I think we should hold a massive G+ hangout where everyone is playing Amnesia at the same time. You know, for those of us who may be enormous wusses and can't play the game by themselves. >.>
I just hope that 'A Machine for Pigs' will have a higher number of different/unique monsters. One of 'The Dark Descent''s biggest flaws was that it didn't have enough variety when it came to enemies. In total, there were only three monster types, two of which are seen very rarely. It sort of diminishes the edge and the tension somewhat, when you know what's coming for you, and you're preparing yourself for a particular enemy, which you've already encountered a number of times.
Oh, look at me acting all tough. Okay, I admit it, this game scared the heck out of me; I swear the stress cut years off my life expectancy. The atmosphere and tone of that game was terrifying, and so brilliantly executed. BUT! That doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.
See, after you've played the game for a while, you begin to realize that there's only really one type of monster that's going to be coming for you (most of the time). Once you realize this, the game environment becomes somewhat less threatening, and you begin to realize that all of the atmosphere - the distant sounds, the screams, the unexplained movement of objects - is just that: the intentional manufacturing of atmosphere, with no actual in-game origin (because we know that the Gatherers aren't capable of producing most of these sounds and environment tampering). The origin of all these happenings is merely the developer's creative mind.
See, the player needs to be made to believe that in-game occurrences necessarily suggest an in-game threat. If the player realizes that that threat doesn't exist, or that the threat is significantly less dangerous than first believed, then, as a developer, you're ruining the magic; as a horror developer, you're showing your hand.
So, what's the best way of establishing a threat, and maintaining player tension? Two things: unpredictability and mystery. Unpredictability can be created by including more enemies; more monster types. You, as a player, can mentally prepare yourself if you know your approaching enemy is either: monster a), monster b), or monster c). But, let's say there's twelve or thirteen different types of enemies, all with different abilities and strengths, both slight and drastic. How do you prepare yourself? How do you know what's coming? You've got no way of knowing what you're up against. You just have to slowly traverse the hallway, and cautiously peer 'round the corner in order to even get an idea. And then you've still got to get past it somehow. But what are its strengths and weaknesses? How do you even know this yet? You've never encountered this enemy.
And that's where the mystery comes in; unpredictability automatically leads to mystery. By having more enemies in the game, the developer has the freedom and ability to keep the player guessing; to keep them on-edge. You want to keep the player unfamiliar with the game and its world, because that's what makes it scary! By having a higher number of unique enemies, and by including some very sparingly and rarely, the player can't predict what's coming and what's going to happen. And even once you've included every enemy in the game, the player is still on-edge, because they don't know that you've used up all your monsters, because, based on the diversity of the monsters up until this point, the player will be assuming there's more to come.
This unpredictability, this mystery, gives way to terror and tension. This makes a horror experience that much more intense. When you've got only two or three monsters, the tension begins to loosen after a certain point. But when you've got a whole league of them to play around with, the torment is just that much more effective and easily-achieved.
See, there's so much more depth to a horror game when there's a higher number of threats - of real threats (in a manner of speaking). Mystery is lost with familiarity, and familiarity is inevitable when you're encountering the same enemy repeatedly; you've learned its habits and you know this creature. But when there's an assortment of dangerous creatures lurking, there's no way of knowing, and there'll be multiple times in the game where you won't even be able to find out the creature's strengths and attributes without getting close, getting chased, or getting killed, and that's a terrifying thought when in a player's situation.
This is one of the biggest areas the Amnesia series can be improved, and I think that can only be achieved through a higher number of different monster types, which are well-designed, well-placed in the environment, and introduced during the right moments within the game and its narrative.
Pre-order now and get a special collectors edition with over 82 different types of pants?
Penumbra: Ouverture only had 3 types of monsters and made the huge mistake of giving the player a pickaxe to kill most of them. If you had to avoid them they were scary as fuck though. Especially the
legions of spiders
.
The second game Black Plaque was scarier even though there was only one basic type of monster, that you could run away from. But you had no Idea what was real or when you would lose control over everything due to another factor.
Amnesia is a step in developement further. It adds your mind as scaring factor and a few more enemies.
And I get that; it's something it does very well. However, it can't hurt to have a wider variety of unique monsters for the purpose of boosting the unpredictability somewhat, making things a bit more dynamic, and surprising the player for a longer period of time. Because, yes, 'The Dark Descent' was scary as hell, and very well executed, but familiarity did settle in after a while, and the psychological scares just weren't coming as often as they did in the early stages of the game, when everything was still new and uncertain. I think that could have been fixed, had a few more monsters been thrown into the mix. It would have increased the longevity of the player's unease.
I'm not saying 'The Dark Descent' was bad because of it; I think it's a superb game. I just think that it's a possible improvement that could have been made, and I hope that it is made in the sequel.
