Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Encyclopedia
Amnesia: The Dark Descent (previously known as Lux Tenebras or Unknown) is a survival horror video game by Frictional Games
, who previously developed the Penumbra series
. Released for Windows
, Mac OS X
, and Linux
platforms, the game features an unarmed protagonist
exploring a dark and foreboding castle, while avoiding monsters and other obstructions as well as solving puzzles. The game was critically well received, earning two awards from the Independent Games Festival
and numerous positive reviews.
Originally released independently as a download, the game has since been published in retail by 1C Company
in Russia
and Eastern Europe
as well as THQ
in North America
. A collection of five short stories
set in the world of Amnesia, written by Mikael Hedberg and illustrated by the game's concept artists, was also made available. In addition, the game's soundtrack is available for purchase and a free content expansion called "Justine" has been released as well as several fan made expansions and stories.
, allowing for physics-based puzzles and interactions such as opening doors and fixing machinery.
In addition to a health indicator, Daniel's sanity
must be managed. Being in darkness too long, witnessing unsettling events, or staring at monsters for too long will reduce the character's sanity. As the sanity level decreases, visual and auditory hallucinations occur and the player more easily draws the attention of monsters. Light sources help restore sanity, and in the bowels of the castle the player character may use tinderboxes to light wall-mounted candles, or deploy an oil-burning lantern found near the beginning of the game. However, the number of tinderboxes and the amount of oil in the game are both limited. Standing in a light source also makes the player more easily noticed by monsters. The player must find a balance between the amount of time they spend in light and shadow. Sanity is fully restored once Daniel completes an objective or progresses the game's story. It may also be restored by staying in the shadows until Daniel passes out, but this leaves him extremely vulnerable to any nearby monsters.
If a monster spots Daniel, it will chase him until he's out of sight. Daniel's only option at this point is to flee, as Amnesia does not give the player access to weapons. Players must find hiding places or barricade doors with rocks, chairs and other obstacles; unfortunately, monsters are very capable of tearing down doors in their path and kicking obstacles out of the way, and move extremely fast once they have spotted their prey. Players can also choose to hide Daniel in the shadows, at cost to sanity. Monsters who lose sight of Daniel will search for him for a time, but will eventually leave and vanish. At several points in the game, they are required to advance, as they will tear down a problematic obstacle in their path.
Brennenburg Castle with little to no memory about himself or his past. All he can remember is his name, that he lives in Mayfair
and that something is hunting him. Shortly after awakening, Daniel discovers a note written to himself, from which he learns that he has deliberately erased his own memory, and that he needs to descend into the Inner Sanctum of the castle to kill the Baron Alexander.
Daniel's exploration of the dark depths of the castle is also a journey into his own erased past, as he discovers not only notes and his own journal entries, but experiences visions of past events that took place within the castle's countless chambers (including memories that are not his own). While he unravels the mysteries of Brennenburg Castle, he also finds himself hunted by a dangerous evil presence that manifests itself as a corruption that is slowly covering the castle in fleshy, acidic growths, and bizarre monsters against which his only defense is flight. These events are linked, and pertain to why Daniel came to Brennenberg.
Daniel was once part of an archaeological expedition to Africa. He came across a mystical orb buried within the ruins of an ancient temple, and brought its broken pieces back to England where he successfully assembled them. However, he began to be plagued by nightmares, and several people who came across his path, and that of the Orb, died horribly at the hands of the "Shadow" that appears to dog his footsteps. Desperate and despairing, he received a strange letter from a Prussian baron named Alexander, who promised protection if Daniel would sojourn to his castle.
However, Alexander's promise of salvation was a lie. He is actually a otherworldly lifeform who has spent centuries in Brennenburg, attempting to open a "gate" back to his own world. To do this, he needs a substance called "vitae" which can only be harvested from the blood of agonized humans. He also needs a usable Orb. As such, Daniel is a boon to his efforts: Alexander employs him as his personal torturer, replacing his former servants who become the monsters Daniel flees from, and claiming the vitae will fuel a ritual to banish the Shadow from Daniel's presence forever. Daniel initially embraces this role, particularly when Alexander tells him that the humans he is seizing are vile criminals. But as the experiments continue, Daniel's faith in Alexander is shaken, and finally shattered when he murders a little girl in cold blood following her escape from a prison cell. Despondent over how far he has come, and furious at Alexander's trickery, Daniel chooses to erase his own memory so that he can atone for his sins without the burden of crippling emotional trauma.
