Amnesia: The Dark Descent, one of the most critically acclaimed horror titles, is getting a full-fledged sequel. Frictional Games has announced that the next entry in the series, dubbed Amnesia: Rebirth, will be launching this Fall for the PC and PlayStation 4. The studio also released a brief trailer for the game, and from the looks of it, it’s going to be even scarier than the previous ones.
According to the developer, Amnesia: Rebirth will have you playing as Tasi Trianon, as you attempt to make your way through the Algerian wasteland. Your limits will apparently be tested, as it states in the post that Tasi will be grappling with “devastation and despair, personal terror and pain.” From what we can see in the trailer, the famous, or infamous, Amnesia gameplay is back in full force. This includes horrifying creatures hiding in the darkness, weird and unnerving objects, the game messing around with your brain by defacing the interface, and a protagonist that is trying to figure out their past along the way.
Frictional Games first got into the video game industry by creating the survival horror franchise Penumbra which spanned three separate titles with varying degrees of success. However, it wasn’t until 2010 when the company experienced worldwide success with Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The game was, and still is, considered to be one of the greatest horror games in history, and put the studio on the map. Frictional Games wanted to continue the success of the series but were already committed to another project. Therefore, they licensed the Amnesia name to another studio, The Chinese Room, who developed Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Releasing in the Summer of 2013, the game had bit of a mixed reception due to its harrowing development process, and overwhelming pressure to outperform the previous title.
Frictional Games won back some of the audience with their next IP, Soma, which released in 2015. Taking place underwater in a dystopian environment, the game was compared favorably to Bioshock while also implementing the Amnesia game style which effectively created an absolutely tense and eerie atmosphere for the player to interact with. While we don’t have a lot of information on Rebirth, we’re more than likely in store for some more reveals heading into the Spring and Summer. If we learned anything from this announcement, is that Frictional Games knows their audience, and that means more scary environments and more traumatic scenes that will haunt us for years to come.
Amnesia:Rebirth will launch in Fall 2020 for the PlayStation 4 and PC through Steam.