Reviews - Skelatilian04

Amnesia: Through the Portal is a decent relatively short custom story that's main draw is its great visuals. It takes place after the 'Agrippa' Ending of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, as you attempt to escape this world you have been taken to.

I did not pay attention to the story all too much, so this will not be very thorough. This mod would have worked very well on its own with no connection to its source material, as the connection to Justine is VERY forced. Its like the creator just wanted to force a connection where there was none, which annoyed me. It also seemed to be the only connection to Alexander, which is strange, as I assumed that I followed him through the portal, so it feels as if he should have been there. If there is something I misunderstood I would then blame the lack of plot, as there are just random notes from a bunch of people who I have no connection to.

But the story is a background to the marvelous world of the custom story. The orange skies were beautiful, the strange towers were intriguing, and the rooms that had like 'blue technology' was breathtaking. The colors were very distinct. Apart from OUTSIDE being really dark, I LOVE the visuals. Well done with that. And the notes regarding the realms, the history, and the weird Laeruk - are interesting even though the characters are just lorereaders. They showcase a new world and new concepts that are interesting.

The scares, however, are a mixed bag. There are two moments where i heard an alien growl, which terrified me and made me NOPE out of there, but it didn't seem to be anything. That is scary as it makes me unsure about its nature. There is a moment in a dark room with a switch which creeped me out a bit. On the other hand, there were just monster roaming the library which was easy due to many fixed obstacles. There was an entity chase scene which was very 'Am I supposed to be scared' as it had very little presence. Likely due to the fact that I could easily outrun it, the areas were way too open, and the went by way too fast - I would say that enemy wasn't very good. A very mixed bag of spooks.

There was a weird lever puzzle, but I think I accidentally 'solved' it by jumping over them. And then I was killed. But apart from that no puzzles really stuck out all that much.

I touched on this earlier, but I think the levels are a bit too big for typical monster encounters. In those sorts of environments block-offs for the player are fantastic to prevent the player from running around how they would like. But the few monster encounters in the custom story did no such thing, either blocking off the monster from moving or proving that no slower monster can match you in a wide environment. And even if he monster was terrifying, being able to run around in that sort of environment, would lessen the tension as you would get used to it quickly. But this is mitigated with the lack of monster encounters.

But despite all this, I did like the custom story. The great world, and cool notes were nice. The negatives with the story and scares, although they annoy me, are not a substantial part of the mod. It is clear the effort went into the new alien planet, and for succeeding in that, I would recommend it on that alone.

That's it for me.

EDIT: I also fell through the world in the dark room with the switch, and it took like 30 - 60 seconds to die and respawn. That was annoying.

'Followed by Death is a custom story that is good, just doesn't really stand out in any way. The monster encounters are tense, the plot is fine, the puzzles are OK, and the atmosphere is creepy.

You play as a guy whose wife was killed by a monster, and decides to run to a castle in order to escape. After stumbling upon a method in which he could get his wife back, he feels the need to keep going deeper into the castle. One criticism I have regarding the plot, is how quickly the protagonist goes from running for his life to stating that he should stay in the castle with monster around. Just seems a bit too quick is all. But apart from the that, the diary entries of a man going to different people in an attempt to stop what is chasing him is quite engaging. They are spaced out between tense levels, and as the protagonist starts to figure more out. It's pretty cool.

The monster encounters are pretty strong within the story, specifically regarding one area where multiple enemies patrol with some rooms nearby by some of them include visuals that deplete your sanity rapidly - bringing the monsters to you. This is mostly looked over in most mods that I play, generally just having you stealth around the monster in a library, so it is a nice addition to see this sort of design. Another good and quick moment involved getting chased by a monster through a flooded area, that worked because of the lack of big chases throughout most of the mod. And how the monsters stop coming after you in the story, is really appreciative, especially in comparison to the ones that seem to be everywhere and have nothing to slow them down. Although that in and of itself is not bad, as an unstoppable force-of-nature is also scary - I love what is done here.

The puzzles mostly involve finding a bunch of items, and using those items. I only really think 1 is remarkable, and it involves using a different item on an unusual place for the item. Other than that, it was mix chemical and stuff life that.

Dungeons and castles always creep me out, so this is easy, but the levels in the mod are good. There are generally multiple ways to go, with each area serving as a branch-off from the center. It's nothing spectacular, but the amount of time I spent in those rooms made me like them more.

