Amnesia: Rebirth Tones Down Horror in New Adventure Mode
Amnesia: Rebirth is a horror game, made by one of the indie scene's most-popular horror game developers in Frictional Games. It's full of monsters, high tension, and surprises around dark corners. But Frictional Games believes its games are more than just its horror elements, it seems. It believes there's a meaningful experience Amnesia: Rebirth tied to its story, its characters, its art, and its atmosphere. That's why Frictional has decided to de-horror Amnesia: Rebirth in a new Adventure Mode.
Frictional Games confirmed on Tuesday that Amnesia: Rebirth's Adventure Mode is now available via the PC version of the game. The PlayStation 4 version of Adventure Mode will follow in the weeks to come. A summary of Adventure Mode as provided by Frictional is that Adventure Mode removes all "life-threatening encounters" and "harrowing sound and visual effects" within the game. The update is free to download and play for those who own Amnesia: Rebirth.
To be more specific about what Frictional has removed from the game, Amnesia: Rebirth creative lead Fredrik Olsson hosted a developer diary on Adventure Mode. It starts with removing threats, both to the in-game character and to the player's state of fear, which includes all encounters with monsters, as well as jump scares. Next, Adventure Mode tones down the tension and anxiety in the game, including removing frightening sound effects intended to frighten and even by lightening dark areas so that players don't have to be nervous or feel claustrophobic.
If players are worried that the removal of Amnesia: Rebirth's horror gameplay would make the game feel too thin, Frictional decided to add more content to make up for it. There will be several new "bonus puzzles" that expand on the mystery and adventure of the game without making it more frightening.
As for why Frictional made this decision, Olsson elaborates. He says that Frictional acknowledges that "not everyone is into horror" and that the dev team doesn't want "to block people from experiencing [the protagonist's] story." Adventure Mode will open up the experience of the full game to an audience that would otherwise not feel comfortable playing the game.
Olsson goes on to compare Adventure Mode in Amnesia: Rebirth to a similar Safe Mode added for SOMA. Safe Mode apparently opened the game up to a "much broader audience," so perhaps the increased sales alone justify the addition. Frictional discounting Amnesia: Rebirth 40% for the next two weeks, or even larger discounts for those interested in purchasing Frictional bundles, will probably contribute to that, as well.
Amnesia: Rebirth is available now on PC and PS4.
Reviewed by Unknown
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March 30, 2021
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