History VideoGame / AmnesiaTheDarkDescent

* AerithAndBob: The three main characters are Daniel, Alexander and... Agrippa. (Agrippa is Heinrich Cornelius A., but his character is almost purely LastNameBasis.)

* GlamourFailure: Never stated outright, but looking at Alexander's portrait at low sanity is implied to be this -- [[spoiler:rather than simply an insane hallucination, the player is probably, in fact, seeing his true form.]]

* NoteToSelf: Daniel writes himself a note before quaffing a potion to erase his memories, telling him to descend to the bottom of Brenenburg Castle and kill a man. This is found at the end of the first area.

* TakingYouWithMe:[[spoiler:Before quaffing the amnesia potion, Daniel has no illusions that he is ever going to escape the Shadow, but he has every intention of making sure Alexander doesn't either.]]

** The [[DVDCommentary Developer Commentary]] [[LampshadeHanging points out]] that the techniques laid out by [[spoiler:Alexander]] are quite similar to the techniques they use to keep the player on edge throughout the experience, making the devs themselves {{Torture Technician}}s. Parallel to how the prisoners have to hear their cellmates torture and death, the player is also subjected to auditory hallucinations featuring each of the torture apparatus and [[{{Squick}} their effects]] before we see them and how they function.

* TheBadGuyWins: The bad ending, in which [[spoiler:Daniel dies and Alexander gets away scot-free with everything]]. This also applies to the less well-known [[NonStandardGameOver fourth ending]], where [[spoiler:Daniel doesn't escape from the cell and the Shadow consumes him, presumably leaving [[KarmaHoudini Alexander to succeed without Daniel to stop him]].]]
* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: The hint you get when seeing a monster for the first time states that looking at them for too long causes you to "eventually be seen." This was confirmed by the lead developer to be an outright lie, with the intention of scaring the player into avoiding looking at enemies.
** This mechanic does in fact exist in ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}''.
* TheCrocIsTicking: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PvZgwL9O7M terror music]], which signifies that a monster is chasing you. Apart from being very bad news whenever it happens, the sound itself is terrifying, sounding like someone screaming bloody murder.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Delivered by Alexander when you reach the second half of the torture chambers.
* TheReveal: Why Daniel is in the castle, of course! It wouldn't have the amnesia factor without a reveal as to how he got there, after all.

* MeaningfulName: The title itself is one. Just play it if you want to know why.

** This is actually {{Lampshaded}} by Creator/{{Lanipator}} during his LetsPlay [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/ir/tfstar/lanipator/lani-plays/29733-amnesia-part-4 of the game.]]

* BadGuyWins: The bad ending, in which [[spoiler:Daniel dies and Alexander gets away scot-free with everything]]. This also applies to the less well-known [[NonStandardGameOver fourth ending]], where [[spoiler:Daniel doesn't escape from the cell and the Shadow consumes him, presumably leaving [[KarmaHoudini Alexander to succeed without Daniel to stop him]].]]

* DownerEnding: The bad ending, in which [[spoiler:Daniel dies and Alexander gets away scot-free with everything]]. This also applies to the less well-known [[NonStandardGameOver fourth ending]], where [[spoiler:Daniel doesn't escape from the cell and the Shadow consumes him, presumably leaving [[KarmaHoudini Alexander to succeed without Daniel to stop him]].]] Many of the custom stories also have downer endings:
** The Things In The Night: [[spoiler:After [[TheHero Fin]] kills the Evil, the Shadow's {{Expy}}, and then confronts his [[BigBad father]], there are either the choices of [[WeCanRuleTogether joining him]] or kill him. The former will trigger the ending in which the father traps Fin in a cage filled with Grunts, killing him, and the latter results in an ending where something is shown busting the door to the room Fin is in, revealing the Evil survived and is implied to kill Fin.]]
** Tenebris Lake: [[spoiler:Edward can either save himself and leave his family to die in the crumbling remains of the house, save his wife (which dooms his two children) and die in falling debris, or save his children and abandon his wife.]]
** Disponentia: [[spoiler:The protagonist escapes the cursed house, but upon jumping a fence, he is chased by ferocious dogs and when trying to find sanctuary in a nearby house, he is denied entry and mauled by the dogs.]]
** White Night: [[spoiler:The psychologist is revealed to be the BigBad and purposely keeping the patients in the institution to perform experiments on them, and in the end, the protagonist gets captured and the psychologist gets away with everything.]]
** The Great Work: [[spoiler: There are 2 bad endings. If you get caught by the enemies after stealing the orb, they will regain the orb and fuse it towards your body, [[GrandTheftMe resurrecting their master.]] If you got caught by the Shadow, you will be trapped in the chamber where the orb was originally held with the Shadow guarding it. The only thing that you can do would be to wait for death...]]
** The Machine: [[spoiler:The protagonist is unable to save his wife, though it does seem like he banishes the demon possessing the titular machine. However, upon waking up after the confrontation, the door to his guest room swings open revealing the haunted corridors of the machine with the demon's laughter in the background implying the protagonist was possessed.]]
** Lost the Lights: [[spoiler:While this story is silly, the character, Daniel, somehow started WW III by tampering with the unknown power source in the underground complex. He commits suicide by monster due to the guilt.]]
** Castle of Devastating Diseases: [[spoiler:The Dr. Mathew is unable to cure his patients. In fact, his cure turns the worst cases into monsters. He flees the castle and the plague is no closer to being stopped.]]
** Obscurity: [[spoiler:Simon stops the mad leader of the communion who has been sacrificing townspeople, including his sister, to the monsters. With the last of the communion dead and the village abandoned, he finds his long lost mother and everything seems fine until he hears rumors of disappearances near the village. This, coupled with his chronic nightmares, drives him mad. At this point, he decides that the monsters must be dealt with... by having the mine reopened and the village repopulated so that '''''HE''''' can continue the sacrifices.]]
** Gustav: [[spoiler:The main character is killed when the orb explodes. He's the lucky one, as he is sane enough to have his life flash before his eyes, while the [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity powerful]] MadScientist, Gustav, is too insane from drinking his own potion to remember who he is any more. Lastly, [[ForegoneConclusion Alexander survives the explosion]] and is able to continue his experiments until Daniel shows up 37 and a half years later.]]

