Amnesia: Rebirth Spiel
All the jokes aside, I am revisiting Rebirth in 2024. What Amnesia did best in 2010 was its coherence in Lovecraftian world-building. The fragile protagonist character, who decidedly chose to cope with insanity by drinking an amnesia potion, is well calibrated with the player’s mindset. We don’t know what’s lurking in the medieval castle, and so is Daniel. As we progress, not only the secret unveils itself in-world, we, the players, are also growing accustomed to it. This was a significant milestone of the era. The players don’t know about the dangers of the eldritch truth, and the protagonists are conditioned not to know of it either. Rebirth takes a step back and tells a story of a protagonist, who is more reminiscent of Oswald from A Machine for Pigs, someone who is already thrown in the manners of all things magical but also happens to be an amnesic.
As this post is being published in 2024, a year later since The Bunker, it’s surprising how much of the new material was already present. And it is also jarring how many of these new systems were poorly received to begin with: sanity system with “healing” mechanic, multiple sources for light, less focus on hiding as the protagonist was constantly traveling, and few others. Rebirth is simply not tied into a single location, and the element of adventure genre mixing into the horror that is quite different from what Amnesia franchise normally offered.
The question of immortality is also present in the predecessor —the seemingly immortal nature of Tasi Trianon, the protagonist. The game explicitly shows that she doesn’t “die”, and her near death experience is replaced with losing small progress in-game. Any challenges the game throws at the player, in the end, becomes a tedious setback at best or frustrating experience at worst. If a player cannot fail due to a design choice, experience from near failures or fear factors inadvertently becomes watered down.
The game offers richer storytelling in the Other World, an in-universe home world of many antagonists of the series. If Lovecraftian world-building is the strong suit of the franchise, there is no doubt horror-adventure experience in the dark world is the strong suit of Rebirth. The world which was once a home of an alien empire is no more, and the player, for the first time in the series, gets to see the home world Alexander yearned for in the original. In turn, the game is letting go of Lovecraftian horror. Through the common trope that is mysterious archeological sites and devices, the characters finally have a say in their destiny, and the unknown is merely a set dressing.
What becomes of these characters are what Rebirth doesn’t redo. According to the time line, the events of The Dark Descent took place first in 19th century, followed by A Machine for Pigs at the end of the century. In 20th century, the events of The Bunker took place in 1916. Tasi flew to Algeria in 1937, and we see the references of characters from previous installments, and most of these references render the efforts of each characters mentioned moot. Take for example, Alexander from the first game, his home world is in utter destruction, or Oswald from the second game, the war he wanted to stop happened. These closures weren’t necessary for previous installments nor their characters, but the cosmic horror the game presents seems to be microcosmic at best, affecting a close-knit community.
Coclusion: What will become of Amnesia?
I wrote a review for Rebirth years ago which I decided not to publish at the time. I enjoyed the game more as an adventure into the desolate world than a survival horror against ghouls named harvesters. While the game tried to bring in new gameplay elements, many of them did not sit well with the existing systems. And the closures for the lore, if they are truly closures, don’t leave much room for a sequel. It’s no wonder the following installment is a prequel. What will become of the franchise is yet to be found. Perhaps it would be more prudent to find future in Soma, another one of the great horror game from the same developers.