Passage of "Amnesia. Ghost of the past ": anatomy of fear

The ancient corridors of the sinister dark medieval castle; Creaking floors and doors; Stairs leading into a horrible sticky suspense; Mysterious narrow passages; Chilling sounds that come from somewhere far away; The intermittent breathing of Daniel, the hero of death, stifled by the deadly terror. This is the passage of the game "Amnesia. Ghost from the past". Perhaps the best creation in the genre of survival horror in the history of video games.

It looks like the guys from the studio of Frictional Games decided to dedicate a good part of their life to studying the anatomy of fear. After his famous Penumbra, frightened to half a dozen gamers, they pleased the gaming community with a new masterpiece. These two games have a lot in common, but the passage of "Amnesia" immediately makes it clear that this creation far exceeds its "terrible" predecessor in terms of the level and degree of nightmare.

Whatever nature has irrational fear, it is always based on two things: surprise and uncertainty. Ignorance of what exactly is the danger, and how it looks, deprives the person of the opportunity to prepare for it and does not allow to keep the situation under control. This is something that can scare the pre-infarction state. Such is the human psychology, whose subtle connoisseurs showed themselves to the developers. Passage of "Amnesia" entangles a sticky web of horror from the very first shots and does not let go until the very end.

The game can not boast of chic modern graphics or some unusual visual effects. However, she does not need it. Passage of "Amnesia" is so saturated with the unique tense atmosphere of this nightmare that the player, with great difficulty making every step in the dark obscurity, is not able to pay attention to something else.

Move quickly, Daniel can not, although the game and provides a button, but even with her the main character is not very quick. This further thickens the atmosphere of overwhelming horror, reigning in gloomy corridors, cellars, rooms and halls of a strange castle. To enhance the already considerable nightmare effect in the game, there is a peculiar "scale of insanity", the essence of which is that as the tension increases, Daniel falls into a state of extreme panic and loses his mind.

For example, you can not stay long in total darkness or look at a monster, even from a shelter. By the way, the passage of "Amnesia. The Ghost of the Past "is impossible without the main resources of the game and the only savior of Daniel - the light sources. In this capacity, there are various wall lamps, candles, oil lamps and the like. In some locations, developers prudently placed special tanks in which you can replenish the fuel for the oil lamp, thereby increasing your chances of survival.

The name of the game is also not attracted to the ears. Around the amnesia of our character is built the whole plot. Having recovered in the territory of the ancient castle, located in East Prussia, Daniel realizes that he remembers nothing of his past. "Amnesia," the passage of which abounds in numerous original puzzles and unexpected twists of the plot, is based on the hero's attempts to shed light (and in a literal sense also) to the mysterious events that led to the loss of memory. He is afraid of any sound, does not tolerate darkness and does not have any weapons.

Throughout the castle are scattered notes to himself, old diaries and other documents that help lift the veil of secrecy over the events. The main task in the game is not to lose consciousness and survive. A lot of different monsters here are combined with a complete lack of any kind of weapon. The developers made the best efforts to ensure that Daniel could not even see the enemy: in the distance one can see only the silhouette, and as the monster approaches, our character falls into a panic state, it becomes turbid in the eyes, and nothing is possible to consider.

The impression of this tremendous psychological horror can not spoil even the small flaws that are present in the game. For example, unbreakable clay pots or not the most expressive graphics. All this does not interfere with getting a lot of pleasure from the intense and intense gameplay, to experience the strength of your nerves and the power of your intellect, solving numerous puzzles and figuring out how to distract the next monster in order to quietly "leak" past.