This is a custom story to Amnesia: The Dark Descent I made with Leon Kennedy(in Frictional Games Forums).
It was certainly interesting, but nothing amazing. I did like the concept, it's just a little story of an experiment gone wrong. As for the map design, okay, but there are glitches and exploits. 1: You can easily get to the second floor early by stacking two chairs and jumping against the wall to the balcony, if you speedrun, could be fun haha. Second, if you lift up the rug/carpet where the pig's corpse is, the game will have a meltdown, the rug stretches to Oblivion and beyond and the game drops to 1fp10s haha. Not bad.
I'm going to hit every point in the order of story, level design, sound, progression, conflict, and conclusion.
The story by itself had an alright theme. Everyone likes a good "The monster is me" twist, but it is a bit cliche in Amnesia custom stories.
The level design was a bit choppy especially dealing with lighting, and the elements of areas such as the cellar and the upstairs area. The commons area was designed well enough, and the downstair hallways and bedrooms were alright, but when I walked into that cellar, it wasn't truly believable as a cellar. A good level will convince you that you're in the place that it tells you.
At first I applauded the choice of music as being subtle yet creepy. Sound in horror games make or break them, and though I applauded the track as a means to start a game, the map lacked any variety, and it quickly became stale and meaningless. The one other track used was just a repeated striking of a piano key poorly looped in the "cellar." Not only was it not frightening but it was the most mismatched choice of sound that I've ever seen in an Amnesia custom story.
Progression was difficult. There was only a single sole memento, which failed to assist in any way. Items and door keys went unmarked or not described, as were the doors themselves. I will however commend the use of notes to assist in the detection of items or the solving of puzzles.
This game lacked conflict. It was more a story of a man trying to open every door in a house than a man trying to escape a monster. There were two monster appearances, and they were both extremely predictable, and unfulfilling.
The conclusion was rather dull. You had your exposition, and the falling action consisted of finding the correct unlabeled door for your new key.
Overall I give this custom story 4 out of 10, as it is playable, but not really enjoyable.
Very enjoyable and detailled.
I really enjoyed it. The music was top-notch, and it was quite scary at times. Really short but good.
Not bad, quite simple but theres a pretty cool puzzle, other then that it's key hunting.
For being the first story ever, it sure is a mix of good and bad.
Plot - First, lets ignore the fact this is the FIRST story. I feel like in the beginning of cs making, the "youre the monster" trope was heavily used. Not as much as "wake up in mansion with no memories", but still. (6/10)
Mapping - Felt like most other custom story maps. Not much specialty. (6/10)
Storytelling - Regular note telling. Although the big murder reveal was quite interesting. (6/10)
Fear Factor - Naked Guy Jumpscares are an instant penalty. (4/10)
Atmosphere - Standard atmosphere. Nothing extraordinary. (6/10)
Puzzles - Key searches are NEVER, EVER good. (1/10)
Bugs - Afaik, no bugs. (10/10)
Lighting & Decals - No decals. Lighting is very poor and no usage of billboards. (3/10)
Score: 42/80. Review score: 5/10.
-Sorry if i sounded too harsh on this story, im just trying to make a very unbiased, constructive review.
This is just typical cs for first timer in making cs. The story is cliche and mediocre. The levels look bland as well. I don't mind that this is the earliest cs ever made, this is not good.
One of the doors wont open, so I had to glitch my way trough, it is also too short but anyway its pretty good :)
Positives:
-Storyline was pretty interesting
Negatives:
-Mapping wasn't good
-Puzzles were mostly bad- they were either boring key guests or a puzzle with zero hints given
-Not scary the slightest (cellar was the only place where I felt some creeps)
Classic of a story, but not that good at all. However, stil not the worst I've played.
Good.