Reviews - ethics

This was a really enjoyable, sort of "Machine for Pigs 2"-esque custom story.
It had nice level design, everything made sense and actually, some areas like the factory and the cellar with the pig cages were quite impressive and well-made.
Puzzles weren't too difficult, I solved most of them quite easily, except the book puzzle, but if you read the notes carefully, you can interpret what exactly to do. That puzzle must have been a b*tch to script though.
Some minor complaints:
Story was a bit generic, but I like that it expanded upon the Orb found in TDD. Also you had to backtrack and run around a when playing.
I really didn't like the enemies "running past" when you came to a cross section, same as the son, once or twice and it is overused.
The level design is obviously topnotch, and that "boss battle" in the sewers was honestly terrifying and extremely well made in my opinion.

I downloaded this a long while ago, then forgot about it. Only recently I found it again in one of my collection folders for mods.
I finished it just now and this was a rollercoaster ride from start to finish.

- The great:
The level design, oh my god. These have to be some of the most creatively crafted maps I have ever seen. The whole idea of the rooms revolving around one giant staircase carved into the mountain is unique and was well executed.
The dungeonbase selection of walls allow for a wide variety of creativity and you seem to have used it quite well.
I liked the details put into the maps, particle and lighting effects, random stuff scattered around, rooms that seem they were left in a hurry and so on. The levels were "connected" too, which you could only notice when you payed close attention (pit with the kitchen boy in the cistern, the connection from the Forge to the dwelling, which made me realize you put both the prison and the dwelling into the same map and just used different PlayerStartAreas).
I think you overdid it in the old archives though, it was very cluttered and confusing.

The story is also very nicely done, would have been better if there was a voice actor for the main character though.
I had no real problem with reading through the notes, you used a very eloquent language and described everything very believably.

What I really liked was that there were no torches or candles lit at all. This underlined that the place is long abandoned.

- The not-so-great:
First off, the sense of confusion and not knowing where to go at all times. Especially when you start collecting more and more mementos.
So many locked doors, so less keys.
Some of the stuff was hidden extremely obscurely, I only found the crowbar by pure luck and had to look up a walkthrough for the chipper (I would have found that one eventually) and most importantly, the rope. Which also wasn't ever mentioned in the notes if I recall correctly.
The notes also spoke of a reserve in some parts. It wasn't in the first note that detailed the floor plan though. I ran past it mayn times. Labels on the level doors would have helped.
Also, the puzzle in the old archives is a joke, especially because that map is so well-detailed, you can easily overlook the buttons. Much, much too hard.

The first part of the CS was sadly just a key-fetch quest, not my cup of tea at all. All of the messages "Locked. I need a key" overwhelmed me.
I overlooked the lantern in the dormitories and thus spend about 1/3 of the CS in total darkness.
I don't know if it was intentional, but the sanity always lingered around the "..." setting, most notably when I entered the storage to pick up the drill, it gave me a sanity boost and instantly after it gave me sanity damage. The darkness (as much as it set the mood) also didn't help, the camera movement was smeary most of the time, causing me to collapse at every major event (monster spawn). Sure, it made sense story-wise, but if you really want to put it into your CS so badly, make sure there are enough sanity events to keep you from collapsing every 15mins.
I also didn't like that the monsters weren't really explained at all in the lore. Were they the workers who got locked in the crypt by Salim? Then how did they get to the upper levels? Why did the monsters in the crypt have blades as hands (brute)? For my taste, there absolutely were too many monsters in this CS. I just ran past them at some point.

The biggest issue for me was the music though, it was severely bugged, everytime I picked up a note, the "note background music" persisted, even through level transitions. Same happened when I got chased, the chase music stuck, also through level transitions. Many of those music tracks are quite short and not made for a continuously playing loop.
When the archives collapsed, the "camera shake effect" remained aswell, and didn't go away until when I finished the game.
The antidote puzzle was bugged, I couldn't fill in the sanity solution, it only worked after I already put in the health solution.
If you exit the level before putting in the stabilizer and then come back, the lever to harvest the antidote doesn't work at all.

