News from Frictional Games, developers the Amnesia series have announced their latest title Amnesia: Rebirth. This will be the followup to the critically acclaimed Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and will be released on PlayStation 4 and PC (Steam) later this year. No news whether this will be for release for Xbox One as of yet.
For those who are unaware, Amnesia: The Dark Descent is considered a horror classic and one that started a very popular trend in horror that games like Outlast would follow. It implemented elements of Cosmic horror and fear infused gameplay. The team behind it, Frictional Games continued on their streak of success with an existential horror game you might know as SOMA.
What is Amnesia: Rebirth?
The sequel is set to bring us a new protagonist, new location and a brand new story that will surely terrify us. As creative director Thomas Grip has stated in a recent PlayStation Blog post: “In horror, repetition is a deadly sin. You need to keep players on their toes at all times. We’ve had to twist expectations, refine old features, and up the ante on everything you’ve seen from us.”
“As you might expect from a Frictional game, we’re not simply going for a carnival attraction of jumpscares. Amnesia: Rebirth is an emotionally harrowing journey—something different, something less predictable. It will test you in ways you haven’t experienced before, and will make you think about the things that really scare you.”
A New Spin on Amnesia
Of course, we can’t forget that some aspects of horror haven’t aged that well, either. The development team at Frictional Games is aware of the changes horror has faced as of late. According to the blog post: “These days, simple horror isn’t enough. We want to take you beyond horror and out the other side — and see whether you’ll stand the weight of what we put you through. ”
Honestly, it would be amazing if we got another attempt at the kind of horror brought by Eternal Darkness. Amnesia brought the Sanity effect into its scares. However, it didn’t go above and beyond to scare the player with 4th wall breaking sequences. This could be a great time for Frictional to experiment with the kind of horror that would taunt the player as well as the protagonist.
You can watch the announcement trailer below. You can also visit the official website here for more information. Amnesia is due for release this Fall.
