review

Any horror fan will tell you that there are very few great survival horror games out there. Indie development has over saturated the market with cheap imitations and games rely on nothing but jump scares and tired tactics.

It’s often said, “If you want something done right, you have got to do it yourself.” I think that after seeing so many copycats and subpar products, that Frictional Games said “NO MORE!” and decided to remaster what is hailed as classic horror – Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Now I will come right out and admit that I never played any of the Amnesia games. Mainly because I have never really PC gamed and when I finally bought a beefy machine back in 2007, I bought a Mac for video editing. So games were sparse. I have, however, heard of Amnesia games and know that it’s favored amongst many horror fans for its gameplay. While it didn’t invent the survival horror genre, it did some things that made these games stand out and deliver some truly terrifying experiences.

Almost 10 years later Xbox One users finally can play the Amnesia: The Dark Descent, it’s DLC – Justine, and the sequel, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. After hearing so much about these games I was excited to finally give them a try and wooooooooo was I not ready for this.

I’m not going to focus much on the stories of the games because they are all little strange and each game can offer multiple endings depending on the players’ actions. What I am going to focus on is the gameplay as well as how the looks and feels on the Xbox One.

The nice thing about the Amnesia games is that they aren’t all connected. So you have the option to play whichever game you’d like. In each game, players take on the role of a protagonist with (surprise) Amnesia. From there they must solve puzzles and avoid monsters to keep their sanity while also trying to piece together parts of their own story. Unlike other survival horror games, these games are built on puzzle solving and running away. A unique aspect is that fact that player characters slowly start to lose their minds by entering dark places or looking at monsters. It is such a well-done game mechanic that at times I was left with a feeling of unease.

The controls are decent. For being such an old game (and previously ported to the PS4) the controls hold up. There are a few times when the controls get a little clunky but not everything can be perfect. While the game does all it can to update the visuals, they still aren’t quite up to the level that you would come to expect on an Xbox One (or Xbox One X) console.

When it comes down to it, the Amnesia: Collection is an absolute must-have for any horror fans. You’re getting some amazing games at one hell of a price. The games aren’t tremendously long and you can see where more recent games gained their inspiration from. 

Lose your mind and dive deep into the world of Amnesia. You’ll be glad you did.

The author was provided a code for review purposes.