Game: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Genre: survival horror
Style: heavy Lovecraft influences
Verdict: Highly Recommended
Buy: Amazon | Steam | PSN (collection)
It’s easy to forget how good Amnesia: The Dark Descent is. Its popularity launched a wave of horror games with helpless protagonists, until the market felt so saturated it became tempting to remember Amnesia as just another one of those.
But the original Amnesia is a fantastic game (it was also the first horror game I played, so I might be biased)… especially if you’re a fan of Lovecraftian horror.
Yes, Amnesia is filled with terrifying chases that will send you fleeing in panicked desperation to find a safe hiding place, but it also had a grim atmosphere, a dark story, and themes taken straight from Lovecraft. That’s what initially prompted me to try it. I watched a video of the beginning, and while the scares were cool, Daniel’s journal entries and the backstory they told hit me with that “Lovecraft” feeling so hard I had to play it.
It has a hefty dose of psychological horror alongside its chases, with storytelling sequences far more disturbing than any amount of monsters.
Don’t let its popularity scare you away. It became that popular for a reason, and it isn’t just another bland game with jump scares and a helpless protagonist. Amnesia: The Dark Descent actually has a delightful Lovecraft-esque story, and I’d encourage any fan to give it a try.