How can people like Amnesia?

[Charles McGuffin]

Please enlighten me. I bought Amnesia a time ago when it was on sale on Steam and played it for a few hours and I can't see how it's supposed to scare someone.

In my oppinion it fails right when you start start the game, when it tells you something like "The objective is not to win, but to engulf yourself in scary thoughts" which sounded to me like "We don't know how to build atmosphere, so would you just be scared? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?".

I had several hours as a cashier, when no customer would come by, which were more exciting than this game, so please, would there somebody explain to me what they found to be scary about this game, so I maybe can unterstand the hype?

 

[Smeggs]

I don't recall it saying that, though I do recall it stating the point of the game is to immerse yourself. They're saying take your time to enjoy it, it's not like Halo or COD where you can just storm your way through, that's how you get killed, and you won't enjoy it as much either.

Sit there with your headphones on in the dark. Crank the volume up to an acceptable level. Amnesia is a different beast than Battlefield or Skyrim.

I found it quite quite frightening at times, once I got in a ways. Have you even made it to the flooded catacomb portion yet?

 

[Charles McGuffin]

Well. I always did as they said. Always in total dark and with Headphones (pretty good headphones) and I tried to immerse myself, but I guess I'm far less easily frightened as I used to be, so I want other people to explain to me, what they found so frightening about this game.

So before I simply call the game "shitty", "awfull", "crap", I'd like to hear people who actually played it through.

I rather finish a game before I judge it, but I most likely won't finish Amnesia.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

How long did you play? Amnesia takes quite a while to really get going. The beginning has A LOT of buildup and from what I remember it's like an hour before you even see an enemy. Once it gets going though boy does it get going. My advice is to play it for a couple more hours before rendering judgement.

 

[ResonanceGames]

We can't "enlighten" you as to why its scary. Fear is the most visceral reaction a person can have to something. It's not a game mechanic that you can master. If it didn't scare you, it didn't scare you. Play something else.

 

[Charles McGuffin]

About two to two and a half hours? It feels just like a very boring point'n'Click Adventure to me.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Did you get to the "Cellar Archives"? Believe me, I've never been scared by anything more than that part. The only spoiler I'll give you is "fear of the unknown"...which is actually what most of the game is based on. But that part in particular.

Edit: Maybe you're just harder to scare than most people, or scared by different things. If one horror game doesn't scare you, try another. Maybe Dead Space or Silent Hill will work better.

 

[Charles McGuffin]

We can't "enlighten" you as to why its scary. Fear is the most visceral reaction a person can have to something. It's not a game mechanic that you can master. If it didn't scare you, it didn't scare you. Play something else.

But you can enlighten me about how it scared you. Was it the overall atmosphere? How the game reacted to your actions? Was it how it told the story and in which way?

You propably can't make the game any more scary to me, but you can explain to me, what exactly was so scary about the game to you.

 

[Ectoplasmicz]

Where did you get up to?

for me, i was totally immersed. It was more the thought of what could be around the corner, creating an imagined fear myself, thats what made it scary. You dont glimpse a creature for a fair while, so letting your imagination do the work is the key.

But i guess if you were not scared, then so be it, try something else.

 

[Charles McGuffin]

Where did you get up to?

for me, i was totally immersed. It was more the thought of what could be around the corner, creating an imagined fear myself, thats what made it scary. You dont glimpse a creature for a fair while, so letting your imagination do the work is the key.

But i guess if you were not scared, then so be it, try something else.

That's what I tried to convey from the first comment. I' m most likely to not be scared, no matter what you say, but I want to know what made you scared.

I don't want to hear something like: "How far did you play?"

But what YOU found scary about it.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Stupid question. Asking what about Amnesia makes us scared is like asking us why we are sexually aroused by a naked Scarlett Johannson standing in front of us.

No-one is going to be able to explain it to you. I'll just say that if you're not scared after waking up in a pitch-black dungeon with no memory, and deformed beings pursuing you the sight of which is enough to make you clinically insane, you're probably not even alive.

