Amnesia: Rebirth

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 31
  3. Negative: 1 out of 31
  1. Push Square
    Oct 19, 2020
    40
    For the few things Amnesia: Rebirth gets right, there is a mountain of reasons why it feels like Frictional Games is still stuck in 2010. This hide and seek style of gameplay has long outstayed its welcome and the game doesn't do enough to lessen the disappointing impact that brings. It's heartbreaking to say, but after the fantastic SOMA, maybe the Swedish developer shouldn't have bothered returning to what it thinks it knows best.
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  1. Eurogamer
    Oct 19, 2020
    Frictional returns with a subversion of horror tropes, though it's not quite the measure of other games in the series.
  2. Polygon
    Oct 19, 2020
    Amnesia: Rebirth shows an inventiveness that The Dark Descent only hinted at. And it’s certainly creepy enough to satisfy the hunger for something spooky this season.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Oct 19, 2020
    So while the scares are ample, the gameplay rich and imaginative (a few frustrating needle-in-haystack searches aside), and the world a detailed and involving one (Frictional estimates roughly 9 hours for the average game; the playthrough time for this review was about double that), Amnesia: Rebirth has set itself an oddly contradictory task: Get people involved in a profound and complicated narrative mythology, while embodying a character who has no desire to be associated with any of it. Even with some late-in-the-game reveals of painful memories and Tasi’s mind-wiped history with this mine, the damage has been done. Reasonable people, Rebirth argues, should set aside foolish attractions to things bigger than themselves and those they care about. Focus on what matters. Everything else is just the jump scares of life, things to be surmounted en route to a safe place for family. I don’t know what Frictional calls that, but anyone who invests even minimally in their character’s arc will want it to be a win.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 60 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 60
  3. Negative: 13 out of 60
  1. Ekko
    Oct 24, 2020
    6
    Difficult. Not the game, rather my relationship with it. I'm a huge Dark Descent-fan and an even bigger, massive SOMA fan. I knew this wasDifficult. Not the game, rather my relationship with it. I'm a huge Dark Descent-fan and an even bigger, massive SOMA fan. I knew this was gonna be a tad different but I was hyped nevertheless. Frictional is one of the most promising developers out there and I really dig Thomas Grip and the endless thought and effort he and his team puts into their games. I just love the way they work and think. I was really looking forward to Amnesia: Rebirth. I do think the graphics are improved over the original Amnesia (and Machine for Pigs), but only slightly. It seems to be the same (selfmade) engine, which really isn't a problem as it works totally fine. I didn't have any problems technically, not even any noticeable framerate drops or such. The sound is, like in SOMA and D.D. before, a perfect example of how to amalgamate audio and atmosphere. The guy that does the music (unfortunately I forgot his name) has a deep understanding of how to provoke a feeling that fits a theme and space of a work like this perfectly. Sound design is splendid just as well, voice work ranges from question of taste to very well, no shortcomings overall. The story is engaging. It's not as deeply thought provoking as SOMA's story, but then again, this is not a SOMA-type game. This game is about about deeply human reactions to extraordinary things, to panic, to wonder, to fear for ones own life and that of someone else. This is about emotions. I personally always prefer SOMA-style philosophical thought experiments over emotional content, but that doesn't mean this isn't well done. It is.
    Now to the reason I can't bring myself to rate this higher than 6/10:
    Whereas SOMA and Amnesia before weren't 'realistic' games per se, they sure didn't have illogical, silly moments that killed the immersion. Rebirth, unfortunately, is FULL of silliness. The type that breaks the magic. Our protagonist, Tasie, can only carry ten matches. Weird? Yes. But only slightly more silly than the resident evil soldiers and policemen who can't carry that ONE additional key anymore. There's absolutely NO way to just put it anywhere else, in their shoe, in their briefs, bra or between their arm and watch. It's the key that's needed for escape, for survival, for freeing someone they care about. It just absolutely cannot be carried though, because the inventory is full. Well. Silly, but it's a game and it needs to follow rules to work. It's fine. In Rebirth, you absolutely CANNOT carry an eleventh match. Even though Tasie will totally loose it in the dark, when she's out of light sources (and she's out of light sources pretty quick, thus going insane in dark areas). I get it, it's a question of game balancing. But: Why on earth can't she pick up a free standing, transportable candle, a torch hangin on the wall or sticking out of the ground, or any other small, carryable light source? She could pick up an oil lamp, before. Again: Balancing. Game design. I understand, it just feels SO silly in this game. There's no logical explanation for it, especially, when we, as the player, feel so strongly with Tasie and know that she can absolutely not stay in the dark for more than mere seconds because of her condition. For a game that puts all its horses on being immersive, this is a pretty big problem. I just don't believe it. It feels like a GAME here, it's the mechanics shining through, brightly and destructively. Whenever I pass a totally carryable candle on some table next to me, hearing how Tasie is close to loosing it in the dark, I just can not believe the setting and story and overall structure anymore. It's just too silly.
    Another thing I neither liked nor expected from a Frictional game, is the use of jump scares. I think they're cheap and kind of take the atmosphere someplace else. I loved being scared in D.
    D. and SOMA. It was existential. It was built, handmade. It was real and utterly relatable. I enjoyed being scared. Here, I'm constantly fearing another random jump scare (not gonna spoil what it consists of (even though it'd only be a mild spoiler)), which takes me out of that basic, that core emotion I wanted to feel: I want to listen to monster somewhere, I want to let the music soak in, to explore what I'm feeling after I've read another little note seconds ago, slowly piecing the story together.
    Frictional Games said they combined the best of SOMA and D.D. here, but me - personally, I think that didn't work. This game, as a whole, works neither as good as SOMA nor D.D.
    Another problem was that sometimes, especially in the beginning, I couldn't 'read' what spooked Tasie. Some little bit somewhere in the dark background that I missed? Some dead fella somewhere (looking at them raises Tasies fear) that was buried in the shadows? Was it just a random jump scare because her fear already was a little too high? It's not that big of a problem as the other things, but it makes the game guess work.    … Full Review »
  2. Aqua678
    Nov 15, 2020
    7
    Disappointing when compared to the likes of its predecessor. There are a few scary moments, but the monsters themselves feel very tame andDisappointing when compared to the likes of its predecessor. There are a few scary moments, but the monsters themselves feel very tame and incredibly slow. The story is okay, but it is very cryptic and quite hard to follow in some areas. In the end, Amnesia Rebirth is a pretty weak sequel to the Dark Descent which is thouroughly dispiriting as I was really hoping that Frictional Games would succeed in their bid to create a terrifying experience. In the end, it's less petrifying and more forgettable.… Full Review »
  3. JimmieReview
    Nov 6, 2020
    6
    Slow start but gets better as you get a bit further into the game.

    The first 25-30% feelt very draged out and boring. But it did pick up    Slow start but gets better as you get a bit further into the game.

    The first 25-30% feelt very draged out and boring. But it did pick up later on as more interesting environments and story comes to light.

    I did not enjoy the mechanics of opening doors and such, the whole "click and drag" thing is over used and it just feels cumbersome.
    The "darkness causes fear" mechanic is fine, but they rely way to much on this. Its used as an excuse to not have interesting actions taking part in the game. A big part of the game feels very static and dead.
    Hardly any characters in the game that you get to see walking around or doing anything either, feelt like they didn't budget for that and it hurts the experience.

    Lots and lots of puzzles. None of them were fun to do honestly, its just go here and find X then place it at location Y. Or pull these levers in some order. No big mechanical parts in the game moving around like in tomb raider for example - that is how you do interesting puzzles.

    An ok experience for the price, but could have been much better....    … Full Review »
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