Ultimately, player death and failure are de-emphasized in Rebirth. For others weaned on The Dark Descent, or just those looking for a challenge, it's a letdown. For folks who struggle with stealth gameplay or horror scenes this could be a boon. In Rebirth, upon failure, the game will send you to the end of the area, as if you had cleared it yourself, or to the beginning with the monster now removed. In previous franchise games, falling to a monster would force the player to restart at a recent checkpoint and try again. No review of Rebirth would be complete without a conversation on how it treats "game overs", since this points to Frictional's larger philosophical take on its newest game. Still, it delivers the requisite number of puzzles and frights, all shrouded in inky darkness. Regrettably, the remainder of the game doesn't live up to this segment. If all of Rebirth had unfolded according to the rhythm of this section, it would be a game-of-the-year candidate. Overall, it's less linear and scripted than much of the game, and subsequently more rewarding. Where the majority of Rebirth propels Tasi forward, the fort allows players to investigate according to their own pace. Here the studio not only creates an atmosphere of dread, but opens up the environment so players can explore, backtrack, and solve a few tricky puzzles. The fort, and the cistern beneath it, represent the best of Frictional. The one big exception to this is the fort area, the game's finest section by far. The studio has certainly veered more toward scripted, cinematic storytelling with Amnesia: Rebirth, which translates into fewer opportunities for spontaneous gameplay. It's not bad by any means, but somewhat underdeveloped compared to Frictional's extraordinary work on world-building, character development, and atmosphere. It's in this area - the trifecta of darkness, monsters, and puzzle-solving - that the game seems on shakiest ground. There are plenty of puzzles as well, which require either exploration of the surrounding area or physics-based manipulation of objects, or both. At times, monsters will appear you'll need to crouch and sneak past them, or run for your life. If you linger too long in the darkness, your fear will rise - represented by black tendrils clawing at the sides of the screen - and you will lose control. You'll explore several spooky environments in a first-person perspective, using matches and oil lamps to find your way in the darkness and maintain your sanity. While the game's narrative is atypical, its mechanics are traditional, at least for a Frictional title. Tasi's journey is long and arduous, and will take her to places - psychologically, bodily, and geographically - that go beyond typical horror fare. There is much, much more to the story in Amnesia: Rebirth, but it's up to you to discover it for yourself. She finds her way to a nearby cave where she descends into darkness. After the expedition's plane crash lands in the desert, Tasi wakes up in the wreck, disoriented and missing her memories. The heroine of the story is Anastasie "Tasi" Trianon, a French surveyor on an archaeological expedition which includes her husband, Salim, and several others. It's the first sign that Frictional plans to push the narrative limits of the horror genre and subvert some preconceived notions. At times the game can feel too scripted, and its approach to "game overs" is dubious, but in general it delivers the scary scenes and disturbing atmosphere Frictional fans have come to expect.Īmnesia: Rebirth takes place in 1937, in the Algerian desert - not exactly a common setting for a horror game. Its latest adventure, Amnesia: Rebirth, while a step backward from The Dark Descent and Soma, is a deeply-unnerving horror tale with excellent voice work, characterization, narrative, and art direction. From its humble beginnings, with the underrated Penumbra series, to its breakout hit Amnesia: The Dark Descent, to arguably its best game Soma, the Swedish studio has mined the darkest places, both literally and figuratively, and turned our own fear against us. By Evan Norris, posted on 29 October 2020 / 3,645 Viewsįrictional Games knows horror.
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