Amnesia: Rebirth

requires a lot of trial and error. Tons of jump scares if you like creepy games. very engaging and fun to play

Amnesia Rebirth is a complicated game to review. It feels like a true combined sequel to the previous games in the series, with all the bad that comes with that. Dark Descent leaned much more towards gameplay than narrative, and Machine for Pigs leaned about as hard as one can go in the other direction. Rebirth includes an acceptable narrative and strong gameplay, but for some reason paces them in the most pace-breaking and predictable ways possible. Story. Gameplay. Story. Gameplay. Story. Gameplay. Story. They were never really interwoven in the way that they have been in most Frictional Games. First I'm stuck in an unskippable walking story section. Then I'm in the sneaky puzzle chase section. Repeat. This may seem harsh, but any good horror game has you uncertain of when you are safe and when you are danger. This simply just isn't the case here. There was never a moment when I had doubts about my safety or danger. It was always very obvious which mode the game was about to enter. I would not say the game is bad however. The story is probably the weakest element, which is very disappointing for an Amnesia game, and the game repeatedly dedicates almost every single story segment to something that the average player can almost certainly ascertain from reading anything in the first 15 minutes of the game let alone the repeated flashbacks, dream sequences, and *title* of the game. The environments are beautiful and fantastical. We have fully stepped from the previous setpieces of humans imitating alien technology to the actual technology itself, and both it and the scenery around the alien world you explore throughout the game is genuinely a work of art. It is inspired, lovecraftian, and haunting. If you were able to enjoy the more limited gameplay of SOMA and can tolerate a much less interesting story, I believe you will enjoy Rebirth. It can feel like a very uninspired art film with beautiful visuals at times, but it often reminded me of Outlast 2 at its worst points. I unironically recommend you play it on the lower difficulties just so that you can go around and explore the world, and I am someone who has played through all the Amnesia games (and most horror games) on the hardest difficulties. Everything this game does in terms of horror and being an Amnesia game, The Bunker does better, minus the lovecraftian alien horror. If I had to choose between either, I would choose The Bunker every time, but Rebirth is certainly not without merit. Get it on sale. These devs are excellent and deserve your money, but every time I go to replay it I end up quitting after the strictly unpleasant pacing.