Daniel eventually manages to find the Inner Sanctum buried deep below Castle Brennenburg. He breaches its defences with a newly assembled Orb and the help of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
, an alchemist that Alexander has kept imprisoned in Brennenburg for centuries with the use of strange alchemy. Agrippa, who once studied Orbs with his student Johann Weyer
, explains the purpose of the Shadow: it protects the Orbs, slaying anyone who threatens to abuse their power. He mentions also that Weyer managed to travel to Alexander's world using the power of the Orb, and begs a favor: that Daniel separate Agrippa's head from his body and take it with him. There are several possible outcomes to the confrontation with Alexander, depending on Daniel's actions at the Inner Sanctum: he can fail to prevent Alexander from returning to his home world, though Alexander thanks him for his sacrifice; he can destroy the device creating the Gate, managing to escape with his life; or he can follow Agrippa's advice and toss his head through the portal. If he does, Agrippa calls upon Weyer to help him save Daniel, promising him that "everything will be all right."
version of Amnesia. This additional campaign is set apart from Brennenburg Castle. "Justine" was released on Steam as a way to promote the upcoming release of Portal 2
, as getting 100% on the campaign (all of the collectables, all of the analysis and making correct choices) unlocks a message from fictional company Aperture Science. The expansion was made available for all of the games supported platforms and versions as part of the Amnesia v1.2 update on May 17, 2011.
, models, particle effects and materials, using an interface similar to Valve's Hammer Editing Software. Game logic can be implemented using the AngelScript scripting language. Several such stories have already been developed.
was still being developed, with the company working on both projects at the same time. The game was first known under two working titles: Unknown and Lux Tenebras. It was not until November 13, 2009 that it was announced as its current title, Amnesia, with the release of the game's website and a game trailer. Initial designs of the game varied considerably from the final game, with the developers interested in reintroducing more combat elements similar to those utilized in their first commercial title Penumbra: Overture
. The developers soon discovered that they encountered many of the same problems and difficulties that plagued the combat in that game however, and the design was further changed to be more similar to the style set out by Overtures sequel Penumbra: Black Plague
.
On February 5, 2010 it was announced that the game had reached the alpha stage of development on all platforms. Two weeks later the developers released a new Teaser trailer that showed actual game-play footage, and the developers began accepting pre-orders for the game through their website. Also revealed was that the game was at that point being tested on all three intended platforms. It was also announced that the game would be released simultaneously for all of them in August 2010. This was later rescheduled, and the game was then expected to have a September 8, 2010 release. It was then later announced on August 27, 2010 that the game had officially gone Gold and would soon be ready to sold. On September 3, the games demo was released containing selected parts of the gameplay and story. It was then successfully released on September 8, 2010.
If the game reached 2000 pre-orders by May 31, 2010, Frictional promised it would release extra content for the game. The goal was finally met in early May, after the pre-orders were offered at a discount made available until May 31. This was done due to the success of Penumbra: Overture
as a part of the first Humble Indie Bundle
. The extra content was revealed to be commentary, and they explained in the comments section of the same page that its intended function was similar to that of Valve Software's commentary system that began in the Half-Life 2
series. The authors cite "Soul Made Flesh" by Carl Zimmer
and older horror movies such as The Haunting
as being inspirations for the mood and style of the game.
Thomas Grip, one of the games main developers, would later write up a post-mortem of the game titled "The Terrifying Tale of Amnesia" for The Escapist, where he outlined in detail the process of the games development, mostly focusing on its ever changing design and the financial problems that plagued the developers for most of the game's development.
of Rock, Paper, Shotgun
even went as far as to say that "I think it is safe to say that Amnesia is the most successfully frightening game to have been made." Another reviewer commented, "Oh God. I’ve seen horrible things. Horrible, terrible, disgusting things. They make me cringe, they make me feel gross, they make me depressed. I’ve seen them in Amnesia: The Dark Descent." X-Play added Amnesia to its top ten PC games saying "There are a lot of so called "horror" games out there, this one is no joke. You'll be rocking back and forth and crying in no time". Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw on his show Zero Punctuation
marked it as his 4th favorite game of 2010 stating "It's not a perfect game, but it's almost unmatched as a constipation aid."
