was watching some videos of the upcoming game from Frictional (makers of Penumbra games)…these guys really know how to do fear and tension in a game.
there is something about this developer that takes the looking glass/irrational immersion approach to the extreme w/ adventure survival horror. in parts of penumbra… they really mess with the player… psychologically (don’t want to ruin with spoiler, play overture and black plague). they really use sound effectively, as good as looking glass did with the Thief games.
immersive videos of Amnesia there upcoming game
also there blogsite is very cool… they get pretty intellectual about horror and game design. very interesting reading.
Amnesia is coming out for 20 dollars on steam in september. excited for this game… rare to have a horror game that really freaks me out!
Been looking forward to this one, really enjoyed Penumbra. I pre-ordered Dark Descent a few months back when it was half off, got a receipt from Paypal, but nothing from the website about how to claim it later on. Hope I didn’t get screwed.
That’s a good summary of it, though I mostly enjoyed Penumbra for the incredible atmosphere. Half the puzzles I ended up retreating to a walkthrough.
Amnesia has looked pretty cool from the start, and some recentcomments from Tom Jubert(worked on Penumbra, early bits of Amnesia) have me even more interested. I preordered back when they first announced the game, definitely looking forward to September.
Most of the puzzles are grounded more in reality which I loved. You aren’t picking up tons of items and then trying to combine them to get by like in other adventure games. Lots of physics based puzzles that you make you feel like an idiot when you figure out how simple they were. Oh…I didn’t need a key, just had to smash the glass with a rock…duhhh.
I loved how you couldn’t look directly at enemies. They needed more variety in enemies though, I mostly just remember dogs.
yeh, the guys at frictional must be fans of late 90s looking glass, because the penumbra games feel alot like Thief (and even SS in penumbra black plague) without the combat and thieving.
its really hard to find horror themed games with the ‘old’ thief/ss tone. especially in first person. which is why i am excited that a small developer like frictional (aname almost like irrational!) is able to make a game like amnesia.
im hoping they don’t get too hardcore on atmospheric tone alone and add some stealth mission based aspects in a future game. because these guys know how to develop levels and atmosphere pretty good.
Some 50+ post member should link the “Scary Gameplay” video on Youtube. It’s the only video so far that’s really shown the game’s pants-shitting potential.
the ‘plot is gameplays bitch’ comments are interesting. and based on what ive read from the developers blog, they really are striving for a more pure horror themed narrative experience. i like that they are ambitious… but i think they can make a better ‘game’ if they stick to some tried and true gimmicks. it didn’t hurt SS or Thief to use some.
demo is out, played a little bit… its just as good as penumbra so far. sound and vision messing with your mind! there reccomendations on headphones and gamme are spot on, you really need headphones. unless you don’t want to wet your pants!
i played that game! never finished it though. that game got me deeper into sci fi stuff. read the credits about disch and bought camp concentration because of that game!
btw, the NEW amnesia game (at least the demo) has the AWESOME use of sound. and the insanity effects really do get to me after awhile. a conundrum because you want to hide and feel in the dark, but the dark can make you go insane!
like penumbra, there is something a bit ‘schizo’ in frictionals games. theres a few parts of thief that did this, but frictional puts it to maximum effect. and not quite trusting what the game is giving you in terms of audio visual cues.
It’s fitting that Frictional’s game engine is named HPL. I’d never paid much attention to these games before just now, watching that video. Now I clearly have to buy all their games immediately.
I’m getting the impression from the comment threads on RPS that this game is scary. Scary in the sense that even people who generally say things like ‘Ur a wuss just shot them in the facessss’ are saying ‘Yeah, seriously, this is scary’.
The demo was actually scary. The game broke a rule it set down once* but the way it happened is just a foible of the engine, I guess.
Brilliant sound design, by the way. I might go pick up the Penumbras now. I’ve been thinking about it for a while.
*SPOILER!
The invisible water creature pushed boxes out from underneath me a couple of times. Only killed me once: running in blind panic is a skill everyone should have.
The demo was indeed scary, and I love the concept (especially the “you are unarmed” part), and I’ll definitely be checking this one out. That said, the sanity effects in the demo are a bit heavy-handed, and I worry that over time they will become more annoying than scary. I’m also not sure that it was wise to make them manifest as quickly as they do. It seems like something that would be a lot more effective is it were A) more subtle, and B) crept up on you by inches, rather than launching a full-on assault on your ability to see straight almost from the moment you douse your lantern.
Still, the game very much intrigues me. And the physics and object interaction are really well done.
