Reviews - Jughead87

In some odd way, I sort of felt like the character you created, a seeker of something new. This was definitely a nice way to freshen things up in Amnesia without making it a modern custom story. I've never seen such cinematic elements used so well as they were in this one. It's not often that events such as these are successful enough to legitimately raise up the scares and make me feel like I was losing my own sanity. Granted, I'm pretty good at acting, but I still need a good character and atmosphere to take that role and act. The level itself was beautifully crafted with great detail. It was almost too much detail that made my eyes roll. Also, you made great use out of a constant space. Having the rooms interconnect with each other created that fear of being attacked from all sides. About fighting back at monsters, however, was new too, but it took away some of the fun that comes from the fear. I wouldn't even consider it to be a fault. If anything, the only problem I had, which was small, was knowing what to do or where to go at certain times. Fortunately with the small space, I wasn't lost for long! Great job on this fine piece of work. And I too, love the tapestry on the walls!

Now here's something I wasn't expecting under the tree. It's short, but not way too short, if there's such a difference. There's a good lot of stuff to explore though, and the atmosphore, although calm, was a little spooky at times. Without the premise of the story and the holiday theme going around, it'd be just another castle/mansion in Amnesia. Fortunately the story was strong.

This story doesn't help to break consistencies that I've seen in custom stories. Seems to me that everytime a story is a sweet one, it's also a sad one. Also, by my count this is the fourth time that Miss Rigi has played the role of an ailing female character. But I digress. The ending was what really made the story. I found myself actually thinking for the character who was delivering a parcel for Emaline.

A Visit to Katherine was very relaxing to me. Maybe that's because I like the calmness of rain. It set the sleepy, somber mood. No need for music at all. The attention to detail in the walls of the house was great, as well as outside too; although there's a bug in the second release where the walls are sometimes gone.

Hunter was also very good with the atmosphere, if not, better than Katherine. It takes a minute or two for me to feel like I'm actually in that cave, and then I start to feel like I'm vulnerable. Of course this takes some good imagination too, but still, the effect is there. Again, no need for music. Great detail and asymmetry in the textures. Lastly, the multiple possibilities for the characters was a nice new twist for Amnesia.

Both stories are great experiments, but way too short. I came in with that understanding, though, so I'm pleased with how they turned out.

In my own progression of playing custom stories, I had gotten into stories that were experimental and at the same time deep into storytelling. I had enough of the experimenting but wanted more of the storytelling, so this one looked good to me. I had no idea how much focus was put in the story itself and not so much on adventuring or escaping ugly trouble with a broken jaw. Fortunately I have good imagination, so I wasn't put off by all the voices in thin air; instead, I put myself in the shoes of the character, and that's a strong point right there. Also strong were the main characters themselves; they were very believable, mostly helped by the voice actors, and that says something about Cry since his sort of humor and style rubs me the wrong way sometimes. As for Rigi, there was something about her work this time around that made her sound real and human, as opposed to that "mysterious angel" tone as I call it. The plot, although predictable, was still okay for me. My biggest issue was that at times I got totally lost. I found myself asking out loud where the next memory was. Also problematic were the trees; I swear they were trying to eat me because I got stuck and I wasn't even trying to mess around. Towards the end, the use of symbolism became very strong, and for the first time playing Amnesia, I got queasy; perhaps you did a little too good of a job portraying the revenge. I did like the implementation of multiple endings though. My final verdict is still very positive. Happy to have played it.

Obviously with all the coverage that this story has gotten, I was made aware of all its popularity and hype, and I was not disappointed at all. Right off the bat, it's easy to appreciate the effort that was put into the conversion from the old world Amnesia theme to the modern world Penumbra theme. I liked the use of a flashlight, batteries, and lightbulbs, although those were almost never needed nor available anyway. The story was carefully kept mysterious, and the characters, despite being involved in such extreme circumstances, were believable. Having studied psychology, I personally liked the real-world references that were correctly used in the story, such as Theodule Ribot's law, and the doctor character was made even more believable in wanting to test it since real scientists are limited to studying forgetting and remembering in this law. As for the traditional Amnesia game formula, I liked how monster encounters were kept to a minimum because I could really enjoy the story's exploration and puzzles. For that one real encounter, it was cleverly crafted so that I really did feel trapped and too scared to move, and it was the first time that warning text creeped me out. Normally I don't like mixing reality with nightmare sequences, but this was the one time that it sort of fit. I suppose my biggest and only real complaint was that some of the music and environment sounds were uncomfortably loud to the point that they were giving me headaches. Also, some of the levels were too big for my lower end computer to handle, even with the lowest settings. Example, I would've just made the doctor's wing its own area, separated from the main hospital area. But these issues I had didn't even have anything to do with the story, so all in all I still give this a high rating. This definitely set the precedent.

Never before have I played a custom story that really put you in the character's shoes. Maybe that's because he actually did a lot of talking while taking care of business around town. Having such an elaborate town for the setting made it feel like a day in the life of the thief. The guards everywhere had me clinging to darkness to stay out of sight, and I started to feel like the thief himself. I even started to feel sympathy for the guy, having his wife killed and living a life like that. Using invisible walls to keep players from wandering too far away from the objective was a good idea, but in the forest they were a little too restrictive. Also, at the end, the final monster didn't appear while the scene was playing. I wonder if the mysterious "invisible grunt" file had something to do with it. I applaud the attempt at making live conversation amongst the characters instead of all notes and flashbacks. This was what initially drew me into giving this story a shot. I surely wasn't disappointed.

This was my first attempt at playing a 'modern' story and I enjoyed the changes that were made. Despite the story being short, it felt solid. While the turn of events in the story might not be so believable, it just seemed to fit. I can see parts where more stuff could've been added, but it doesn't feel like anything major is missing. One area could've been better with music in the background, or at least some kind of ambience. No big issue though; in my video playthrough I just edited in one of the main game's music tracks myself. I especially liked the city horizon texture. It felt spookily familiar to a couple of places that I've been in real life. Overall, great!

I would definitely call this an experiment. The concept is very creative, but it felt like there were either too many limits or not enough direction. The puzzles became a little repetitive, and platforming was tedious, but they weren't problematic enough to ruin it overall. This is a good starting ground.

This turned out to be another survive-and-escape story like most of what I see around here, but at least it was functionable and there were things to do despite having very little story to it. The monster encounters were too predictable and now I'm afraid to touch keys. In the end, there were too many monsters to keep it enjoyable, but at least it made for a funny video.

Poisonous was perpetually pleasing to the player's palette with pretty good portions of painless playing. For one thing, it had an actual story to it which is important to engage both player and viewers into it. The layout of the level was believable too. Great idea to step away from predictable monster encounters and actually have one that roamed on its own (without it having a trigger point and no music change). I enjoyed the puzzles and items that eventually aid in solving the last one. Also, in that final rescue, a good attempt was made at providing means for escape for the damsel in distress with the models that were available to input. I'd only recommend fixing the glitches afterwards which were caused by closing and reopening that door to the rescue room and looking back into the castle while exiting it. Also, the levels themselves were a little too large for my older desktop to handle smoothly, but it wasn't a major issue. So far this is my favorite story. Keep up the good work.