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{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.21.2509;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl276\slmult1\lang9\f0\fs32 Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Review\fs22\par
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\b As you fall to the ground, you tell yourself to remember who you are. Not to forget. You wake up in a dark castle, not knowing why you are there. The castle is shaking and cries are echoing through the halls. Stumbling on, you follow the trial of the potion you left that might give a hint on what happened. You found a note on a desk, where you took the potion. It tells you to kill Alexander for all the terrible things he has done, and that you have to redeem yourself for all the things you've done to innocent people. You chose to forget.\b0\fs28\par
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Atmospheric tension\fs22\par
This game isn't your ordinary "something pops out of nowhere"-horror game. It has a whole different approach on making you scared. Wherever you are, you always feel like something's around the corner. You want to go faster, but you won't do it because of the fact that you can't protect yourself. Hiding from the abominations is the only thing you can do to survive. On top of that, you don't have an infinite supply of light. You have to go into every room, open every desk and check every bookshelf for oil and tinderboxes. Slowing down your progress like this, increases the tension even more. You don't want to hang around in a dark cellar when you hear footsteps all around you, believe me. And then there's your sanity. Your sanity drains when you look at an enemy, stay in the dark or witness unpleasant moments, deforming your screen and making you an easier prey for the enemies, as you will crawl on the ground and breath heavily, changing portraits to gory pictures and making the walls drip blood. The music that is made for Amnesia changes dynamicly, creating an even darker atmosphere and increasing the tension even more.\line\fs28\par
Story-telling\fs22\par
As you progress through the game, you will find notes and have flashbacks of conversations. These act as story-tellers. There will be pages from your diary scattered around, telling about an orb that holds mysterious powers and of the people that you killed through torturing. Your diary is just part of the story. People who passed away also left their last words, how an experiment has gone and the thoughts that they had, including some nasty details such as: "I should have sharpened the saw...", when someone was cutting off a dogs head. The flashbacks act as the main story-line, why you've done certain things. You might also find some notes who at first seem useless, but are actually part of a bigger mystery...\par
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\fs32 Immersion\fs22\par
If you're playing under optimal circumstances; headphones on and lights off, you will feel like you are the character. There is no such things like cutscenes in this game, you keep total control at all times. Everything that happens is because of you. You interact with the enviroment as you would in real life. You grab a door and you move backwards to open it, making it possible to peek first before entering another room. Everyone who I've seen playing the game, never run around like a fool, which they would normally do in a horror game where you can just club or shoot the monsters to death. You don't want your character to become insane and you will actually start caring for your character's health. As your getting chased by monsters, you really run like hell and slam all the doors shut behind you, everything to stop it from finding you while spine-chilling music is playing in the background. But when they catch up with you, they aren't all that scary.\par
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\b With this whole atmosphere, you think you won't come back. However, I found myself going back a few times solely because I want to figure out how this will end and experience this masterpiece even more. Everything is put together perfectly, making you shake after you play it for some time. This game almost got the Game of the Year award and is already called the scariest game of all time, and that isn't for no reason. If you can't get enough of the game you can always download custom stories made by the members of the community.\b0\par
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Pros: Cheap, great atmosphere\par
Cons: Monsters aren't scary when you see them up close\par
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