Summary
Developer: Frictional Games
Publisher: Frictional Games
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 , Xbox, Cloud Gaming, Nintendo Switch 2 (reviewed)
Review copy given by Developer
Amnesia Rebirth is a survival horror released in October 2020 for pc and PlayStation 4. The game is now finally available on Nintendo Switch 2 with advanced graphics and more detail in the background. I feel colors are looking really great in this game, plus the saturation is just perfect on Nintendo Switch 2. The game models look amazing, as the face detailing is really clear, and the character looks just great.
The game focuses heavily on narrative and Tasi rather than just jump scares. I really enjoy exploring themes like trauma, memory, and fear. During my first playthrough, I got confused due to heavy use of flashbacks and notes. Fear affects gameplay to make it more immersive, and darkness and sound design create constant tension. However, the game made me struggle to connect with side characters.
Gameplay Mechanics
The game takes place 98 years after Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Although it isn’t a direct sequel, it has many connections to the previous game and sheds some light on certain mysteries. The story follows a French woman named Tasi, an archaeologist, who is on a flight to Africa with her husband and co-workers when her plane crashes in Algeria.
When she regains consciousness, she is trapped inside the plane, and none of her companions are anywhere to be seen. The one thing that gives me goosebumps is that she also has no memory of anything that happened. Tasi makes her way through the desert and comes across clues that trigger some memories, revealing that she had already been to these areas before. The objective here is to find the others and regain her memories. Several monsters are lurking nearby that attack you and kill her if spotted.
Just like other Amnesia games, there is no physical combat. I tried to hide and sneak around the monsters to make progress, and I also found matches to light up for a short time of visibility, along with lighting torches on the walls to see better.
The game lets you learn more about the story through documents that are scattered around and certain key items. Something that I feel really cool about this game is that, like Maid of Sker, you can choose to play on a casual difficulty that doesn’t have any enemies pursuing you. I originally started playing this game on normal difficulty, but I have trouble with puzzles, so the enemies frustrated me. Even though it is an easier difficulty, it is just as terrifying.
The atmosphere I feel is creepy as hell, and I was still cautious that there might be an enemy hiding despite it not having any. It makes enemies not pursue you, which means there were some scripted enemies around. Just their presence alone creeped me out, and they can still interact with you. There’s a room with dozens of monsters that you have to sneak past. Bumping into them will make them grab and throw you before walking away, and that was still scary.
Normally, you have to sneak past all of them without being caught, and the thought of that stresses me out. There are a few friendly NPCs, but most of them become monsters. The story is very good and very engaging. I initially compared this game to Outlast 2, but it unraveled into a very unique and interesting story. In each part of the story, you think you have an idea of what’s going on, only to be whiplashed by another revelation, but at the end of it all, the pieces fall together.
There are 3~4 endings you can achieve with decisions at the very end. The first decision was something that I had to sit down and actually think about and judge what would be the best outcome. None of the endings are good, but someone can get something out of whatever choice you make, while someone else will come crashing down. Tasi isn’t a black and white protagonist; she is intentionally in a gray area, and you have to decipher whether her intentions are selfless or selfish. The environments vary from location to location, and you will go through many different types of terrain.
This includes a desert cave, an ancient ruins facility, and even an alternate dimension. You obtain a bracelet that glows blue when she’s near a tear in reality and can enter the other world. The entire game is extremely good and one of the best survival horrors I’ve played recently, especially with the casual mode to just let me take in all the sights without the danger.
The puzzles aren’t too hard, and the attention to detail is awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes survival horror, and especially people who have trouble playing games where you have to hide from monsters while unarmed. The world and story are the best parts, and the connections to the dark descent explain a lot of origins for elements found in this game.
Amnesia Rebirth offers decent performance on Switch 2 with a slower-paced horror design while targeting a stable 30 FPS in both handheld and docked modes. This brings improved lightning, higher visuals, and better environmental details.
The game has ambient sound design, and the audio is designed to make you feel isolated and unsafe at all times. It constantly tricks your brain into expecting danger. You get cleaner audio output, better separation, and less compression. The sound design is tightly linked to gameplay fear mechanics. As your character becomes more scared, the hearing becomes unreliable, and you hear distorted whispers. Stable performance helps audio layering feel clearer on Nintendo Switch 2.
The game takes you about 7 hours to complete, depending on whether you get stuck on puzzles or want to find all letters. Amnesia: Rebirth gets huge visual improvements and uses dynamic resolution & improved GPU headroom. The shadows are more detailed, and the scenery is clearer with better visibility. The Nintendo Switch 2 version gives strong environmental art direction and very immersive horror visuals. If you’re a fan of slow-burning horror, Amnesia is one of the best games you can try out now on handheld.