Although I like 'Followed by Death', I can't really say it was a must play. It's monster encounters were pretty good, but everything else wasn't as good. I guess I can say it just wasn't for me, but I don't even think that. It doesn't necessarily have anything wrong, just nothing that I would remember.

That's it for me.

La Caza is a mod that had me scared throughout most of its runtime, which is more than I can say about other mods.

You play a scientist who crashes near the ruins of an ancient temple, with the motivation of initially just finding your way through in order to find people - I guess. The problem is that the story is a bit thin, as the 'Scientite' stuff is quickly thrown out in favor of trying to get out. That would have been fine, if there was resolution regarding the material, but as it stands it seems to just be used as a plot device to get the protagonist to the place. And the plane crash happened because someone wanted it to. Not a huge fan of that, but good... I guess.

The music and visuals are all standard Amnesia, they get the job of being suitably tension setting.

The 'puzzles' were relatively simple just involving using an item that you need to find on another object to progress.

Although there is a lack of typical scares, the amount of tension in this mod is substantial. I had to pause a few times to catch my breath, and that was mainly due to walking around decently large levels and not being able to fully map it properly without wasting a lot of resources. There was just enough oil in the mod to make me keep going but the levels were just poorly lit enough to still be apprehensive enough to not want to keep going.

And it became much worse when I ran out of oil in the tomb section. I was terrified to turn off my lantern beforehand because it was so dark. And when I ran out of oil, my paranoia skyrocketed, and I couldn't walk around without me clenching. But the tension does start dropping when actual threats start appearing (barring one specific encounter), as they become a clear focus of the terror. But they were still good enough, as they appeared during moments in which the tension would be slowly rising and be a good payoff.

I would say that La Caza is a good mod particularly because of its atmosphere, and that the other aspects being OK, is what keeps it from being a truly great mod.

That's it for me.

White Night is a mod that is very good but I cannot see myself calling a favorite.

The story of the mod is good, and the structure of the mod is quite 'interesting'. The first half of the mod is a slow curious trek through the mental asylum trying to find your way through, and it is with the interviews with Dr. S that you are guided onto finding out what happened to you. I think that the second half is better than the first, because I cannot see a reason to be doing anything in half one in regards to the context of the second half. It makes the first half seem like it is just there to trick the player (and David) into thinking something else is happening, which would be fine if not for what is revealed in the second half making it seem like the first half was supposed to have some significant meaning. But the first half doesn't reinforce it as it just seems like random hospital and insanity levels. As it stands, the first half pads out the length of the mod, and if it was cut to 1 third the overall quality would have been improved.

The puzzles are include things like finding something to interact with in the level to progress and input multiple solutions to get a thing. Biggest example is looking around a room for an item which fell behind a bed, and interacting with it spawns a key. The item was connected to something else and that made a noise so I can see why I would be directed there, it was more an annoyance than anything. The other type was a puzzle in which there were two possible combinations and you have to input them both to figure out which one is correct. That's nice. (I hate any form of trial-and-error, but this is less egregious than other types so its almost OK)

The music is pretty good, so points there. The use of the piano is what stuck with me. It is quite sombre, and set the tone of the story quite nicely.

The assets do seem to be lifted from Penumbra, but this mod is one of the few that actually uses the assets. And this is not small, the addition of computers, engines, phones, and cassettes really helps sell the more modern setting of the mod. That is big plus in my book. Also the flashlight is a really cool thing to have.

The most successful scares was the optional one, where you can look somewhere in which there is nothing and an apparition pops up. Gave me quite a scare the first time. And that apparition was my main source of fear throughout the play-through. Any monsters that appeared didn't freak me out as much as that damned thing.

And a big problem I noticed is the amount of time just spent walking, with nothing happening and no tension being built. That is where a lot of my apprehension went away and turned to annoyance. Going down a ladder, and then around a room, and then back up a ladder, with nothing happening is frustrating for me.

Although I can't really say I enjoyed the mod all that much, I can say it was an experience any Amnesia fan should have. It is very different to other mods, as rather than the threat being mostly physical it focuses on trying to assault your senses with few monster appearances, which is admirable. But I still didn't find it scary.

That's it for me.