* MurderousMannequin: PlayedStraight and {{Subverted}} in the Custom Stories. Some mannequins (read suits of armor and statues) follow you, some hurt you if you get near them, one talks to and hurts you if you ''touch'' it, some seem to move to shield you from view, and at one point [[spoiler:some outright talk to you and protect you from a Brute.]] It [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig Zags]] all over the place.

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Dying just sends you to the nearest respawn and you can continue on your merry way.

* SanityMeter: Daniel's nyctophobia and monster-phobia means that he starts losing it if he looks at monsters or stays in the darkness too long. On the status screen, his mental state ranges from "Crystal Clear" down through headaches and shaky hands to simply "[[NothingIsScarier ...]]". As sanity drops lower, Daniel's vision [[InterfaceScrew starts to distort]] and he becomes increasingly affected by unnerving visual and auditory hallucinations. The only way to restore sanity is to stand in the light for a long time or complete puzzles. The latter will announce that Daniel has regained sanity with a flash of blue light and the sound of a relieved sigh.

--->'''Yahtzee:''' ''Amnesia'' understands that a monster stays scary the less you see of it.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Apparently justified by being used to carry spring water which surges seasonally. It also functions as a cistern system to retain excess water and carefully control its pressure to power water mills.

* AfraidOfNeedles: In the [[AbsurdlySpaciousSewer sewer beneath the castle]] -- in order to keep from being killed by poisonous fungi, you need to drill a hole into the head of a corpse, insert a needle into a copper tube, insert that tube's base into the skull, and then ''stick yourself on the needle'' to immunize yourself. That's MalevolentMutilation, AfraidOfNeedles, and a makeshift transfusion all in one scene.

* AllCrimesAreEqual: As you learn about various torture victims, the severity of their supposed crimes seems to lessen. The worst were accused of rape and arson, but a forger got thrown into the iron maiden as well.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Alexander is dead, Daniel lives and feel redeemed, and the shadow stops chasing him. However, the kindly, old, and battered Agrippa dies in the rubble [[FateWorseThanDeath assuming his forced immortality gave out.]]]]

* BookcasePassage: Two in the main campaign, one in ''Justine''.

* BreatherLevel: The Back Hall. It's downright serene and pleasant compared to the Archive Tunnels you have to run through to get there... at least, until giant fleshy tumors sprout everywhere and the fountain starts pouring blood.
** The Back Hall portion was discussed in the Dev commentary, in which they invoked this trope, going along the lines of "This is meant to relax the player a bit so the upcoming horrors will be even worse by comparison."
** Also the main Cistern area and [[spoiler:where you meet Agrippa in the Nave]], which works as a breather room.

* ChekhovsGun: Justified. Some of the flashbacks provide hints as how to how to make progress, although it's more of a ChekhovsGun to Daniel as the memories slowly comes back to him, since the player wouldn't know anything about these pieces of information until the flashbacks are pointing it out.

* DownerEnding: The bad ending, in which [[spoiler:Daniel dies and Alexander gets away scot-free with everything]]. Many of the custom stories also have downer endings:

* EldritchAbomination: The Shadow.
* EvilIsVisceral: The Shadow.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: While both the protagonist (Daniel) and the antagonist (Alexander) have both done terrible things, neither of them is totally vile and both had reasonably sympathetic motives.

