amnesia the dark descent
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Indie horror classic 'Amnesia' is getting a sequel called 'Rebirth'
Amnesia: The Dark Descent was a breath of fresh air when it hit PCs in 2010. Rather than using Resident Evil, Silent Hill, or any of the other classic survival horror games as a template, it created a unique and exploratory take on the genre. It quickly became a classic -- both as a game and as a livestreaming sensation. Ten years later, fans will finally be able to play a sequel. Frictional Games announced Amensia: Rebirth today and assured players that the game will stay true to the original's roots.
Influential horror series 'Amnesia' now available on PS4
It turns out horror games are like buses -- you spend ages waiting for one to arrive and then three show up at once. After years of PC exclusivity, the Amnesia Collection finally allows PlayStation gamers to see what all the fuss is about. Costing $29.99, this digital package includes horror classics: Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, Amnesia: Justine and Amnesia: The Dark Descent -- for the first time.
Highly anticipated horror game 'SOMA' hits PC and PS4 in September
Acclaimed developer Frictional Games has fully taken the wraps off SOMA, it's super-hyped new sci-fi horror title. The company, which built it reputation on terrifying first-person games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Penumbra, that focus on atmosphere, exploration and hiding (a lot of hiding). And you can expect more of the same from SOMA apparently. In the first extensive gameplay trailer released an unnamed protagonist wanders around what appears to be an abandoned factory, talking to a robot that thinks its a person, redirecting power through the crumbing facility and generally avoiding a frightening robot that's not terribly unlike the Big Daddies from the Bio Shock series. We won't spoil all the fun though. You can watch the full video after the break and pick up the game on September 22nd for PC and PS4.
Halloween Horror Streams: Overcoming our fear of Amnesia
We've run the horror gamut during our Halloween Horror Streams extravaganza. We've done old school, we've done new school, we've done zombie apocalypse and haunted zeppelin and even camp. What we haven't done, however, is pit a member of the staff against a game that originally scared them so much they had to quit. To close out our Halloween celebration, we're pitting Ludwig Kietzmann (@LudwigK) against Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The last time he played Amnesia, he lasted about five minutes and had to stop. Today he has no choice but to go an hour for the stream. It all starts on Joystiq.com/Twitch and right here in this post at 4:00PM EST. Joystiq streams every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00PM EST with early looks at upcoming games, developer interviews, and play sessions with the weird old stuff we love. If you want to catch series like the Halloween Horror sessions, make sure to follow us on Twitch. [Images: Frictional Games]
Watch Conan O'Brien play scary video games in the dark
We'd expect chat show hosts to be trotting out the next-gen consoles around this time, but Conan 'Clueless Gamer' O'Brien went down the Halloween route with an eclectic variety of PC horror games. He's not too fond of Slender: The Eight Pages, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent fares only slightly better, but asylum misadventure Outlast proves a big hit.
Gone Home began as an Amnesia mod, and you can play it
Amnesia: The Dark Descent developer Frictional Games revealed that The Fullbright Company's indie hit Gone Home began life as an Amnesia mod, but switched to the Unity engine after plans to license Frictional's HPL2 engine fell through. As a standard practice, Frictional Games co-founder Thomas Grip declines all HPL2 licensing requests, due to the engine's lack of documentation and support. After inquiring about licensing, Fullbright's Steve Gaynor received the same response from Grip, who advised the team to begin building Gone Home with Unity instead. After following up with Gaynor in the months after Gone Home's release, Grip received a copy of Gone Home's original prototype version, which is now available for download as a mod for Amnesia. While it's still in an early state, the prototype retains many of Gone Home's distinct themes and mechanics. "The prototype is quite short and very basic; it is really more of a proof of concept," Grip explains. "But it still gives a very good sense of the game, and having played the full version, I could recognize quite a bit. It does feel a bit awkward to play an early test like this though. Gone Home is a very personal game, and playing this prototype felt like a meta version of the game's voyeuristic thematics."
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs delayed once more to Q2 2013
An official blog post from Frictional Games now says that the publisher's Amnesia: The Dark Descent followup, subtitled A Machine for Pigs, is due out not in "early 2013," as last stated, but in "Q2 2013," which means in April of this year or later. That's another slight delay for the title, which was originally scheduled for release back at Halloween last year.What's the holdup? Frictional says that A Machine for Pigs was originally planned as "a short, experimental game set in the universe of Amnesia," but as developers thechineseroom filled out the project, it became apparent that the "short experiment" was becoming "a fully fledged Amnesia game." So Frictional has made the decision to do it up right, which means another few months of waiting for fans. Frictional also says pricing and availability information is coming soon, so we'll keep an eye out for that.
