Amnesia: Justine Discussion Topic

[Bulbatron]

First of all, I apologise in advance if there are already thousands of similar threads on here. I did do a search, but couldn't seem to find one which was quite what I was looking for.

Anyway, I've finally got round to having a go on the 'Justine' expansion, and I just felt I had to air my views.

I'm completely baffled as to why the ability to save mid-game has been removed in Justine. After all Frictional said about repetition destroying the sense of immersion, I can't understand why this has been done.

The way death and returning to the game were handled in the main game worked really well - for me at least. I realise this sounds a little topsy-turvy, but knowing I had that little safety-net really allowed me to do just what Frictional wanted players to do - to immerse myself in the horror.

Whereas in Justine, while the atmosphere was still as solid as ever, being confronted by a creature just made me irritated rather than nervous. Or rather, it made me nervous as well, but it wasn't a fun, thrilling kind of nervousness, it was just knowing that I'd very soon be dead and I'd be sent all the way back to the beginning to start all over again. It was neither, fun nor immersive.

I realise full well that my own lack of skill is also to blame, but while in the main game, I was eager to continue, with Justine, I'm already feeling that I really can't be bothered with it. I've made many attempts to finish the game, but being constantly sent back to the beginning is no laughing matter and in the end I'm just thinking 'that's it, enough is enough'.

I realise that for those who managed to finish Justine, the sense of pride the punishing save-system creates is all the more satisfying, and I'm genuinely happy for anybody who finished it, but it just left me feeling left out.

I still love the main game and I think it is one of, if not THE best, horror experience to grace the world of videogames, but for me, the expansion just left a rather sour taste in my mouth, so-to-speak.

As I said, after all the talk of repetition destroying immersion and this being the reason why the main game uses the death / save system it does, Justine seems to be going back on all of this, and I really don't understand what was supposed to be gained by not allowing saving of any kind. It didn't make me feel more tense, it just irritated the hell out of me.

I want to end on a more positive note though, so I'll just say how great I think Frictional Games are for having released the expansion for free while many bigger and richer developers would probably have charged for it. If you have any further expansions planned for Amnesia, then I'd still be eager to play them, provided they revert to the death / save system that worked so well and you seemed so pleased with in the main game.

I'm really looking forwards to seeing what Frictional do next!