Because of the wonky physics in Amnesia, the cavern part was extremely hard and I kept sliding off the "platforms". Put blockboxes over the rocks next time, so that you have a consistent way of landing and jumping off again.

All in all, this was a good Custom story with mostly really annoying gameplay, awesome level design and a well-made story.
I couldn't stop playing until I had finished it.

I think it was an overall okay custom story. I finished it in one sitting and I wasn't too impressed with the gameplay.
One major nuisance was that the running speed was set to a lower speed over the duration of the entire game, okay makes sense, because Johan is a bit on the older side, but for me it was annoying.
Also, far too often, some event happened and you either couldn't move or you were slowed to a crawl.

The good:
The story was quite interesting, the lore and the storytelling were overall great, tremendous job.
I loved the usage of old, unusual words in the English language, the story was built quite well and the voice acting was top-notch.
I also was impressed with the level of detail put into the maps, they looked beautiful and believable.
Supposedly, the castle front was Thief- inspired, probably by Angelwatch from Life of the Party, I can see it obviously, it was a bit too small, but probably the most impressive part of the Custom story for me (in terms of level design).
I also liked the sound and music design, they added to the immersion quite well. The overall theme usually interests me, and an aspect I really found quite nice was that you could pick up various occult tomes and that you could meditate infront of altars and gravestones.

The bad:
As mentioned, your running speed is too slow for my liking.
The gameplay wasnt that good, there was nothing to be afraid of, no monster, although clues were given, could've been expanded upon in my opinion.
The story was sometimes a bit hard to follow, many lenghty notes, the loading screens were over too quickly for me to comprehend the messages on them.
I think some of the visual effects weren't that necessary and the last part of the custom story was too dark, because you lost your lantern at one point.
The worst part for me was the ending dialogue with the crushed baron under the rocks, it went on for like 10 minutes and you couldn't move allthewhile, it was infuriating for me, because when I finished reading the subtitles, the narrator wasn't even halfway through.

All in all, nice custom story, but lacking in the gameplay part, it also wasn't that special in my eyes, nothing I will remember sharply looking back at it.
Other than that, it almost had no flaws. 7/10

I think I had this lying around for AGES in my folder, after I finished Simuacrum the other day, I thought to try out this one.
At first, I wasn't really impressed and straight-up bored.
But after I entered the Study, it all picked up in pacing, I solved most puzzles easily, they weren't too hard.
Also, really nice scares, not one cheap jumpscare.

I loved the design of the maps, they all were so detailed and beautiful, I couldn't help but to be pretty much astonished.
The aesthetics also felt quite right, it felt like this is AMFP we should have gotten.

I played through this with a controller and I had a blast, I looked forwards to playing each evening.

I did not like chapter 3 as much, the level design fell off a bit and the elevator puzzle was the only thing I had to watch a walkthrough for, much too confusing.
The chase at the end also wasn't my favorite, she was a bit slow, but I was hindered by the rather unprecise controller functions, so I got a bit scared.

So all in all, good story (I thought ut sucked at the beginning), very good level design, great atmosphere, nice scares.
9/10 from me!

I don't play many mods nowadays, but I knew I HAD to play this when it came out.
I started following this project in 2014, when I first got into Amnesia and stuff.
Now that I saw it released, I decided to dust off Amnesia again, install the game, install the Mod and just experience it.

So, right off the bat, I got invested into the game, into the surroundings and the beautiful "landscape".
It felt like oldschool Amnesia, but with just a whiff of the "Castle Brennenburg"-theme, the rest was original, mostly conveyed through the awesome level design.
Exploring the huge complexes of the Monastery, I was actually dumbfounded by the great atmosphere, lighting, the particle effects that all weren't over the top per sé, but beautifully placed, just right to craft the perfect environment.