Amnesia sales surpass a million, dev working on new horror game
Frictional Games' Amnesia: The Dark Descent has sold over a million copies over the past two years. Breaking the math down, Frictional owner Thomas Grip says sales of 1.4 million is the "optimistic figure," since he doesn't think people purchasing multiple copies should count. The game's inclusion with the Humble Indie Bundle and Potato Sack account for many sales and overlap in his estimate."Despite that huge number of sales, what I think is more interesting is how good the monthly sales still are. Not counting any discounts, the monthly full price sales lie at over 10,000 units," wrote Grip. "This is totally insane to me. The figures themselves are far beyond any guesses we would have made two years ago. It is also insane, because this number is actually higher than it was around three months after initial launch. That a game can still be going this good two years after is truly remarkable."Grip concluded his second annual state of Amnesia post by teasing the company's next project, which he says will be a first-person horror game. Grip is hoping to deliver deeper themes with the next project, saying he was disappointed that Amnesia was a "more like a shallow fright-fest." The new game should be available in 2014, but there's no plans to rush it out.
Steam Summer Sale, Day 8: Alan Wake, Witcher 2, Fallout: New Vegas
Valve's onslaught on your wallet continues with yet another day in the Steam Summer Sale. Today's deals include horrifically slashed prices on Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the Alan Wake franchise. RPGs have taken a critical price hit as well, including the Witcher franchise, Fallout: New Vegas and Krater.Still not satisfied? Dip into even more savings on Plants vs. Zombies, Sniper Elite V2, Gratuitous Tank Battles or yet another Indie Bundle.Update: If you're looking for Sniper Elite V2, Amazon actually has a better deal and is currently offering a PC download for $15.
The Potato Sack Reunion Tour kicks off on Steam today
Last April, Valve launched a guerrilla marketing effort for Portal 2 and promotion on select indie titles. This week Valve remembers its ARG campaign with the Potato Sack Reunion sale, which knocks half off the price of 13 individual indie titles.Games include Super Meat Boy, The Ball, Cogs, Amnesia: The Dark Descent and many more. You can either buy each individually for half-off, or grab the whole bundle for $20.
Humble Indie Bundle V includes Psychonauts, Limbo, Superbrothers, Amnesia, Bastion (as a bonus)
The fifth iteration of the Humble Indie Bundle has gone live, granting donors their choice of Mac, PC or Linux versions of Psychonauts, Limbo, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, as well as the soundtracks for each game. Anyone that pays above the average price (currently $6.71) will also receive Baston and its soundtrack.Seeing as the Steam release of Sword & Sworcery EP is still only available on PC, this bundle is currently the only way to buy it for OSX. As per usual, patrons can decide how much of their purchase price goes to the developers, to charity, and as a tip to Humble Bundle folks.
Amnesia dev shares secrets of evolving the horror genre
Frictional Games proved it knows how to make a game that would scare the bejeezus out of Beelzebub himself with Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but there's always room for improvement. Frictional's Thomas Grip has compiled a list of 10 items that can "take horror games to the next level," and (surprisingly) it doesn't begin with "Everything opposite of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City." It does, however, touch on a few points that could have put the "horror" back into that particular survival-horror title.Grip suggests "minimal combat," "long build-up" and "doubt" are essential to evolve the horror genre, and we've already seen these aspects work wonderfully in Amnesia. Another aspect Grip notes is "no enemies," which he clarifies as follows: "What I mean is that we need to stop thinking of any creatures that we put into the game as 'enemies.' The word enemy makes us think about war and physical conflict, which is really not the focus in a horror game."Grip's list seems to focus on different approaches to immersion and connecting to players on an emotional, human level before ensuring they won't be able to sleep properly for a few weeks at least. All 10 points are described in full on Frictional's blog.Perhaps we'll see a few of these fleshed out in Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, a sequel in development by thechineseroom and overseen by Frictional itself.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs aims to frighten you, even if you know what to expect
Amnesia proved, among other things, that atmosphere is one of the most important aspects in a horror title, trumping jumpy music, grotesque character designs and top-of-the-line graphics -- but now imagine Amnesia's panicked, clammy tone coming from a game as dark and beautiful as Dear Esther. Pure terror.This is what Amnesia developer Frictional Games has charged Dear Esther's thechineseroom with accomplishing in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs."The thing is, if we don't frighten people as much as the original, then we've failed," Dan Pinchbeck of thechineseroom told Gamasutra. "But now we have to frighten people that know what to expect. The big design challenge is: How do we protect the things that make Amnesia great, and how do we evolve everything else to make a really fresh experience?"Pinchbeck wants players to be reminded of the original Amnesia with each shiver of fear, but to be so enthralled by the new, horrific world that it will feel as if "something has burrowed into your head and is just scratching its nails at you. But you're so hooked. Inside, you're peeling away like bodies from a pile and you just can't stop yourself," Pinchbeck said.Now that sounds like fun.