Frictional Games did show some trepidation over the game's initial sales after the first week, but were encouraged by continued sales throughout the first month after the game's release, with Frictional recouping all the expenses from creating Amnesia by early October 2010. By the beginning of January 2011 the developer reported that nearly 200,000 units had been sold, declaring in response that "With these figures at hand, we must confess that it gives us new confidence for the PC." The game kept gaining sales and in July 2011 it had sold almost 350,000 units. At the 2011 Independent Games Festival
Amnesia won awards for both "Excellence in Audio" and "Technical Excellence" along with the "Direct2Drive Vision Award" which included a $10,000 prize.
A year after the original release of Amnesia, the developers revealed that they had sold around 391,102 units and were continuing to sell about 6000 units per month. They also released details about how much money each platform generated for them by analyzing the sales from their online store, with 70% of sales coming from Windows users and 15% coming from users of Linux and another 15% coming from users of Mac OS X. Frictional did however note that their store was the only place anyone could purchase the Linux version of the game, whereas the Mac OS X and Windows versions could be purchased from other sources, meaning that the total percentage of Linux sales is actually considerably smaller compared to other platforms taken collectively. Observing that their own Mac OS X sales did not go down from their own store even as services like Steam
picked up the game for that platform, meaning that it did not steal customers from their store but instead opened up a new market, they decided this makes a good incentive for other stores to support Linux as well.
Frictional Games
Frictional Games is an independent video game company located in Helsingborg, Sweden. The developer comprises a small core team and is led by Thomas Grip and Jens Nilsson. Certain key roles such as Music and Narrative Design are performed by external staff like Mikko Tarmia and Tom Jubert,...
, who previously developed the Penumbra series
Penumbra (video game series)
Penumbra is the name of an episodic video game series by developer Frictional Games, published by Lexicon Entertainment and Paradox Interactive. The games use the HPL Engine, initially developed as a tech demo...
. Released for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
platforms, the game features an unarmed protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
exploring a dark and foreboding castle, while avoiding monsters and other obstructions as well as solving puzzles. The game was critically well received, earning two awards from the Independent Games Festival
Independent Games Festival
The Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...
and numerous positive reviews.
Originally released independently as a download, the game has since been published in retail by 1C Company
1C Company
1C Company is one of the largest independent Russian software developers and publishers. Its headquarters are in Moscow, Russia. It is best known outside of the former Soviet Union as a video game developer whose presence has come to dominate events like the KRI, and whose products have begun to...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
as well as THQ
THQ
THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. A collection of five short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
set in the world of Amnesia, written by Mikael Hedberg and illustrated by the game's concept artists, was also made available. In addition, the game's soundtrack is available for purchase and a free content expansion called "Justine" has been released as well as several fan made expansions and stories.
Gameplay
In a similar vein to the developer's previous games, Amnesia is an exploration-based adventure game played from a first-person perspective. The game retains the physical object interaction used in the Penumbra seriesPenumbra (video game series)
Penumbra is the name of an episodic video game series by developer Frictional Games, published by Lexicon Entertainment and Paradox Interactive. The games use the HPL Engine, initially developed as a tech demo...
, allowing for physics-based puzzles and interactions such as opening doors and fixing machinery.
In addition to a health indicator, Daniel's sanity
Sanity
Sanity refers to the soundness, rationality and healthiness of the human mind, as opposed to insanity. A person is sane if they are rational...
must be managed. Being in darkness too long, witnessing unsettling events, or staring at monsters for too long will reduce the character's sanity. As the sanity level decreases, visual and auditory hallucinations occur and the player more easily draws the attention of monsters. Light sources help restore sanity, and in the bowels of the castle the player character may use tinderboxes to light wall-mounted candles, or deploy an oil-burning lantern found near the beginning of the game. However, the number of tinderboxes and the amount of oil in the game are both limited. Standing in a light source also makes the player more easily noticed by monsters. The player must find a balance between the amount of time they spend in light and shadow. Sanity is fully restored once Daniel completes an objective or progresses the game's story. It may also be restored by staying in the shadows until Daniel passes out, but this leaves him extremely vulnerable to any nearby monsters.