When I got to the "courtyard" part, where you had to insert the artifacts, I liked the choice you were given. I can only compare it to another awesome CS called "The Four Horsemen", where you had to explore chapters aptly named after the aforementioned (Death, Pestilence, War and Famine).
It was a bit like that (only with two chapters, Pestilence and Consumption), both aesthetically fitting, regarding their names.

I solved all of the puzzles with no big effort, they weren't too hard, but also not a "key-fetch quest"-priciple, like many bad Mods utilize.
It felt real, it felt like you were really there, confronted with problems you had to solve by thinking creatively.
I liked the "tuner" puzzle, when you had to insert rods into a machine and tune a spinner to the right amplitude, I guess? Great puzzle.

The scares where few and inbetween, as far as I could tell, there was only one big jumpscare, the floor caved in, which really got me if I'm honest. It didn't feel cheap, because before that, a Grunt searched for you, forcing you to run away and not pay attention so much.
Now, I don't know if it was scripted that way, but regardless of where you sneaked, the Grunt followed you with his patrolling and didn't leave your near vercinity if you didn't as well.
It certainly felt like he full well knew you were there, but just toyed with you. Nice.

I didn't like the Suitor encounter as much, it felt quite cheap and both him and the grunt weren't really explained in the lore.

But I really liked the Husk at the end of the game though. It looked a bit goofy, but the sounds it made were horrifying, and I got a glimpse of it through a gated window, it moved fast, I rarely ever felt dread like this when playing a horror game.
The build-up to the encounter also was great, although the monster wasn't there, it felt like it was.

The music was unique and only added to the nice vibes in this Custom Story, sound design was brilliant and so well used that you could never tell if anyone would attack you at any moment.

The one and only flaw was the story. What happened? I still don't understand, but Amnesia was never good in storytelling.
Also, I got a bit confused by how the artifacts where inserted into the slots, there were pictures above the slots, but they didn't have to do with anything I assume? I jsut inserted the three articfacts randomly and it worked.

Other than that, I loved it. A refreshing and nice experience of a game I long considered boring and which I abandoned 2 years ago.

Excellent mod. I was hooked from the beginning. The mapping is brilliant, the storyline is creative and it did not get boring once (although I sometimes had to use the guide).
I liked the layout of the maps and the detail put into them. The storyline has some good thoughts put into it.
One little mistake is that all of the enemies were patrolling small areas, so that it was impossible to sneak around them, you just had to YOLO it, or get killed.
That does not make the CS any worse though.

One of the weirdest mods I have ever played. No story whatsoever and really ugly mapped areas. No from me.

Pretty nice mod. It had many different areas to explore, ancient egypt temple, a mine, desert areas and also a full castle base or whatever that was. I also liked the naval base quite a bit.
The weapons were really nice, the best of them being the STG. It was really powerful in your hands, but many enemies also could deal a ton of damage with it. You only had the surprise factor on your side, if you could not see the enemy, you were ******.
The puzzles could be a bit cryptic at times and the sneak part is still one of the most horrible stages I have ever played, I noclipped the entire stage because I was always spotted.
Some of the weapons of the Nazis are a bit overpowered. A rocket launcher which fired 3 rockets in rapid succession and a MG which had absolute accuracy.
But other than that, pretty cool mod, although a bit cheesy

I think it was quite good, had fantastic gunplay and also a cool sneak mechanic. None of the puzzles were cryptic and you always knew where to go after a bit of searching.
I also liked the new voice lines for the terrorists.
The mod is fairly short and the ending is ****. You also don't find a lot of ammo for some weapons, while arguably, the SMG is the best weapon, the terrorists carry it and you'll always have enoght ammunition.
The ending is very anticlimactic and idiotic, I would say. Play for yourself to see.

Digged this.
The first two maps were absolutely great. I liked the circus and loved the tibetian temple. The gameplay was fair and balanced, but had some really cryptic "puzzles", f.e. in the third map: How are you supposed to know that you could break the generator door? I tried it, but did not hit the breakable area of the door, but the unbreakable one. I left because I was sure it could not be broken and was thus stuck.

Buut the challenges and all of the surroundings were excellently done.