For years I deftly evaded playing an Amnesia game for the benefit of my brain. I don't like being terrified by videogames (real life is scary enough), but a few years ago I told a friend I hadn't played The Dark Descent and he got really excited by the idea of watching me play it, so I gave in. When the lights were on, I loved the little things that still stand out about Amnesia—the analog feel of pulling doors and drawers open, the ornate puzzles, the creepy teeth clattering. But the hours spent standing in pitch-black stillness while a monster had his way with the hallway, wondering why I'd signed up to be unhappy, were so unnerving that I essentially wrote off that type of game for good.
Then I heard the newest Amnesia sequel—Amnesia: The Bunker—has a gun, and I just had to see what that's about. I've always understood the unspoken rule of Amnesia games to be a constant state of defenselessness. How can Amnesia still be Amnesia when you have the hardware to fight back?
