Amnesia has to be one of the most talked about games and horror franchises ever since the original came out on PC. Not being much of a PC gamer myself, I wasn’t lucky enough to play the three games in this collection when they came out. But now that Amnesia Collection is out for Nintendo Switch, I popped on my headphones and enjoyed the one-of-a-kind experience only Amnesia can offer.
VARIETY
All games in this collection are played through a first-person perspective and playing through them you will see that they don’t differ much in terms of the basic gameplay elements. That’s not to say that there’s no difference between the three entries available in this collection. For example, ‘Justine’ is a much shorter experience than ‘Dark Descent’ and ‘A Machine for Pigs’, because from what I understand it was originally released as downloadable content for the first game. Some gameplay elements like the interplay between light/dark and your sanity, can’t be found in the third game, which as a whole felt simpler (and a bit more enjoyable to a guy like me).
DISTURBING
Disturbing is the best way to sum up the Amnesia games. Through its smart use of environment, level design, voice acting and additional text found in the game in the form of letters, notes and diaries, it manages to tap into a tremendously creepy atmosphere. Every aspect of the game comes together in what is essentially a masterclass in worldbuilding and lore creation that will captivate any player willing to really delve into its rich content. This is not a game to speed run through. Doing that means you will miss out on what “makes” the game.
IS 2010 CONSIDERED RETRO?
Regarding the visual side of things, Amnesia Collection will not wow players. As I’ve already mentioned before, while the game’s environments and lighting are very competently crafted, the games do show their age. Something I found particularly distracting at times is the overuse of ambient occlusion, giving every object (and sometimes the player’s hands) an unnatural shadow outline. Adding to the somewhat underwhelming visual experience is the general blurry look the game has (either due to native resolution or some form of heavy anti-aliasing being used), which could have been forgiven if the frame rate was locked at 30 FPS without hitches every now and then. Having said all that, I dare you to see if you care about the graphics when your heart is pumping away at 120 bpm and you’re trying to remember which one is the ‘run’ button.
A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION
Now that I finally got to play this series of games, it’s funny to see how much it has influenced horror games after its release. Observer, another great horror game available on Switch, comes to mind. The physics, the way the doors need to be opened manually, the puzzles, the feeling of helplessness when you encounter a strange creature in the dark; it’s all ‘Amnesia’. When you encounter enemies, all you can do is run away. This isn’t Dead Space. And a word of advice for silly people who thought they could play this in bed with noise cancelling headphones: don’t do that.
BOO FOR YOUR BUCK
To put it very simply, the ‘Amnesia Collection’ is worth your money if you are looking for an experience in which you will fully immerse yourself in and let the game give you the psychological frights it is meant to. There are times where you will get stuck in a bad situation, scratch your head or run like a headless chicken towards the nearest source of light. But it is always rewarding when you finally make progress and overcome the next challenge. It’s roughly 3 games for $30. You can do worse than that on the Switch eShop. If you like horror games, you absolutely need to add this to your collection.