If a monster spots Daniel, it will chase him until he's out of sight. Daniel's only option at this point is to flee, as Amnesia does not give the player access to weapons. Players must find hiding places or barricade doors with rocks, chairs and other obstacles; unfortunately, monsters are very capable of tearing down doors in their path and kicking obstacles out of the way, and move extremely fast once they have spotted their prey. Players can also choose to hide Daniel in the shadows, at cost to sanity. Monsters who lose sight of Daniel will search for him for a time, but will eventually leave and vanish. At several points in the game, they are required to advance, as they will tear down a problematic obstacle in their path.
Story
In the year 1839, Daniel, a young man from London, awakens in the dark halls of the PrussianKingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
Brennenburg Castle with little to no memory about himself or his past. All he can remember is his name, that he lives in Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
and that something is hunting him. Shortly after awakening, Daniel discovers a note written to himself, from which he learns that he has deliberately erased his own memory, and that he needs to descend into the Inner Sanctum of the castle to kill the Baron Alexander.
Daniel's exploration of the dark depths of the castle is also a journey into his own erased past, as he discovers not only notes and his own journal entries, but experiences visions of past events that took place within the castle's countless chambers (including memories that are not his own). While he unravels the mysteries of Brennenburg Castle, he also finds himself hunted by a dangerous evil presence that manifests itself as a corruption that is slowly covering the castle in fleshy, acidic growths, and bizarre monsters against which his only defense is flight. These events are linked, and pertain to why Daniel came to Brennenberg.
Daniel was once part of an archaeological expedition to Africa. He came across a mystical orb buried within the ruins of an ancient temple, and brought its broken pieces back to England where he successfully assembled them. However, he began to be plagued by nightmares, and several people who came across his path, and that of the Orb, died horribly at the hands of the "Shadow" that appears to dog his footsteps. Desperate and despairing, he received a strange letter from a Prussian baron named Alexander, who promised protection if Daniel would sojourn to his castle.
However, Alexander's promise of salvation was a lie. He is actually a otherworldly lifeform who has spent centuries in Brennenburg, attempting to open a "gate" back to his own world. To do this, he needs a substance called "vitae" which can only be harvested from the blood of agonized humans. He also needs a usable Orb. As such, Daniel is a boon to his efforts: Alexander employs him as his personal torturer, replacing his former servants who become the monsters Daniel flees from, and claiming the vitae will fuel a ritual to banish the Shadow from Daniel's presence forever. Daniel initially embraces this role, particularly when Alexander tells him that the humans he is seizing are vile criminals. But as the experiments continue, Daniel's faith in Alexander is shaken, and finally shattered when he murders a little girl in cold blood following her escape from a prison cell. Despondent over how far he has come, and furious at Alexander's trickery, Daniel chooses to erase his own memory so that he can atone for his sins without the burden of crippling emotional trauma.
Daniel eventually manages to find the Inner Sanctum buried deep below Castle Brennenburg. He breaches its defences with a newly assembled Orb and the help of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist.-Life:Agrippa was born in Cologne in 1486...
, an alchemist that Alexander has kept imprisoned in Brennenburg for centuries with the use of strange alchemy. Agrippa, who once studied Orbs with his student Johann Weyer
Johann Weyer
Johann Weyer , was a Dutch physician, occultist and demonologist, disciple and follower of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. He was among the first to publish against the persecution of witches...
, explains the purpose of the Shadow: it protects the Orbs, slaying anyone who threatens to abuse their power. He mentions also that Weyer managed to travel to Alexander's world using the power of the Orb, and begs a favor: that Daniel separate Agrippa's head from his body and take it with him. There are several possible outcomes to the confrontation with Alexander, depending on Daniel's actions at the Inner Sanctum: he can fail to prevent Alexander from returning to his home world, though Alexander thanks him for his sacrifice; he can destroy the device creating the Gate, managing to escape with his life; or he can follow Agrippa's advice and toss his head through the portal. If he does, Agrippa calls upon Weyer to help him save Daniel, promising him that "everything will be all right."
