Amnesia: The Dark Descentlaunched ten years age to critical and commercial acclaim and is now widely considered one of the best psychological horror video games of the genre.
With its sequelAmnesia: Rebirthlaunching later next month, it felt like the perfect time to take a closer look atThe Dark Descentand see exactly how (and why) the game is considered to be such a great game, starting with its history.
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Rebirth of a Dying Genre
The horror genre has always been incredibly popular within the world of video games. First popularized in the early nineties with 1992’sAlone in the Dark, survival horror and psychological horror has become a staple within the gaming world and has gotten only more and more popular over time. Horror’s popularity rose throughout the 90s thanks to titles like1996’sResident Eviland 1999’sSilent Hill, and continued to grow through the early 2000s. The 6th generation of consoles were particularly great homes to countless fantastic horror titles, where the genre seemed to really hit its stride with games likeFatal Frame, Siren,Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem,and more. But then in 2004, a game that would change the entire genre forever launched on the Nintendo GameCube.
Resident Evil 4, which heavily relied on action-centered gameplay over horror, released on the GameCube (and later PlayStation 2) to massive success. While it certainly was a fantastic title, games that followed it emphasized action above horror. Other horror staples like theSilent Hillseries fell into this same trap withSilent Hill: Homecoming. By the time thatResident Evil 5released in 2009, the series seemed to have jumped entirely into the action-adventure genre, with only light sprinkles of survival-horror.
It was at this point that it seemed that the classic “psychological horror” genre was all but gone, and replaced by action-horror. That is, until Frictional Games came out of nowhere on July 28, 2025 withAmnesia: The Dark Descent. But what exactly made the title so special?
Psychological Horror like no other
The Dark Descentwas unlike most other horror games around its time, as it emphasized horror, puzzle-solving, and navigation above other forms of gameplay. Most notably, the game lacked any form of combat. This was mostly unheard of in the contemporary horror genre, with even survival horror classics likeSilent Hillcontaining some form of combat, albeit bad and clunky. Because of this, it was a return to form for classic horror.
Instead of focusing on jump scares, the game was much more focused on unsettling the player, and more specifically, making them feel powerless and weak to the world around them.The Dark Descentis, quiet literally, the story of a man dealing with his own descent into darkness and madness as he fights with his own personal demons, as well as the monsters that manifest within the world around him.
In the game’s opening moments, the player learns three facts: the character’s name is Daniel, he is from London, and his sole task is to kill his master. No other information is given to the player, as the main character suffers from amnesia. The game is both thematically and visually very dark, with the darkness of the world being Daniel’s biggest enemy of all.
Further, The title very cleverly introduces the Sanity Meter, which represents Daniel’s current mental state. Being left in darkness will cause Daniel’s sanity to lower, which negatively affects both his vision and health. Losing all of his sanity will result in death, and so staying out of the darkness for extended periods of time is crucial to the player’s survival. Being around enemies (which are attracted to the player’s source of light) will also result in lost sanity, so the player has to be extremely careful and strategic at all times. This unique gameplay mechanic paired with a terrifying world and monsters makes forone of the scariest horror experiences ever.
Fear of the Unknown
One ofAmnesia’s greatest strengths lie in the player’s fear of the unknown. Enemies that the player will encounter are largely hidden within the shadows of the darkness, making their existence all the more terrifying. Humans naturally have a fear of the unknown, so by making the monsters mysterious, the player’s imagination is able to run wild, thinking of the most horrifying things imaginable. One of the scariest moments ofThe Dark Descent, in fact, happens relatively early in the game.
Around 4 hours into the game, the player encounters a room filled with water and large wooded boxes. They soon come to the realization that a creature lurks within the depths of the water, only evident by the splashes it makes and the monstrous sounds that can be heard. to avoid making contact with it, the player must run to the boxes floating on the water and out speed the water monster. The scariest part of this moment is the fact that the player never gets to see what the creature actually looks like. This fear of the unknown allows the player to scare themselves, which is the greatest trick of all.
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Taking Inspiration from the Classics, and Inspiring Others
While also offering a truly unique experience,The Dark Descentalso takes some clear inspiration from some of the old horror classics. Its biggest inspirations seem to be drawn fromSilent Hill, the master of psychological horror. Both titles play with the idea of personalized horror, where the game’s horrors reflect the protagonist and player’s fear, and use sound and visuals to give off an unsettling atmosphere in order to scare the player over time.Silent Hillexceeds in its effort to cause personal dread, for both the player and the main character, with monsters that connect directly to the narrative.
Comparatively,The Dark Descent’s gameplay perfectly reflects its narrative themes of fear, isolation, and loss of sanity. Other titles that the game seemingly draws from are theClock Towerseries, as well asthe GameCube classicEternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiemwhich both make use of sanity or fear meters, that reflect the protagonist’s current mental state.
The Dark Descentis a horror masterpiece, going on to inspire countless other horror titles and arguably, revitalized the psychological horror genre as a whole. Ten years later, the genre is now bigger than its ever been, with hugely popular games likeOutlast,Layers of Fear, and even the hugely successfulResident Evil 7taking some big pointers from the 2010 hit. Even theupcoming horror titleUnderlooks to be taking a bit of inspiration. Fans looking to jump back into theAmnesiaseries won’t have to wait much longer, asAmnesia: Rebirthis coming in less than a month.
Amnesia: Rebirthlaunches for PC and PlayStation 4 on Aug 05, 2025.