Amnesia: The Attic is a custom story that starts and ends good, but has a middle section that really does not belong. The lack of relevant levels, over-reliance on key hunts, and the significant dip in quality due to the village section lowered the value of this mod. The scares and patrol sequences as well as a decent enough plot motivation helps with driving me to keep playing.

Most of the scares in the mod are either very spooky jump-scares; sometimes they are built-up to such as finding a body on the ground and then appearing behind you when you aren't looking, though most of the time it is just a very loud scream which gets a very cheap fright out of me. The rest of the time it is either a monster, or a bit of a creepy atmosphere - something that is occasional in my experience. In the return to the mansion portions of the story, the monsters had their music removed which really aided in the tension as it was certain at that point that I would be able to tell for certain that I was safe. The section towards the start with grunt, a section with a brute in the underground areas, and the final grunt encounter were the most standout encounters in the entire mod. The first two have you taking risks in order to progress and the darkness coupled with a somewhat limited oil supply terrified me enough to dread going through the hallways. Another effective sequence involves a brute patrolling a very small area with no defined hiding spots, so I had to keep moving to stay out of sight - I had fun here. The final grunt encounter is still good in relation to the previous encounters, but with a level that is a bit too large, it was more a case of waiting for the monster to move, it lost a lot of its tension.

One particular level that stands out as having too much underutilised space is the village section. In the village there are a lot of houses but unfortunately most of them are inaccessible, there are very few signs that the town was once a bustling town that was full of people, and invisible walls are in places that make the area seem smaller than it is. Some of the other areas do not utilise their location to their fullest potential. The Machine Room, has a key in one of the rooms; and other areas such as Mansion at the start are scary, and feel like the location that the creator was trying to make. And the cellar later in the mod is indeed creepy.

But the levels have a problem regarding padding. After the initial foray into the Attic, the mod does not seem to know what to do with itself in regards to locations. It inexplicably goes to a village, to a temple, to a random house which leads to cellar leading to the temple, and arguably the dungeon. Each of these locations feel like padding as they mostly involve finding a key to progress but having no reason for why the character is progressing in that direction. Escaping from the Mansion to the village is fine, to try to get to more people. Finding out what is going on is fine as well, as the character assumes some people made it out. However after that, in order to escape from your pursuers, you go to an abandoned shack which eventually leads back to the starting area in the beginning of the mod. This all feels like padding, and a journey from the village back to the Mansion, on the same path, but instead being chased by multiple monsters would have been a fine way to return you to the place. But instead, time is wasted on fetch quests, hiding, and running around.

The plot is OK at the start and in some other areas. Derrick (You) have been warned not to go into the Attic because Daddy has Dark Secrets. You become curious and go into the Attic only for magic man Daddy, to start attacking you. The monsters do have some context regarding the plot, rather than just being some spooky threat that the villain borrowed from Alexander. Maybe it was the side effect of medicine, maybe it was an experiment, or it might even be mind control. The monsters do have their own presence, as do some of the characters. The dad does things because of course he does. The mother has some interesting conflict with the father, and a consequence of that also aids in your journey. Unfortunately, beyond the scary Attic there is almost no story to be engaged in. It is just scary stuff happening to Derrick with some explanation. Even the final encounter is disappointing, with no struggle, just a spring-type ending.

The secret room was rewarding but a bit too easy to find, and I basically never needed oil again. More of this was needed.

The Attic met my expectations. It was a solid mod at the start and throughout some of the end, with the rest falling bellow my expectations. It has some overall decent scares and sequences, an OK story, and some creepy and fun locations. But with padded levels, the meh side of story, and the rest of the sequences, it becomes another in the pile of disappointing mods.

That's it for me.

Abduction is a really good Amnesia mod, even if it does not do anything unique with the material. It involves an older Daniel defeating Alexander...again. It is mainly an extension of the original game, with some features used a bit more than others.

The monster encounters, for example, are too frequent. There can be at least 2 grunt encounters in the same area, for at least 5 different levels. TDD did this as well, but in that case the encounters were bunched up into the latter half of the game, and there was more build-up in regards to these creatures that you have never seen. It also felt far more effective when the monsters did appear rather than how distilled it is when this mod does it due to frequent encounters. This is more of a symptom of the first half of the mod being pointless, as the same objective is present throughout the second half that is in the first half. Had the first half of the mod been tweaked severely to be much shorter than it is here, then the frequent monster encounters would more easily be seen as a method of the custom story being a continuation of the original's story, and could have served a more effective mod overall.

