with a critical mind and finding nitpicks doesn't mean the game is objectively or universally bad. You can play a good game and only focus on the negative, you can also not enjoy a game that others love. It's opinion, not research.

If you're going to fall into that "oh I guess I'm just not allowed to criticism the game" just because I suggested that it might be the reason you didn't enjoy it, then maybe you just posted this for the sole purpose of having an argument. In that case, have fun.

You "disagree" right before saying exactly what I was trying to explain to you, fear comes from imagination. It's not the imagination of the game but the imagination of the player. If you are not experiencing the game, your imagination is not invested in it and it won't be scary.

You keep describing this as if there are objectively scary games yet you also admit that things that scare some may not scare others.

In my opinion, if you don't look at a game critically, you're not fully experiencing it.

I'm looking at the game critically, because, to me, that's how I can truly understand and play a game. I wasn't looking for nitpicks (I know, you didn't say I was), but I found them, and problems that were much bigger than nitpicks. Yes, it's opinion. That's basically what I said in my second paragraph.

I'm not looking for an argument, I'm looking for a discussion. I find it interesting to hear what other people find scary.

I don't disagree with you saying that fear comes from imagination. I disagree with you saying that it's on my end that the game wasn't scary. I agree to an extent, because the things in the game just weren't things that got to me personally. What I don't agree with is that you're saying that it was on my end because I didn't allow myself to be fully immersed as I played it with a critical mindset. I disagree with that, because I don't think it's a fair statement. I feel that the game didn't scare me because the scares in the game didn't hit me personally, not because I was judging the game while I played. In my opinion, all games should be judged while they're played. The Last of Us is an excellent example. Something about that game put me off (I'm not sure what it was and I still think it was slightly overrated), but I played it critically and fucking loved it. It was a very emotional experience regardless of the fact that I looked at it critically.

"If you looked at a game critically and it wasn't good, then surely that tells you that it wasn't" was a contradictory slip up on my part. I didn't mean that it was bad, I meant something more along the lines of the problems were there. I know that to some they weren't problems, but some of them stopped the game from being scary to me. It wasn't until the end of the game that I even noticed them and realised why I wasn't scared.

If you think "experiencing a game" means searching for problems (that's what "being critical" means) then I kind of feel sorry for you considering you will never have the kind of experience many of us have with games and books.

Yes, if you are "playing critically" you are looking for problems, or "nitpicking" as it's called. Saying "I am playing critically" and then "I am not looking for nitpicks" is like saying you enjoy swimming but you hate moving through liquid.

Bottom line, we disagree. I believe it's a combination of the game and the audience that creates the "fear" not the game itself.

You say you were looking for a discussion but that hardly fits with your "oh so I'm not allowed to have criticisms?" response.

People tend to ignore or just not realize how much of themselves and their own imagination they put into something like a novel or video game. That's exactly what there is no objective judgement of either, because we have different experiences because we are all creating part of our own experience.

Now on this subject, considering many other people found the game to be great, I have to assume that you and I didn't enjoy the game because of us, not because of the game. I'm not saying you have to try to enjoy the game, I am saying if you are not going to try to enjoy the game, it's not on the game devs when the game is enjoyable.


I don't enjoy the dead or alive games. I am able to understand that it's a well crafted game and that most people seem to enjoy it but I don't enjoy it because of my own thoughts and experiences and opinions. I think of nothing but negative and unpleasant things when I play DOA but that's on me, not the game developers.

That's all I'm trying to say.

To me, being critical isn't searching for problems, it means seeing it for what it really is and if you find problems whilst doing that, then that's just the unfortunate truth. So I do experience games in the exact same way that everyone else does.

The statement above basically answers this paragraph also.

No, we do agree. I'm clearly not getting my point across. I don't disagree with you that it's down to the player (with the help of the game) to find the game scary. What I do disagree with is your statement that playing the game critically (although now I understand we have different understandings of the term) would affect how scary the game is.

That wasn't my response. It was more so pointing out that the way you defended the game was almost (key word) like saying that people who are criticising the game won't enjoy it. Yes, I saw problems in the game, but I still enjoyed it. I just didn't find it scary. But to me you seemed to be saying that I didn't find it scary, simply because I had criticisms for it, which isn't true.

Again, I agree. I always agreed. It's down to the player's imagination to dictate how they experience the game. All I was disagreeing with was that I don't think criticising the game changes anything.

I did enjoy the game a lot. I thought it was very good. Just not scary. The narrative was excellent, the first half of the game had fantastic level design, the atmosphere was phenomenal. Also, I did try to enjoy it. I went into it expecting a great, scary game. I got a great game. It just wasn't scary to me.

I never ever said that I thought it was a bad game because of the developers. All I was saying was that the developers design choices made the game less scary to me. Now that doesn't mean it's their fault, clearly, as many, many people found it to still be a terrifying experience.

I hope that the statements made above have clarified this a bit. I tend to struggle to get my point across clearly sometimes. I'm not very good with words. But I feel like what I've said above should make what I meant a bit clearer.

Seeing it for what it really is? So everyone that likes the game is just delusional, you are "seeing it for what it really is" and not at all just nitpicking?

So again, you think that the people that like the game are wrong and that your opinion of the game is objectively true.

Thank you for clearing that up for us.

I don't like the game either, but at least I'm not trying to say that my opinion is the "way it is"


EDIT: It's great that you like the "level design and atmosphere" but the point I was trying to make is that when you are only playing to weight the cons and pros of the game design, you are not actually experiencing the game and are therefore numb to any emotion the game is trying to put you into.

I think this is the problem that's arising from critics being put on pedestals on sites like this. A few critics are able to admit that it's just one person's opinion but most seem to present their opinion as objective criticism and that has clearly spread into the gaming and movie watching community.

Being critical isn't "seeing it for what it is" it's looking at something critically. When someone says you are being "critical" of something, they are not saying you are looking at it from all angles, they are saying you are looking at it from a negative perspective and dissecting it because that's what "being critical" really means.