 

[Cronq]

Well. I always did as they said. Always in total dark and with Headphones (pretty good headphones) and I tried to immerse myself, but I guess I'm far less easily frightened as I used to be, so I want other people to explain to me, what they found so frightening about this game.

So before I simply call the game "shitty", "awfull", "crap", I'd like to hear people who actually played it through.

I rather finish a game before I judge it, but I most likely won't finish Amnesia.

OP, you are my hero and one of the biggest bad asses on the internet. You must be the toughest man in the world as I have seen Amnesia bring men of Hulk Hogan's stature down to the level of frightened kittens.

 

[SillyBear]

I thought it was a boring point and click adventure game that tried to be "creepy" too hard that it fell flat.

I did appreciate the pace of the game though.

 

[Gamergeek25]

For me Once I had the lights out music turned up and immersed myself with Daniel. I was too frightened to get past the sewers.

 

[Charles McGuffin]

Stupid question. Asking what about Amnesia makes us scared is like asking us why we are sexually aroused by a naked Scarlett Johannson standing in front of us.

No-one is going to be able to explain it to you. I'll just say that if you're not scared after waking up in a pitch-black dungeon with no memory, and deformed beings pursuing you the sight of which is enough to make you clinically insane, you're probably not even alive.

That doesn't mean you couldn't try. It's not like I hate nor love the game, so I'm pretty open minded to hear what everyone else has to say about it.

It most likely won't change my opinion in favor of any site (I'm not sure if my english implies exactly what I mean), but I would like to hear what someone has to reply to MY thoughts. That is why I started a new post instead of searching the forum for possible existing discussions.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Stupid question. Asking what about Amnesia makes us scared is like asking us why we are sexually aroused by a naked Scarlett Johannson standing in front of us.

No-one is going to be able to explain it to you. I'll just say that if you're not scared after waking up in a pitch-black dungeon with no memory, and deformed beings pursuing you the sight of which is enough to make you clinically insane, you're probably not even alive.

That doesn't mean you couldn't try. It's not like I hate nor love the game, so I'm pretty open minded to hear what everyone else has to say about it.

It most likely won't change my opinion in favor of any site (I'm not sure if my english implies exactly what I mean), but I would like to hear what someone has to reply to MY thoughts. That is why I started a new post instead of searching the forum for possible existing discussions.

Have you watched the Zero Punctuation episode on it? I think it does a pretty good job at explaining what you want to know.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2092-Amnesia-The-Dark-Descent

 

[Zhukov]

I played it. It scared me. What more do you want?

I really cannot be arsed explaining things like pacing and atmosphere.

Granted, that message at the start was a bit silly and rather pointless.

 

[CulixCupric]

Please enlighten me. I bought Amnesia a time ago when it was on sale on Steam and played it for a few hours and I can't see how it's supposed to scare someone.

In my oppinion it fails right when you start start the game, when it tells you something like "The objective is not to win, but to engulf yourself in scary thoughts" which sounded to me like "We don't know how to build atmosphere, so would you just be scared? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?".

I had several hours as a cashier, when no customer would come by, which were more exciting than this game, so please, would there somebody explain to me what they found to be scary about this game, so I maybe can unterstand the hype?

it didn't scare me at all, but I did enjoy it. i can't explain why, but I liked the story, and the puzzles.

 

[JesterRaiin]

How can people like Amnesia?

I don't know either.
As for me : i can't relate to someone mking noises not unlike porno actors every time he sees some shadow or something.
Also : after paying my taxes for first time i'm not that easily scared by videogames.

 

[zombieplasticclock]

The story is nifty, I think. And I paid five bucks for the game, so I'd say I got my money's worth.

You can have fun with it like I did: Play Amnesia with friends, and at random intervals scream at the top of your lungs. Watch them fly out of their seats. Never gets old.