That isn't the only problem though. Enemies that vanish after picking up an item, and the same enemies are implied to be patrolling, but you do not see them patrolling. Instead they only reappear when an important item is picked up. This unintentionally makes the levels feel as if there are more monsters and the tension drops far too often to keep the scares effective. If the monsters were seen to be patrolling, the tension would be held, and the excessive monster complaint would be less prevalent(at least for me).

But these do not prevent me from enjoying a fun mod. Although the monster encounters dilute it a bit, looking for items in dark areas is still really tense and fun. There are a good amount of items to find, with a decent supply of oil and tinderboxes, to puzzle items that are reused in other rooms. The puzzle items are nothing new, but playing something familiar that is trying to be like TDD, rather than being stuck with it, is a nice change.

There are a few exciting and tense levels in the game. Most of the scares come from when a monster DOESN'T appear, such as the brute's growls playing when there is no brute nearby or the grunt spawn sound effect playing - but the grunt isn't here. The other tense parts mostly involve not being able to hide from a monster in a super convenient closet, and instead have to use the environment which is somewhat well-suited for hiding, but you have to keep your wits about you instead of just waiting for the monster to despawn in a closet. It's just too bad that they despawn at all. But still good.

The two best puzzles involve a maze you have to go through using a note, but the note isn't the most reliable direction giver. It is a section which isn't too scary, but it did remind me of some Penumbra sections, and stands out. The other puzzle, this time in the traditional sense, involved deciphering a note in which you have to find the correct code to input. It was really creative and the solution made sense, even if I was annoyed with certain sections of it. Other puzzles involve making a potion, going through a rusty lock, finding a key, pulling some switches, and some other typical Amnesia puzzles. They are enjoyable and improve the quality of the mod.

The story is very basic, and going after Alexander does not sound too exciting. But the notes in the second half of the game are particularly interesting with some relevant notes based on experimentation of items such as the amnesia potion. And more interesting is the exploration of the 'Love' of Alexander. The notes written by her makes Alexander seem more like an idiot that needed to be punched.

However it is the awesome 10/10 final encounter that makes everything worth it. It is so jarring in regards to tone, that it made me love this custom story and give it an 8. But if do you look at it more seriously it is a *facepalm* scene. But no matter what I'll love it.

It doesn't bother me excessively, as Daniel and Alexander never talking would be really out-of-character and awkward, but the white text replacing verbal speech on the screen is a bit hard to immerse yourself in. I don't really know what to do about it though, so it didn't affect me.

The hub worlds looked visually interesting, but most of the areas were really dark. It did make the brighter areas stand out more, so that's good.

Also took me 5-6 hours to beat, and it does feel bloated at times. But it is a good length.

Abduction isn't the most spectacular mod for Amnesia, but with some good scares and atmosphere, a fun final section, some pretty neat puzzles, and some interesting notes: I would recommend this mod to anyone who likes Amnesia despite the problems with the monsters.

That's it for me.

Personally, Poisonous is a really disappointing custom story that doesn't do anything all that well. The scares are alright but get undermined quickly, the ending is the type of the ending an amateur would write after realising they forgot to resolve the story, and both the castle and the cellar areas were just OK. If it was not for the fun puzzles, and the nice amount of rewards for exploration I would say this sucked as a mod.

You play as 'the protagonist' whose fiance, Rachel, gets kidnapped (for some reason) and taken to the local castle of spooks. It is a genuine reason to go deeper into the castle, rather than just to explore. The only other story that is revealed is that of a woman's diary that notes the happenings roughly around the time of her husband's insanity. The story is fine, but what ruined it for me was the non-resolution of the story both in regards to the kidnappers and in regards to Rachel. The kidnappers motives are never revealed, and you do not even hear Rachel at the end of the game to be sure she escaped. The story felt rushed and incomplete, so it doesn't mean much that the protagonist has a reason to go to the castle.

None of the mod's locations are too interesting on their own but as they branch off from a main hallway for the two major areas of the game, they don't ever fall to terrible status. The best thing about is that they loop around, however the rooms do not have anything interesting on their own to get me to care about them.