Characters and Enemies
- Daniel - The main protagonist of the game. Apart from his British nationality, not much is known of him except for the diary pages that suggest that he is an archaeologist, his sister Hazel had a sickness growing up, and his father was an artisan who beat him. Daniel was, according to in-game text, bullied during primary school by a boy named Henry Bedloe. In the African desert on an expedition with his friend Herbert, Daniel discovered a tomb containing the mysterious Orb. From then on, a "shadow" had been hunting him, killing almost everyone he had contact with. Because of his panic, Daniel failed to realize that the Shadow had only killed those who had examined the Orb, and had done so almost instantly, whereas he had survived for 27 days before seeking help. Daniel had not attempted to examine or tamper with the Orb, but because of his panic, he sought the help and refuge of Alexander of Brennenburg. Alexander told Daniel that he could ward off the Shadow only with the use of mystical vitae extracted from tortured prisoners. Desperate to escape the Shadow, Daniel complied, convincing himself that his victims were worthless criminals who deserved no better. After Alexander abandons him, Daniel swears revenge and, suddenly filled with remorse over his deeds, drinks the Amnesia mixture at the start of the game to purge his horrible memories and seek redemption.
- Alexander of Brennenburg - The main antagonist of the game. Alexander is a being who has been masquerading as a succession of Prussian barons during his centuries-long life. He gathered as many of the Orbs as he could find in hopes of opening a portal, possibly to reunite with his long dead wife or to his original homeland/world. He tortured captured victims to extract a mystical "vitae" from them, with which to perform mystical rituals in order to achieve this goal. Alexander displays a sociopathic level of cruelty and manipulation. He manipulated Daniel into helping him with his horrific experiments, promising him protection from the Shadow in return. However, as soon as Daniel's work was complete, Alexander sealed himself in his Inner Sanctum and abandoned Daniel. It is worth noting that he is not a completely evil character; in his notes he expresses some remorse for Daniel's corruption and of the things he has done.
- Heinrich Cornelius AgrippaHeinrich Cornelius AgrippaHeinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist.-Life:Agrippa was born in Cologne in 1486...
- The infamous German occult writer and supposed magician. Not much is known about his relationship with Alexander, aside from the fact that they were working together and researching the Orbs. Alexander keeps him imprisoned in a dead husk of a body so that he could use his knowledge to perform rituals involving the Orbs. He also known to have a pupil named Johann Weyer, who also helped him about the research of the Orb.
- The Shadow - An unseen force that is hunting Daniel. Its sole purpose is to guard the Orb that Daniel took from the burial chamber and has killed numerous people to achieve that end. While it is not seen as a physical being, it is described as a huge sluggish mass of darkness and leaves behind a fleshy damaging substance over anything it touches. One note hypothesizes that it is the will of the universe seeking to catch up with and contain the unnatural force of the Orb itself, but this might only have been colorful speculation. It can be assumed that The Shadow is a gigantic being, causing the castle to fall into ruin and making tall trees fall whenever it moves around the castle. Another speculation says that The Shadow is producing no harm to Daniel. However, as Daniel making contacts with other people about the Orb and cause The Shadow to attack them, it is speculated that any attempt to use the Orb, including simply studying it, is enough to provoke The Shadow's wrath.
- The Gatherers - The main enemies of the game. They are Alexander's servants who were deformed when they drank wine poisoned by Alexander, and are seen as monstrous humanoids with deformed facial and bodily features. These enemies come in two variations, Grunts and Brutes, and patrol parts of Brennenburg Castle, attacking Daniel if sighted. Since Daniel is weaponless, they cannot be killed and have to be avoided. Grunts are horrifyingly disfigured monstrosities which have had their left hands cut off and replaced with iron claws. Their offset eyes resemble those of a reptile. They appear to have had their lower jaw severed, and it now flops out over their chest. Brutes are malformed humanoids wearing a metallic tunic and with frankenstein-esqueFrankenstein (1931 film)Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...
bolts and nails jutting out of their flesh. They attack with a blade on an iron pole sticking out of their arm. An interesting note on the possible origin of the Gatherers can be found in the Wine Cellar, where a flashback Daniel has depicts a group of Alexander's men having horrific bodily reactions to wine they consumed, saying things such as "I feel like my chest is going to burst!". One particular note, however, states that they are deserters of the Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, who got lost in the forests around Brennenburg, forced to forever haunt it, dragging with them anyone unlucky enough to venture in. These creatures cannot be killed by Daniel; however if an object such as a rock or barrel is thrown at one, it will become momentarily immobilized, leaving the player a small window to escape. However, if the player holds an item large enough in front of a Gatherer, the monster will pass by as if Daniel is not there, thus questioning their intelligence (though this could also be attributed to an AI glitch).
- The Kaernk (Water Lurker) - An invisible, outer-worldly creature known as the Kaernk (anagram of KrakenKrakenKraken are legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to have dwelt off the coasts of Norway and Iceland.In modern German, Krake means octopus but can also refer to the legendary Kraken...