* HauntedCastle: [[spoiler:Turns out that's because of Daniel.]]

* HollywoodDarkness: Completely shattered -- if you try to peer into a dark room from a lit hallway, you will see ''[[NothingIsScarier nothing]]'' beyond the doorframe.
** Played around with throughout too; [[spoiler:a lot of areas do have subtly blue ambient light, and standing in darkness helps Daniel see in the dark in bluish hues, but then there's an area with no ambient light at all that is stated to be "unnaturally dark" and areas with similar lighting appear throughout as a sign of incoming horror.]]

* InterfaceSpoiler: Early on, a helpful hint appears instructing you to hide in darkness from enemies... [[ParanoiaFuel even if you had no idea anything was there.]]
** [[spoiler:Subverted as there isn't actually any threat yet. It is played straight when the game tells you about being able to hide in cupboards, though]].

* JumpScare: Such scares include a wind extinguishing a set of torches, or a desk that opens to a set of human skulls. Unlike traditional jump scares, they can inflict sanity damage. There is a nasty one where you reach an iron maiden and when you get too close, it will suddenly open revealing a red mist.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Both Daniel and Alexander]] depending on the ending.
** [[spoiler:Though, some endings can be interpreted as the Shadow brutally killed Alexander and leaving Daniel alone completely. He had gone through Hell via the entire ordeal of killing Alexander and that was his penance, so to speak.]]
** However, the definitive example, in the ''Justine'' expansion, is [[spoiler:Justine herself.]]

* MisplacedWildlife: The cockroaches infesting Alexander's castle look and sound like ''Gromphadorhina portentosa'' (Madagascar hissing cockroach), rather out of place in a castle somewhere in Prussia.
* MonsterDelay: The game ''runs'' on this trope; the first glimpse of a monster is a silhouette hobbling through the fog. It doesn't reappear in that area, but the suspense alone stops you from finding out. Even if you try to get a decent look at the monster later on, the game forces you to stop to keep it as scary as possible as the [[EldritchAbomination mere grotesqueness of it]] alone causes your character to lose sanity just by looking at it, increasing the likelihood of being found and killed unless you look away, but unfortunately, the marketing department didn't get the memo and put said monster right on the very cover.
* MotivationalLie: Some of the tips the game gives in tutorial messages and loading screens is straightly lying to the player. For example, noting that if Daniel's SanityMeter gets too low, he will attract monster's more readily is flatly false, there is simply no gameplay mechanic that ties monster spawning or attention to the sanity state. However, it is [[NothingIsScarier quite effective at scaring players away]] from [[DarknessEqualsDeath spending too much time in darkness]].
* MultipleEndings:

* MusicalSpoiler: You can easily tell if the enemies are nearby or still chasing you.
** Averted when hiding from monsters, [[spoiler:the music will still play until you stop shaking in the darkness and go check if the monsters are gone]].

* PsychoStrings: When monsters are chasing you.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Daniel to Agrippa in the good ending.

* SanityMeter: Daniel's nyctophobia and monster-phobia means that he starts losing it if he looks at monsters or stays in the darkness too long. This ranges from slight headaches to shaky hands.
** Your decaying sanity doesn't only diminish your sight. It also [[SanitySlippage makes you gradually hear more and more deranged and ominous aural hallucinations]]... ''the noise of insects gnawing at you'.'
** Your sanity level raises every time you complete a puzzle.

''Amnesia: The Dark Descent'' is a [[http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/amnesia-the-dark-descent/critic-reviews critically acclaimed]] {{survival horror}} with {{adventure game}} elements from the Swedish indie studio Creator/FrictionalGames. It's a SpiritualSuccessor to their previous ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'' series of games, sharing many elements of gameplay and storytelling with them.

Daniel, the playable NonActionGuy, wakes up in the dark of an ancient [[HauntedCastle creepy castle]], Brennenburg, without memories. The first thing he finds is a [[NoteToSelf note to himself]], which informs him that he has been deliberately self-inflicted with [[TitleDrop amnesia so that he can make a dark descent]] into the heart of the castle and kill the proprietor, Baron Alexander. As he journeys further within the bowels of the Prussian estate, Daniel comes across his own diary entries, hinting at [[EldritchAbomination otherworldly]] influences, particularly the dangerous living 'Shadow' that pursues him for something he did in his past, killing everyone it comes across. He also finds notes left by an assortment of castle-dwellers that elaborate on the sinister events that have taken place there.

In 2013 a NonLinearSequel, entitled ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs'', was published by Frictional Games, with primary development by Creator/TheChineseRoom, the team responsible for ''VideoGame/DearEsther.''