It is good then, that the puzzles are all varying degrees of good. Getting into the castle may or may not be unintuitive, but only because I haven't seen it before - and it is a cool way to get in. The secret room was hard to find and there were no clues that there even was, until I found it. The map is small enough that you will eventually find it without a guide so I'll say that I wasn't observant. The pressure plate puzzle has too many red herrings for me to be satisfied with but its also somewhat thoughtful with a fun solution. And the last two are pretty nice as well, one of which is particularly awesome.

But puzzles in isolation do not make for a great mod. The scary parts are very bad apart from the grunt introduction. The part where you trip is very silly, and it being how you meet the monster is not good. It really isn't there, the protagonist has never seen them before so how can he have nightmares about them? At least the other monster was introduced after discovering a scuffle involving Rachel. It was good, but what happens being fake is annoying. Maybe the next thing is a bug, but in the cellar sections, the monsters disappeared too quickly making it really easy to progress. It dilutes the tension, so keeping them around would have been better.

Speaking of technical problems, the biggest complaint with my EXPERIENCE with the mod, is the extreme amounts of lag I've experienced that annoyed me to the extent that playing was a chore. The fact that a lot of it stops after solving a certain puzzle, and other mods with similar environments run fine, led me to believe that this mod was very poorly optimised even on minimal settings. If it is indeed a problem on my end however, I will gladly retract my statements.

What I will say is that this mod does side exploration well. Spending a bit of extra time in a room will give you oil and tinderboxes, which are always helpful. It also helps that these items are not in abundance or shortage. I felt like I had just enough to push my way through, though that may be a result of the mod being too easy.

Regarding the voice acting and sounds overall: it's a mixed bag. The voice acting is OK, it felt chuckle-worthy at times, but there was an attempt to act like these characters. For a mod that you can get for free, that is admirable. But allowing the actors to be looser in there acting would have made it less ridiculous (and robotic), and more experienced voice-actor level. Maybe.

However, I despise two repeating tracks of music(?). One mostly occurred in the upper areas of the castle with extremely loud metallic screeching, and made me want to mute the sounds, and the rest of the sounds were fine (tone-wise) in the area. The annoyingly bombastic music when solving a certain puzzle made me mute the game to solve it, as it did require some quiet time to both wind down and solve. It would have been better to keep the music calm at the start, and ramp up intensity towards the end. As it stands, the sounds are either obnoxious or unremarkable.

And that's what this mod mostly was to me: unremarkable. The puzzles were interesting, the exploration was good, the voice acting was fine,and the levels were OK. If everything else was that level it would have been an 8. But due to clunky sounds, lack of strong consistent scares, major technical problems, and an ending that made me go 'WHAT' verbally - I would not recommend this mod to those looking for quality.

That's it for me.

Nepsis started out as a traditional story about escaping monsters, but become more interesting as the story unfolded.

The introduction is very pedestrian. You are in a mansion, starting in a bedroom and go down to the basement fro some spooks - none of this is terrible, it just doesn't mesh well with what comes later on. But the introduction in the white void is a lot better in this regard. If it was tweaked, it could have been a proper introduction, and been overall better for it.

The white void is more thematically appropriate, than anything else as it is the place where mind and body meet, with the puzzle being appropriate to that. The white void looks impressive, especially after abundance of stories that I've played that are almost entirely dark drab. Here it makes for a nice contrast, and if the puzzle solution worked better, then I would have loved it. The reappearance and the reversal later on has these voids stick out in my mind as the best parts of the mod.

It is just too bad then, that it really isn't too scary. The best it has is monsters growling at you while you try to make your way through a maze in the mansion sections. It works better when you know everything is in your head rather than realising it 10 minutes in. You wander around not knowing when you might be attacked, until you reach the room you were supposed to get to. If that doesn't sound exciting, well it does not get any better. Another section involves hiding from a monster while looking for a key. That was pointless and it was a standard encounter that could be easily ignored.There was no reason to be able to see the monster in regards to the story.

The section looking for the hammer is better, but only because of the story and game play working in tandem to make the area stand out more. It was too quick for me to actually care enough about the section.

The mod is short, I finished it in 1 - 1.5 hours, but not overstaying its welcome stopped the castle, dungeon and mansion sections from being annoying.

And to be honest, without the intriguing backstory and visual storytelling, I would have been very annoyed with the rest of the mod. But since the story is the best part, it really is hard to recommend without spoiling. Without spoiling it, I can say it was cool to see something different to the 'Attack of the Gatherers' story-lines.

