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This week we reached something that, not too long ago, was a merely distant dream:
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is in BETA
This means that the all needed assets are completed and that it is possible to play the game from start to finish. What is left now is just a bit of polish and minor additions. This does not mean that all is good and we can just relax though. The game is still rough around the edges at places and require quite a bit of work. However, we no longer have to worry about getting new things into the game. Now we can just focus on what is already there and make it as nice as we can.
It is quite astounding how far the game has gotten. We started out making the first proper content around two years ago, and since then the amount assets have just continued to grow. Looking through our project files I counted a total of:
106 Music files
1202 Model files
1533 Texture files
856 Sound files
This was just a very rough calculation though so I have surely missed a few. Also, there is still stuff left to add, so we are not done just yet!
It is also worth noting that this does not mean that a demo will be out shortly. For that you have to wait a few more months I’m afraid. However, we have sent out previews to a few places and some first impressions have started to drop in:
IGN thought that “Amnesia could be the scariest survival horror game in quite a long time”.
Adventure Gamers said “I can already assure horror fans that another unsettling, potentially-pants-peeing adventure awaits”.
Ripten pondered if it “might just be Frictional Games’ best title”.
Gamer fill confessed that “I had to (yes, had to) turn Amnesia off after a short hour of play, so as to give my nerves a rest”.
TGDB said “Het spel zou best wel eens één van de engste survival horror games in tijden kunnen zijn”. Which I am not sure exactly what it means, but according to babel fish it was quite positive!
To hear things like this from an early preview (consisting of around the first 1/3 of the game) is extremely motivating and makes us very happy. Now we just need to make sure the full game delivers as well! More previews should pop up now that E3 is over, and be advised that they might contain spoilers.
Thanks to all who have supported us so far! We are very close* to a finished game now!
*An offical release date may or may not be announced next week.
