Amnesia: The Dark Descent Download PC

In addition to a health indicator, Daniel's sanity must be managed, centered around an "afraid of darkness" mechanic. According to designer Thomas Grip, "the idea was basically that the darkness itself should be an enemy." Along with being in darkness too long, witnessing unsettling events, or staring at monsters will reduce Daniel's sanity, causing visual and auditory hallucinations and drawing the attention of monsters. Light sources help restore sanity, and if none are available, Daniel may use tinderboxes to ignite candles in wall sconces and candelabra, or deploy an oil-burning lantern found near the beginning of the game. However, the number of tinderboxes and the amount of oil available are both limited, and standing in a light source also makes the player more noticeable to monsters. The player must balance the amount of time Daniel spends in light and shadow. Sanity is fully restored once Daniel completes an objective or progresses the game's story. It may also be restored by staying in the shadows until Daniel passes out, but this leaves him extremely vulnerable to any nearby monsters.

If a monster spots Daniel, it will chase him until he's out of sight. If spotted, Daniel must flee, as Amnesia does not give the player access to weapons. Daniel must find hiding places or barricade doors with rocks, chairs and other obstacles; however, monsters are capable of tearing down doors in their path and kicking obstacles out of the way, and move extremely fast once they have spotted their prey. Players can also choose to hide Daniel in the shadows, at cost to sanity. Monsters who lose sight of Daniel will search for him for a time, but will eventually leave and vanish. Players can also choose, preferably while being chased, to pick up an object and throw it to the monster, temporarily stunning the monster for about two seconds and giving Daniel some extra distance.

Plot

In late August 1839, Daniel, a young man from London, awakens in the dark and empty halls of the Prussian Brennenburg Castle with little to no memory about himself or his past. All he can remember is his name, that he lives in Mayfair and that something is hunting him. He has a note written to himself, which informs him that he has deliberately erased his own memory and is being hunted by a "shadow", and instructs him to descend into the Inner Sanctum of the castle in order to find and kill its baron, Alexander. As he makes his way through the castle, Daniel gradually learns both about its mysteries and about his own past, through notes and diaries he finds as well as through sudden flashbacks and visions. He also finds himself followed by an unearthly presence – the Shadow – manifesting itself through fleshy, acidic growths spreading through the castle, and encounters terrifying humans-turned-monsters known as "gatherers" from whom he must hide or flee.

Throughout the game, Daniel collects his own diaries which reveal that in May, he had gone on an archaeological expedition with a professor Herbert, who sought to excavate the tomb of Tin Hinan, buried in the Algerian desert. Separated from his men in the tomb, Daniel discovered a mystical orb and felt it calling to him, entering into a trance when he held it. Afterwards, Herbert sent him back to London to recover and he brought the orb with him. Engrossed in its other-worldly quality, he consulted books and educated men about the orb's nature, finding that others have been known to exist, and wrote letters to people from Herbert's address book. He began to be plagued by nightmares, and found that Herbert's expedition has disappeared and the men he had recently consulted have suffered horrible deaths. Feeling desperate and hunted, he decided to accept the invitation of Alexander, who had replied to his letter by offering him protection at Brennenburg.

After his arrival, the baron told him that he is being followed by the orb's "shadow" or "guardian", which will kill anything in its path to reclaim the orb, and that he should use the orb's power to fight back. Deep in the castle, he instructed Daniel in rituals supposedly serving to at least temporarily banish the Shadow, which included the killing and torture of imprisoned people, supposedly criminals. When they kidnapped the children of a farmer for what Alexander said would be the final banishment ritual, and Daniel killed one of the girls as she attempted to flee, he lost faith in Alexander, who left him for dead and descended into the Inner Sanctum alone with the orb. Broken, he decided to kill Alexander in revenge for making him a monster. He wiped his memory with an "amnesia" potion, thus setting up the events of the start of the game.