Amnesia: Rebirth is currently available for free on the Epic Game Store. Reason enough for me to jump into it and face the darkness!
NOTE:
As this game is heavy story driven I really do not want to spoil too much the adventure you may want to discover yourself, I am just giving you here the first couple of hours of gameplay and avoid telling too much :)
1937, somewhere over the desert of southern Algeria: the Cassandra passenger plane is on its way to the Tin Hinan archaeological site. Also on board are the likeable infantile archaeologist Salim Hannachi and his pregnant wife, the technical draftswoman "Tasi Trianon" - which is the character we play.
The researcher, apparently shaken by his fear of flying, is just about to cling to his stuffed monkey when the nozzles of the steel bird catch fire. There is a rumble and a crash, the interior of the machine goes dark, and panic breaks out all around. Only Salim and his Tasi silently hold hands; then the plane crashes into the hot sand.
Why do planes in games always crash? However, time to get out of here...
Now you slip into the role of the empathetic Tasi, who, in the tradition of Amnesia, has lost almost all memories.
All you know is that you survived the plane crash. And that all members of the expedition - including Salim - vanished into thin air.
The game was released late 2020, so it looks pretty reasonable powered by Frictional Games own HPL Engine
The search for the missing fellow researchers is presented in the first-person perspective and is basically divided into two parts. The first half of the game is the adventure part. Here you usually move through short hose levels, which also include the few, sometimes very angular outer areas of the Sahara.
The interior mostly comes in the form of claustrophobic, narrow cave passages and dusty, half-ruined military barracks.
The story is mainly told by picking up drawings and short notes which you find almost everywhere.
Ah, yes, a dark, shady and baleful cave. At this point I neither have a torch or any other kind of light source. So guess what? Exactly! In the darkness I go! Because that's what sane people do!
At this point I want to display the very first loading screen of the game. I assure you this: This notice can absolutely be taken literaly!
At times, our path leads us into an extremely morbid parallel world, whose technical facilities and sculptures are a bit reminiscent of the arts of Alien.
Especially there, the dense particle effects create an impressive atmosphere.
An important element is the fear mechanic throughout the game, which can drive Tasi insane over time whenever she is surrounded by absolute darkness.
This can be remedied by the rare matches that have to be used quickly on torches or candles due to their insanely short burning time.
A portable oil lamp is also available in places, but it only illuminates the area briefly - even with a full tank.
Thanks captain obvious
At least I got this fancy compass that opens secret doors - or actually gates - leading to other parts of the cave, where the first part of the game takes place
Are.... are you alright guys? I guess not...
I laughed out loud once while playing.
That's when I was crawling through one of the numerous caves and she very aptly remarked:
Christ, it's too dark!
Damn it! Amnesia: Rebirth is way too dark most of the time.
Due to a regular lack of matches and lamp oil, I often lost my bearings, dragged along the masonry or cave walls like a donkey and found most of the exits with luck.
Yet, weird noises and the sound of your own pulse keeps you going!
After some weird flashbacks (no spoilers here) I finaly got out of the caves. I never was that happy to see the (ingame) sun again!
Just to figure out a few minutes later that this was just the beginning...
To make up for the lack of action in the adventure part, the defining element of the second half of the game is occasionally hinted at.
For example, shadowy arms that reach through broken masonry scare you, or a Middle Eastern variant of a ghoul shoots out of the nearby pantry.
The excellent soundscape makes you believe that the personified end of the world is on your heels.
The game knows how to convince.
The lack of action is well compensated for by fear and horror and the story turns out to be reasonably interesting and the levels are detailed and beautifully designed.
However, the permanent darkness can definitely get on your nerves. Not only on those of our characters but also on your own, because the atmosphere of the game quickly casts a (dark) spell.
The game is currently FREE on the Epic Games Store