Penumbra: Ouverture only had 3 types of monsters and made the huge mistake of giving the player a pickaxe to kill most of them.
Being able to shoot things makes games infinitely less scary. That's why it was a bad idea for me to decide to start playing Amnesia at two in the morning during a severe thunderstorm...
Comments
It's not finished yet though, is it?
No. Your Pants are save. For now.
I need it. Now.
And I still need to finish the first.
I'm live streaming it too.
CTHONIC'S AMNESIA STREAM 2: LOST IN NEW YORK
Yeah, I can't even bring myself to install it.
Also interesting is Chinese Room's next project: Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.
But I played Justine as a bit of a warmup.
Didn't find it particularily scary, but definately interesting.
Looking forward to playing it and its expansion when that comes out.
(But first! I need to get back to playing the Penumbra games! XD)
You are the bravest person known to man.
Well it was Justine, wasn't that the promotion to portal?(The potatos and the fact that a girl talks you on the whole thing like GLaDOS)
Oh, look at me acting all tough. Okay, I admit it, this game scared the heck out of me; I swear the stress cut years off my life expectancy. The atmosphere and tone of that game was terrifying, and so brilliantly executed. BUT! That doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.
See, after you've played the game for a while, you begin to realize that there's only really one type of monster that's going to be coming for you (most of the time). Once you realize this, the game environment becomes somewhat less threatening, and you begin to realize that all of the atmosphere - the distant sounds, the screams, the unexplained movement of objects - is just that: the intentional manufacturing of atmosphere, with no actual in-game origin (because we know that the Gatherers aren't capable of producing most of these sounds and environment tampering). The origin of all these happenings is merely the developer's creative mind.
See, the player needs to be made to believe that in-game occurrences necessarily suggest an in-game threat. If the player realizes that that threat doesn't exist, or that the threat is significantly less dangerous than first believed, then, as a developer, you're ruining the magic; as a horror developer, you're showing your hand.
So, what's the best way of establishing a threat, and maintaining player tension? Two things: unpredictability and mystery. Unpredictability can be created by including more enemies; more monster types. You, as a player, can mentally prepare yourself if you know your approaching enemy is either: monster a), monster b), or monster c). But, let's say there's twelve or thirteen different types of enemies, all with different abilities and strengths, both slight and drastic. How do you prepare yourself? How do you know what's coming? You've got no way of knowing what you're up against. You just have to slowly traverse the hallway, and cautiously peer 'round the corner in order to even get an idea. And then you've still got to get past it somehow. But what are its strengths and weaknesses? How do you even know this yet? You've never encountered this enemy.
And that's where the mystery comes in; unpredictability automatically leads to mystery. By having more enemies in the game, the developer has the freedom and ability to keep the player guessing; to keep them on-edge. You want to keep the player unfamiliar with the game and its world, because that's what makes it scary! By having a higher number of unique enemies, and by including some very sparingly and rarely, the player can't predict what's coming and what's going to happen. And even once you've included every enemy in the game, the player is still on-edge, because they don't know that you've used up all your monsters, because, based on the diversity of the monsters up until this point, the player will be assuming there's more to come.
This unpredictability, this mystery, gives way to terror and tension. This makes a horror experience that much more intense. When you've got only two or three monsters, the tension begins to loosen after a certain point. But when you've got a whole league of them to play around with, the torment is just that much more effective and easily-achieved.
See, there's so much more depth to a horror game when there's a higher number of threats - of real threats (in a manner of speaking). Mystery is lost with familiarity, and familiarity is inevitable when you're encountering the same enemy repeatedly; you've learned its habits and you know this creature. But when there's an assortment of dangerous creatures lurking, there's no way of knowing, and there'll be multiple times in the game where you won't even be able to find out the creature's strengths and attributes without getting close, getting chased, or getting killed, and that's a terrifying thought when in a player's situation.
This is one of the biggest areas the Amnesia series can be improved, and I think that can only be achieved through a higher number of different monster types, which are well-designed, well-placed in the environment, and introduced during the right moments within the game and its narrative.
Penumbra: Ouverture only had 3 types of monsters and made the huge mistake of giving the player a pickaxe to kill most of them. If you had to avoid them they were scary as fuck though. Especially the
The second game Black Plaque was scarier even though there was only one basic type of monster, that you could run away from. But you had no Idea what was real or when you would lose control over everything due to another factor.
Amnesia is a step in developement further. It adds your mind as scaring factor and a few more enemies.
I'm not saying 'The Dark Descent' was bad because of it; I think it's a superb game. I just think that it's a possible improvement that could have been made, and I hope that it is made in the sequel.
Being able to shoot things makes games infinitely less scary. That's why it was a bad idea for me to decide to start playing Amnesia at two in the morning during a severe thunderstorm...