), brought to Brennenburg by Alexander to extract their saliva, which is an ingredient in a potion. It dwells in the water, and hunts Daniel if he steps into the water where it lurks. The only sign of it is the splashing water it causes as it moves. Daniel must use the boxes scattered throughout the water in the level in order to avoid the creature. There is also the option to use body parts scattered on the boxes to distract the monster and let Daniel move through the water in relative safety. There are six encounters, four of which are purely hallucinations, while the other two are very dangerously real. Daniel may hallucinate/catch a glimpse of the Kaernk in the Laboratory (under a grate), Cistern (in low sanity, sometimes appear if player stayed too long), Sewer (in a cave-in room), and two wells in the Nave (needed in order to collect its saliva). The Kaernk's true form is sometimes questioned, as the water lurker itself is never be seen to have physical form in the game.
Expansion content
On April 12, 2011 Frictional Games released an extra free level for owners of the SteamSteam (content delivery)
Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. It is used to distribute games and related media online, from small independent developers to larger software houses...
version of Amnesia. This additional campaign is set apart from Brennenburg Castle. "Justine" was released on Steam as a way to promote the upcoming release of Portal 2
Portal 2
Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle-platform video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The sequel to the 2007 video game Portal, it was announced on March 5, 2010, following a week-long alternate reality game based on new patches to the original game...
, as getting 100% on the campaign (all of the collectables, all of the analysis and making correct choices) unlocks a message from fictional company Aperture Science. The expansion was made available for all of the games supported platforms and versions as part of the Amnesia v1.2 update on May 17, 2011.
Custom stories
It is possible to create custom stories for Amnesia that can then be loaded in the game. Various tools for the HPL2 Engine have been released that allow the creation of own levelsLevel (video gaming)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
, models, particle effects and materials, using an interface similar to Valve's Hammer Editing Software. Game logic can be implemented using the AngelScript scripting language. Several such stories have already been developed.
Development
Work began on the game while Penumbra: RequiemPenumbra: Requiem
Penumbra: Requiem is an expansion pack to the game Penumbra: Black Plague by Frictional Games.- Gameplay :Like the previous games, Requiem is an exploration-based adventure game that takes place from a first-person perspective and final installment of the main series...
was still being developed, with the company working on both projects at the same time. The game was first known under two working titles: Unknown and Lux Tenebras. It was not until November 13, 2009 that it was announced as its current title, Amnesia, with the release of the game's website and a game trailer. Initial designs of the game varied considerably from the final game, with the developers interested in reintroducing more combat elements similar to those utilized in their first commercial title Penumbra: Overture
Penumbra: Overture
Penumbra: Overture is the first in a series of episodic first-person adventure games developed by Swedish developer Frictional Games. It was originally intended as the first episode of a trilogy. With the announcement of the second episode, Penumbra: Black Plague, it was stated that the second game...
. The developers soon discovered that they encountered many of the same problems and difficulties that plagued the combat in that game however, and the design was further changed to be more similar to the style set out by Overtures sequel Penumbra: Black Plague
Penumbra: Black Plague
Penumbra: Black Plague is the second installment of the Penumbra series of episodic computer games developed by Swedish developer Frictional Games. The story continues from the previous episode, Penumbra: Overture, showing the protagonist Philip moving away from the abandoned mine setting of the...
.
On February 5, 2010 it was announced that the game had reached the alpha stage of development on all platforms. Two weeks later the developers released a new Teaser trailer that showed actual game-play footage, and the developers began accepting pre-orders for the game through their website. Also revealed was that the game was at that point being tested on all three intended platforms. It was also announced that the game would be released simultaneously for all of them in August 2010. This was later rescheduled, and the game was then expected to have a September 8, 2010 release. It was then later announced on August 27, 2010 that the game had officially gone Gold and would soon be ready to sold. On September 3, the games demo was released containing selected parts of the gameplay and story. It was then successfully released on September 8, 2010.
