Review by Stayd - Amnesia - The Fugitive - Episode Three mod for Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Maybe I'm cynical. Maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. Maybe I was just in the wrong mood.
Whatever the case, I didn't really enjoy my time with The Fugitive - Episode Three, and I think that counts for something.

This is going to be a long review, as I have much to talk about. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but I'm not here to be witty.
The Fugitive's shortcomings are largely matters of design, and game design is a complicated subject, so I hope you can bear with me.

First, a bit of background:
Before playing Episode Three, I decided to play Episode Two, so that I could get a sense for how much progress was made between the two parts.
I skipped Episode One, though. I don't think anyone can blame me for that.
I stopped playing Episode Two between 30-45 minutes in, finding that it's level design was largely uninspired, and it's various puzzles and obstacles were rather trite. I didn't care if it got better after that, because it's introduction failed to inspire anything but apathy in me.
So, in a slightly soured mood, I booted up Episode Three, hoping for something a little more invigorating to get me going. I had followed it while it was in development, and I was excited for something truly special.
It was here that I opened the notepad on my phone and started taking notes about my experience, so that I could more accurately represent my feelings in this review. I ended up writing so many notes that I ran out of space and had to start a second file.
The following are a handful of those notes, as I wrote them while playing:

- "Aside from some bright splashes of color, the levels I've encountered within my first half hour of playing The Fugitive Three have proven rather generic and, at times, even scatter-brained. Worse, two are very blatant copies of levels from The Dark Descent. namely the Old Archives and Storage."
(Note: While the layouts of the levels weren't 1:1 duplicates of the originals, they were too similar for me not to be suspicious of less than savory practices. I would go on to find areas that were similar to the Back Hall, Prison, Sewer, Choir, and Machine Room, as well as a level from The Great Work.)

- "Tasks to go about within the levels are also nauseatingly dull, involving mostly running around and finding objects to be used in a manner that requires no thought. This is the exact opposite of how tasks should be handled in an exploration-driven game."
(Note: To clarify this note, I'm saying that finding objects should be an intuitive and logical process that drives exploration, not a tedious scavenger hunt. Figuring out what to do with the things you've found should be trickier, but would presumably make sense. Penumbra: Overture understood this very well.)

- "Tasks are shaping up to be glorified key quests. Not the worst thing in the world, but it comes off as padding."
(Note: Padding is a term we'll come back to later.)

- "I want to slam my head against a wall until I stop feeling anything."
(Note: I'm exaggerating of course, but this note came after a very frustrating encounter with a Kaernk that had a very poorly communicated solution. Poor communication is another term we'll come back to later.)

- "Found a small cabin in the woods. This area is very serene. Love the atmosphere here."
(Note: One of the few places I actually wanted to explore, and I was never allowed to return.)

[Last entry]
- "I've stopped playing at the Nest of Hunger. I'm tired of being told nothing about what I'm meant to do. As far as I care, this ended when I escaped Marius Castle."

Hopefully you've gained a sense for how I felt while playing, as well as what my more common complaints were, better than I could hope to explain to you.

With regards to poor communication:
One of the biggest pitfalls of game design is not letting the player know what is expected of them. It is nothing short of sheer ignorance to assume that the player will see a tinderbox and assume it points