Amnesia defined what helpless horror felt like in games. No weapons, a sanity meter that punishes looking at monsters, and a castle that uses sound and darkness more effectively than most horror games manage with full graphical budgets. It runs well on old hardware and the HPL engine is forgiving on system memory. The reason it sits in honorable mentions rather than the top ten is replay value: the second run through Brennenburg is a fundamentally different experience once the surprise of every encounter and puzzle is gone. First playthrough, it belongs near the very top of the genre. Return visits are more deliberate than frightening.


Amnesia: The Dark Descent
September 8, 2010PuzzleESRB M
Overview
About Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a survival horror video game by Frictional Games. The game features a protagonist named Daniel exploring a dark and foreboding castle, while trying to maintain his sanity by avoiding monsters and other terrifying obstructions. The game was critically well received.
Story setup
The game, set in 1839, casts the player in the role of Daniel, a young man from London, who awakens in the dark halls of Prussian Brennenburg Castle with little to no memory about himself or his past. All he can remember is his name, that he lives in Mayfair and that something is hunting him. Shortly after waking, Daniel finds a note written by himself that explains how he purposely made himself forget his past, because he couldn't handle losing his innocence, so he wanted to forget it all. The note urges Daniel to descend into the castle's Inner Sanctum and murder a man named Alexander , the baron of the castle. The note gives a final warning that a "living nightmare" is chasing him, and Daniel must escape it for as long as he can because there is no way to fight back.
Reference
At a glance
Media
Screenshots
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Playtime
How long to beat
Player-reported completion times for Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
- Rushed
- 7hoursMain story only
- Typical
- 10hoursStory plus some extras
- Completionist
- 12hoursEvery side objective too
Estimated from 11 player reports — a small sample, so treat these as approximate.
Playing together
Multiplayer & game modes
Amnesia: The Dark Descent offers various play modes for different gaming experiences.
Play Modes
Single Player
Content
Age ratings
How rating boards around the world have classified Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Open a board for its content descriptors.
ESRBM
- Nudity
- Language
- Violence
- Blood and Gore
GRAC19+
- Violence
- Fear, Horror, Threatening
- Alcohol, Tobacco, Drug
PEGI16
- Violence
- Bad Language
No Rating Summary
Also in our guides
Often listed alongside Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Titles that appear in the same guides on this site. Grouped by where they show up, not by recommendation.
Coverage
Featured in our articles
This game appears in 1 article on this site.
#15
Game data and imagery provided by IGDB.com