In 2020, a second sequel was released, entitled ''VideoGame/AmnesiaRebirth''. Unlike ''A Machine for Pigs'', it was developed by Frictional Games themselves and ties in much more closely with the first game.

In 2022, a new installment was announced, named ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheBunker'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLSsDmtj-U which is set to launch on May 15, 2023]]. Like the previous entry, it is being both developed and published by Frictional Games.

In 2022, a new installment was announced, named ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheBunker'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLSsDmtj-U which is set to launch on March 2023]]. Like the previous entry, it is being both developed and published by Frictional Games.

** Agrippa ''was'' also an occultist in RealLife, about 300 years before Amnesia takes place. [[spoiler:He 'presumes' that he was held prisoner by Alexander for hundreds of years, which would make the numbers match up.]]

* ManipulativeBitch: Justine. She succeeded to get all three suitors into the chambers, all [[ColdBloodedTorture physically]] and [[MindRape psychologically]] tortured, mostly by words and manipulation. It's stated that the reason Malo is insane was because she tried to completely [[SanitySlippage break him]] long before she began to physically torture him. And she did this all [[ForTheEvulz only for her own, twisted, selfish amusement.]] No wonder the suitors want to kill her!

* NothingIsScarier: ''Justine'' doesn't quite follow this... to an extent. There is only one type of monster [[spoiler:Justine's former fiancee Alois, and yes, he's still alive and human, a guy named Basile who Justine blinded and calls you profane names, and Malo, who wants to eat you]], you encounter each once throughout the expansion, and while looking at Basile drops your sanity, it doesn't always make him more likely to see you... because he's ''blind''. However, he can ''hear'' you, and if any of them hits you ''once'', you die, and the game closes, not to mention there are no save points in the expansion whatsoever.
* OneHitKill: One hit from a suitor and you're dead. Worst part about this is; [[NintendoHard there is no saving point. You're back at the start of the game.]]

* TrialAndErrorGameplay: There's no checkpoints, you're a OneHitPointWonder, and there is a monster that will kill you if it spots you. Combine this with the puzzles and you'll be restarting numerous times.

* MeaningfulName Justine's name (Justine Florbelle) is a reference to two works by the Marquis de Sade, ''Justine'' and ''Les Journees de Florbelle''. The subtitle of ''Justine'' is "The Misfortunes of Virtue" which may apply to the ending, if you get the good ending. ''Les Journees de Florbelle'' was destroyed, perhaps reflecting the bad ending and the fact that you can't save the game -- if you die, you are destroyed forever and cannot be recovered. The horrifying content of these novels is reflected in the game and the character.

In 2022, a new installment was announced, named ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheBunker'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLSsDmtj-U which is set to launch in March 2023]]. Like the previous entry, it is being both developed and published by Frictional Games.

In 2022, a new installment was announced, named ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheBunker'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLSsDmtj-U which is set to launch on March 2023]]. Like the previous entry, it is being both developed and published by Frictional Games.

In 2022, a new installment was announced, named ''Amnesia: The Bunker'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLSsDmtj-U which is set to launch on March 2023]]. Like the previous entry, it is being both developed and published by Frictional Games.

In 2020, a second sequel was released, titled ''VideoGame/AmnesiaRebirth''. Unlike ''A Machine for Pigs'', it was developed by Frictional Games themselves and ties in much more closely with the first game.

In 2020, a second sequel was released, titled as ''VideoGame/AmnesiaRebirth''. Unlike ''A Machine for Pigs'', it was developed by Frictional Games themselves and ties in much more closely with the first game.

In 2020, a second sequel was released, ''VideoGame/AmnesiaRebirth''. Unlike ''A Machine for Pigs'', it was developed by Frictional Games themselves and ties in much more closely with the first game.

In 2020, a second sequel, ''VideoGame/AmnesiaRebirth'' was announced for release late in the same year. Unlike ''A Machine for Pigs'', it was developed by Frictional Games themselves and ties in much more closely with the first game.

In 2022, a third sequel was announced, named ''Amnesia: The Bunker'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLSsDmtj-U which is set to launch on March 2023]]. Like the previous entry, it is being both developed and published by Frictional Games.

In 2022, a third sequel was announced, named ''Amnesia: The Bunker'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLSsDmtj-U which is set to launch on March 2023]]. Like Rebirth, it is being both developed and published by Frictional Games.

In 2022, a third sequel was announced, named ''Amnesia: The Bunker'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLSsDmtj-U being set to launch on March 2023]]. Like Rebirth, it is both developed and published by Frictional Games.

In 2022, a third sequel was announced, named ''Amnesia: The Bunker'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLSsDmtj-U being set to launch on March 2023]]. Like Rebirth, it will be both developed and published by Frictional Games.