SPOILER SECTION:

Now for SPOILERS, keep in mind this is based off of my memory:

So basically what happens is that you drank a potion of Dimethyltryptamine and start to battle against your deteriorating instincts to hurt and/or care for others. You play as the part of your mind that keeps emotions in check so that they do not go too far. The potion removes your control, and starts to destroy you from the inside-out.

Each level represents both a memory and a battle to get your consciousness back. The first and second maps labelled 'Wake' and 'EatingArea' in the map files is your mind breaking apart as a memory before the story really starts. Them being the intro is honestly misleading in regards to the rest of the story, but it has a clear intent.

The white void ('TripLand') is where you and your consciousness meet outside memories, and going to the same place of water is establishing a connection between consciousness. And that would have worked better as an introduction, as you had to guide your instincts to place of being many time to start going through your memories.

And then you start going through you memories in an attempt to get closer and closer to the core of the consciousness, going through the 'Library' and 'Laboratory' memories as they are closer to your other self due to being the places of understanding regarding the drug (I'm stretching BTW). The enemies you encounter here are the other self attempting the fight you off, by going in a suitor form, and make growling noises in the maze. The maze is okay but the tension is lost when you realise it is auditory and really easy to avoid the suitor.

In 'HellLand' you... do something important. I guess. I legitimately forgot.

In 'Escape' you fight against the "true" form of your instincts, which is and invisible enemy with the sounds of a suitor, and the presence of a water monster. It was a pretty tense encounter, and having to force your way past with a hammer is a cool end to your battle.

Finally, in 'Mind', you go through the white void, the black void with a blue trail to help you get deeper. You eventually get to your body, and with what little control you have you kill yourself to stop from hurting anyone else - your instincts felt a need to hurt something according to the notes. And getting back control is more harmful as you may destabilise yourself in your body. Cool.

END OF SPOILERS

Overall the mod is barely held up by its story and levels. The scares, puzzles and atmosphere overall take a backseat which is unfortunate. It took about an hour to beat so give it a shot.

That's it for me.

SPOILERS

*Sigh* This is a disappointing mod that I have played for Amnesia, although it is not bad: I simply have so many issues with it that it hampered my enjoyment of the mod that I really think could have been improved the overall experience. But it is still good and had the potential to be great

The story of you, Lee Hawkins, in his investigation of the town of Gothfair which eventually turns into an attempt the Guardian of the Orb from destroying...things (the world, I guess)is done in a good way, as the transition from the more normal landscapes and encounters of the actual town, to the tense nature of essentially every other locale in the game, allows for Gothfair to feel homey, especially with the addition of things to do - that are admittedly small. You can open and lock your very OWN ROOM, which is a neat little thing but I feel as if more could have been done with it, such as maybe trapping someone else in the room. It would have added a practical use for the key, which otherwise did not.

Speaking of 'someone', the amount of "different" encounters in this game can be interesting, as they are more than just Amnesia monsters. They actually talk to you and have motivations and feelings. Mister Jonathan, which is both an Empty "Child" and a Broach, Harry the suitor, Waldon the actual brute of a man, another weird guy, a bunch of wolves, and a statue thing. The least interesting one of these are the wolves, as even if you try to add 'Demon' to it, its just a crappy dog. The rest of the encounters are way too similar to count for anything other than stating that there are many monsters to encounter.

Now for the 'RPG', for lack of a better term, elements, such as being able to buy your own equipment but it being random, optional quests that I cannot find, and.......that's it. Now the idea of you being able to buy equipment of your own is a good one, for a mod, as it allows for a sense of choice and forces the player to make decisions on whether to use an item for oil or a desperate sanity potion, but the fact that it's just random kind of makes the mechanic just drift in my mind. It's is not particularly bad or good-it's just there, and that is due to the fact that I got oil a lot which is something I was having a problem with.

Now the NPC models are...strange, to say something. Most are pieces of armour, and they did not really bother me. But the little Alma girl was terrifying. I thought she would turn out to be the head Honco herself at the end, but no she's just creepy for the sake of being creepy. And the somewhat forced backstory of her losing her eyes seems to me to be a way of justifying the unintentionally creepy model. But at least there were models, and characters, which I give huge props for.