Amnesia follow-up teased with ARG, more clues
Fans have been working around the clock since a new teaser site appeared for Frictional Games' suspected follow-up to the acclaimed indie horror title, Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Not only has the blurred image been revealed as a freaky tunnel entrance, with what looks like a limbless corpse (ew), but fans have tracked down the latest hint, which leads to a tower in Seattle called Smith Tower. Inside that you'll find The Chinese Room, named after the furniture it houses, donated from the Empress of China herself. Speculation suggest the new game may have some connection to China and its history.Fans have also uncovered an interactive feature on the site, which has since revealed the picture above (called "fragment_ebola.jpg"), and a coded series of letters: "P F C I N C M I O I S G G."Some guess it to mean "GIF PICS COMING," which would suggest more clues are on the way. Research is being headed up on this forum thread, so have at it. Our contribution? The letters above can also be rearranged into "SICCING OF GIMP." You should probably download everyone's favorite image editor posthaste!
Frictional teases a new Amnesia project, possibly set in China
Frictional Games, known for the Penumbra series and 2010's fantastically creepy Amnesia: The Dark Descent, is teasing something new. A new website, NextFrictionalGame.com, hosts a blurry image above emblazoned with the Amnesia logo and the cryptic words "Something is emerging." The image also contains a link pointing to a Google map of China. An Amnesia title with a Chinese backdrop? Could be.The site is indeed registered for Frictional, and the domain information also points to TheDarkSwarm.com -- a possible hint at the new game's title -- which leads to an unplayable browser game and a timer that continuously ticks upward every second. The source code on both sites mention first-person perspective, horror, action adventure and other qualities we've come to associate with Frictional. The Dark Swarm site was registered way back in 2007, and was updated in September of 2011, so it might be unconnected.Frictional's Thomas Grip told us last year that the studio was working on "an Amnesia-related project." At the time, he said that the project wouldn't focus solely on creating fear, but will hopefully "evoke other, less primitive, emotions as well." If that means it will feature even a few moments without teeth-clenching, panic-stricken fear, we're all for it.
Amnesia dev discusses success; next project won't lose the 'scary atmosphere'
Thomas Grip, project manager at Amnesia: The Dark Descent developer Frictional Games, spoke on "Evoking Emotions" earlier this week at GDC Europe, and explained the intricacies of the game that absolutely terrified those who played it. We wanted to discuss his emotions on the success of the game, which has sold over 400,000 copies --- an impressive feat for an indie dev. "While we were quite confident that we had a game that was better than any of our previous, we had never expected the response we got," Grip told us when we asked if he was surprised by the success. "The press response was very nice -- both in terms of coverage and grading -- but even more fun and surprising was the player response that continues almost a year after. The amount of videos, images, etc. that players have created in response to the game is just amazing, and several orders of magnitude larger than anything we have had. Sales-wise it's, of course, also overwhelming, and I think especially how good it is still selling even a year after."
Amnesia: The Dark Descent scares up 400,000 in sales
We're still not sure what drives players to submit themselves to the psychological assault of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Whatever it is, it seems to affect quite a few gamers, as Frictional Games' Thomas Grip revealed at GDC Europe that the survival horror title has sold 400,000 copies. It's a significantly higher number than last January, when Frictional reported sales were nearing 200,000, which already handily surpassed the company's "dream estimates" of 100,000 copies. In short, that's a lot of dudes screaming like little babies.
OnLive celebrates Indie-pendence Day with an explosive sale
OnLive is celebrating "Indie-pendence" Day with a massive sale on -- you guessed it -- a random selection of mainstream blockbusters and popular underground games. The sale includes Batman: Arkham Asylum, Darksiders, Just Cause 2, a pre-order deal on Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and of course an inundation of hit indie titles such as Braid, The Maw, Osmos and Amnesia: The Dark Descent. OnLive's "Indie-pendence" Day Sale runs through the completely unrelated day of July 4, so hurry and check out your options after the jump before this thing vanishes like smoke after a firework. Update: OnLive is sending all PlayPack subscribers a free game of their choice this Tuesday, and as long as you sign up for the monthly unlimited-gaming service before midnight Pacific on July 4, you can snag a free game too. Thanks, Silent Killer01!
Amnesia marathon (and scare-a-thon) for charity this weekend
Charity's great and all, but we've found that it rarely affords us opportunities to watch people scream and cry in terror. What's up with that? We need to cause suffering as we're easing it. Luckily, a group of gamers is filling that void this weekend, with a charity gaming marathon guaranteed to make you feel good and make the participants feel scared to death. Vernon Shaw and his brother Tim plan to take turns in an Amnesia: The Dark Descent marathon tomorrow and Sunday -- while the inactive player and a group of volunteers conspire to scare the player "in every way imaginable." It's the perfect weekend for the more sympathetic sadists in our audience! Proceeds from the marathon will go to Camp Kesem UCSD, which holds annual camp events for children of cancer patients. The event will be livestreamed here.
OnLive giving away Amnesia for free today
To celebrate the launch of Amnesia: The Dark Descent on OnLive today, the cloud-gaming service is offering a scary good deal until midnight ET tonight: Simply enter "THANKYOU" (all one word) in the "Redeem Promo Code" field in the checkout window and you'll be granted a full PlayPass for the game at no charge. In other words: Free game! The catch? Actually playing Amensia could end up costing you your sanity. [Thanks, Barney]
