Released 10 years ago, "Amnesia: The Dark Descent" helped define the modern survival horror and the YouTube genre of endlessly screaming while playing a game. In honor of this anniversary, developer Frictional Games has shared "little known facts" about the game and teased a slightly different vision of "Amnesia".
While the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of "Amnesia" is a "grunt" with flabby skin and a melted face, the original monster designs were plant-human hybrids with charming names like "Geroge Baby Plant" and "Flower Man." Below are a few unflattering sketches of these plant friends.
During an ill-fated adventure at Brennenburg Castle, Amnesia's forgetful protagonist bumps into Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, who is modeled after a real-life 15th century occultist. Friction weaves history into the horror, and several historical figures are considered for inclusion in the story. Alchemists like Nicholas Flamel, Gebel, and the Count of Saint Germain are not surprising, but I did not expect to find Jesus among them. I suppose that turning water into wine is also alchemy.
Amnesia uses many tricks to freak you out, but it is your inability to really scare them. Monsters wilt a bit when they realize that a bullet will restore them to normal, but Amnesia cannot be confronted. The lack of weapons and the need to hide seem basic to "Amnesia" now, but it turns out that the flintlock gun was one of the planned features. With ammunition scarce, I think friction could have preserved much of the game's splendor.
Other planned features included sanity restoring potions, bags of coins, inventory potion concoctions, bombs to blow up walls, and something unexpectedly whimsical: a trampoline. Too bad this was not the only final game. The best way to regain your sanity is to have fun bouncing around.
Friction also cut several environments, including an impressive greenhouse (probably conceived when the studio was still considering plant monsters) and a gruesome dissection lab.
Back in 2010, in our review of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, we called it a triumph of atmosphere over genre conventions and gave it an 88. And ten years later, Friction is still working on this series. Amnesia: Rebirth is the third game set in the Amnesia universe, but the second developed by Friction, set about a century after the first and following a new amnesiac, Tashi Trianon, stumbling across the Algerian desert.
Amnesia: Rebirth is expected to arrive this fall, but before it does, here are some concept art for Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
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