Now I am just going to go into short bursts of major rants that I had during the mod. 3..2..1. Why is there so little Oil, I can't see anything, I cannot see anything, I cannot see anything- it is understandable earlier on why oil is not everywhere-(I used it all) but later on it becomes so scarce that all tension is lost and it becomes frustrating. SPEAKING OF FRUSTRATING, whose idea WAS IT TO KEEP RESPAWNING YOU IN FRONT Of the onehit-millionhits monster without of Cawking light source, because of a lack of light my frustration levels increased beyond reason and I began to despise the mod. I died over and over again until I just cheated to get through. This does not impact the score all too much because I ended up using 2 full tanks worth of oil in the first chapter, but if that was intentional, then 4/10 for you.

Now the actual scares...after the initial nights of exploring the village and with the ambient sound of wolves howling terrifying me and having me too scared to progress, I lost interest due to lack of things happening and lac of light.

The differing environments had allowed the 12 hours of game-play that I had experienced to fly by so good job on that. You seem to have a good understanding of pacing in regards to story, as things were ramping up at a relatively constant pace, with enough breaks in between to make the experience not drag. But it really did drag down the spooky atmosphere on the first night.

Towards the end it becomes more action oriented and the already-hard to take seriously voice-actors turned into full-fledged text-to-speech robots (excluding Alma and Lee).There is a chase scene, a ridiculous boss fight and bombastic soundtrack that strides away from the beginning, but at a fair enough pace so as not to feel out of place.

Now I do not regret playing this mod and there was more I could talk about, but I'm limited in what I can write (CHARACTER LIMIT IS STUPID), but if you enjoy a variety of locations, and slightly quirky story and mechanics then play it, you'll likely enjoy it far more than I did. Also the music is Kick-***, whether it is the out-of-place ones, or the themes of the differing areas. The English is pretty bad tho.

That's it for me.

Penumbra: Twilight of the Archaic (TOTA) is a mod of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, based off of the Penumbra series that had potential, but I feel as if it was not utilised to its fullest. I like it better (slightly) than the previous iteration, Necrologue, but the longer hunter encounters as well as the decent length allowed me to enjoy it.

After a wasted introduction that could have been expanded on more with you being chased by Zombies and having learn more through this tense encounter could have made a great set-up and an amazing introduction to a decent mod. You play as Eleanor a researcher in the facility of the Archaic, and is attempting to escape now that the infection has spread to her closest allies. You go through a section with a morgue and a hunter, which was good for what it was as you see all the damage occurring to the facility by Frisk and the Zombies, and made for a tense encounter. You then go through a few puzzles to reach insane Professor Wilmar, who is essentially the only friendly voice in the facility.

The puzzles themselves are, in my opinion, too simplistic and does not test anything that is higher than put things together and function. The difficulty instead the exploration to find the items and tools needed to progress. The exploration is made a lot easier, and better due to the smaller size of the areas and makes for a more positive experience because of it. But I found myself unable to find the way to continue without a guide, especially in the mine area, and it dampened my experience.

I have the same problem with the Overweight Wilmar that I do with the slithery Frisk-they look scary, but there is not enough built u with either if them to make for a terrifying encounter.

The use of environments is varied and nice as a callback to requiem, but were too dry in terms of atmosphere to envelop me in the freshness.

Even later into the game when you meet Specimen 12 (hehe), whilst he does increase the tension due to being the first proper patrol area that is maze-like in the mod, the darkness as well as his admittedly cool idea of using flares was both frustrating and slightly memorable, but due to his...quirks, he is made more of a obstacle rather than a proper focus in that part of the game. Plus he was annoying... and funny.

However there is a bold ending[s?], a very Penumbra art-style, new enemies, a few cool chase sequences as well as a great introduction makes me give it a recommendation-if you have nothing else to be playing or you really like Penumbra.

Although I like this slightly better (though it fluctuates) Necrologue does more things better than this, but is still a fun experience overall. Another thing-it did not scare me too much, other than the intro.

That's it for me.

P.S. There are multiple technical problems here such as getting stuck in a conveyor belt and not being able to return without a restart, freezing during loading screens, crashing on Linux which I played on before,being unable to start the game on anything but high settings or it won't start, and freezing during progression flashes. Had these been addressed I feel as if I would have been more immersed and more scared by the new introductions.