If the game reached 2000 pre-orders by May 31, 2010, Frictional promised it would release extra content for the game. The goal was finally met in early May, after the pre-orders were offered at a discount made available until May 31. This was done due to the success of Penumbra: Overture
Penumbra: Overture
Penumbra: Overture is the first in a series of episodic first-person adventure games developed by Swedish developer Frictional Games. It was originally intended as the first episode of a trilogy. With the announcement of the second episode, Penumbra: Black Plague, it was stated that the second game...
as a part of the first Humble Indie Bundle
Humble Indie Bundle
The Humble Indie Bundles or Humble Bundles are a series of game bundles, that are sold and distributed online at a price determined by the purchaser. The games are multi-platform, DRM-free, and independently developed, and buyers can set the revenue split between the developers, charities and...
. The extra content was revealed to be commentary, and they explained in the comments section of the same page that its intended function was similar to that of Valve Software's commentary system that began in the Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
series. The authors cite "Soul Made Flesh" by Carl Zimmer
Carl Zimmer
Carl Zimmer is a popular science writer and blogger, especially regarding the study of evolution and parasites. He has written several books and contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times and Discover...
and older horror movies such as The Haunting
The Haunting (1963 film)
The Haunting is a 1963 British psychological horror film by American director Robert Wise and adapted by Nelson Gidding from the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn. The film centers around the conflict between...
as being inspirations for the mood and style of the game.
Thomas Grip, one of the games main developers, would later write up a post-mortem of the game titled "The Terrifying Tale of Amnesia" for The Escapist, where he outlined in detail the process of the games development, mostly focusing on its ever changing design and the financial problems that plagued the developers for most of the game's development.
Reception
Amnesia has received highly positive reviews with consistent praise given for the ominous atmosphere and horror elements. John WalkerJohn Walker (journalist)
John Walker is a British computer games journalist, as well as a cartoonist and TV critic.-Journalism:Walker has contributed to a range of print publications, including PC Gamer , Total Film, Linux Format, Cult TV, Edge, NGamer, Windows XP, PC Plus, Official Xbox Magazine, Gamesmaster and PC...
of Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Rock, Paper, Shotgun is a UK-based PC gaming blog written by Alec Meer, Jim Rossignol, John Walker, and previously Kieron Gillen and Quintin Smith. Rock, Paper, Shotgun launched in July 2007. In 2010 the website partnered with Eurogamer...
even went as far as to say that "I think it is safe to say that Amnesia is the most successfully frightening game to have been made." Another reviewer commented, "Oh God. I’ve seen horrible things. Horrible, terrible, disgusting things. They make me cringe, they make me feel gross, they make me depressed. I’ve seen them in Amnesia: The Dark Descent." X-Play added Amnesia to its top ten PC games saying "There are a lot of so called "horror" games out there, this one is no joke. You'll be rocking back and forth and crying in no time". Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw on his show Zero Punctuation
Zero Punctuation
Zero Punctuation is an ongoing video game review series created by comedy writer and video game journalist Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw and published by the online magazine The Escapist.-Background:...
marked it as his 4th favorite game of 2010 stating "It's not a perfect game, but it's almost unmatched as a constipation aid."
Frictional Games did show some trepidation over the game's initial sales after the first week, but were encouraged by continued sales throughout the first month after the game's release, with Frictional recouping all the expenses from creating Amnesia by early October 2010. By the beginning of January 2011 the developer reported that nearly 200,000 units had been sold, declaring in response that "With these figures at hand, we must confess that it gives us new confidence for the PC." The game kept gaining sales and in July 2011 it had sold almost 350,000 units. At the 2011 Independent Games Festival
Independent Games Festival
The Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...
Amnesia won awards for both "Excellence in Audio" and "Technical Excellence" along with the "Direct2Drive Vision Award" which included a $10,000 prize.
A year after the original release of Amnesia, the developers revealed that they had sold around 391,102 units and were continuing to sell about 6000 units per month. They also released details about how much money each platform generated for them by analyzing the sales from their online store, with 70% of sales coming from Windows users and 15% coming from users of Linux and another 15% coming from users of Mac OS X. Frictional did however note that their store was the only place anyone could purchase the Linux version of the game, whereas the Mac OS X and Windows versions could be purchased from other sources, meaning that the total percentage of Linux sales is actually considerably smaller compared to other platforms taken collectively. Observing that their own Mac OS X sales did not go down from their own store even as services like Steam
Steam (content delivery)
Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. It is used to distribute games and related media online, from small independent developers to larger software houses...
picked up the game for that platform, meaning that it did not steal customers from their store but instead opened up a new market, they decided this makes a good incentive for other stores to support Linux as well.