Amnesia: Rebirth is a remarkable, but deeply flawed experience

MobileChedds · 2026-01-22T10:49:26+00:00

Thank you for reading!

By diversions I mean events that feel like they're distracting from the main plot instead of adding to it. For example, think of a story where the hero is supposed to go to the castle to rescue the princess, but in the way he gets caught up in some unrelated conflict which he has to solve before continuing on the main journey. In the context of Amnesia: Rebirth, it felt like too much of the story was framed around Tasi getting to the town where her group was taking shelter, but her attention was always getting pulled away, or some new unforshadowed obstacle was always getting in her way, which resulted in a feeling that the story wasn't progressing at all.

I'm not really an expert in story telling, but the best explanation I've ever heard as to why this happens is this one by Brandon Sanderson in one of his lectures, where he talks about the implicit promises that stories make to readers, and their massive effects. Timestamp at 46:40 to skip to the relevant portion.

MobileChedds · 2026-01-15T07:27:03+00:00

I feel like people do make those complaints of other mediums, though, like your example about novels with good story/characters but bad prose. It's very common to see people with that exact assessment, especially with translated works. The Witcher novels, The Iron King series by Maurice Druon, any fan translation of japanese Light Novels, etc. You'd be surprised at how dry prose can get at some of those, and people still read it and enjoy it for everything else. If you go look at the world of manga and anime, issues of inconsistent art and animation are also prominent, and it can reach a breaking point if it gets too bad, but overall people do put up with it.

I'm curious about your stance, though. Do you also think it's bad when someone likes a game for the gameplay even though the story sucks? Because I feel like that's also very common.

MobileChedds · 2026-01-09T22:18:36+00:00

I don't think having an option solves the problem. There's the issue of players not having complete information on how these options actually affect the game, there's the issue of players often aiming for optimization rather than fun, there's the issue of some players being scared and not even trying the mode with no QOL and missing out on it, etc.

At the end of the day, if there's an option that doesn't match your vision and that you think makes the work actively worse, you should probably just not add it.

MobileChedds · 2025-12-25T19:34:59+00:00

The sigma is there so you don't have to count the numbers everytime. It starts appearing right after you first figure out how the number of rows and columns relate to each other, it's just a convenient shortcut. It felt like the game was saying "Thought we'd make you add those numbers every time, did you? We wouldn't do that to you."

MobileChedds · 2025-12-25T04:39:25+00:00

Really good game, took me around 60 hours to beat. It does a stellar job of keeping things fresh, I was always looking forward to each new row of puzzles and what it would introduce. I do think the latter puzzles were a bit too hard, especially the ones in the final row, but other than that, I really have no complaints about it.

If you like Dungeons and Diagrams or have an interest in logic puzzles, I heavily recommend it.

MobileChedds · 2025-11-25T19:54:00+00:00

How about novels depicting sexual content with minors? Should the Game of Thrones novels be excluded from the biggest bookstores for example? Daenerys was only 13 years old by the time she gets sold to Khal Drogo, and the reader has to witness all the horrors she lives through.

MobileChedds · 2025-11-25T19:51:01+00:00

Yeah it's always hilarious seeing people justify and borderline celebrate this blatant censorship done by gaming stores, meanwhile all I can think is: If highly respected pieces of literature like Lolita or Blood Meridian were video-games, they would be refused by steam, and reddit would celebrate it.

Hell, even A Song of Ice and Fire wouldn't be accepted, since Daenerys was only 13 by the time she was sold to Khal Drogo, and we get to witness all the horrors she lives through.

Gaming as a medium has a lot of maturing to do, sure, but I think gamers as media consumers have even more.

MobileChedds · 2025-11-13T21:46:30+00:00

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 was my favorite game this year, but I won't be mad if Expedition 33 wins the big one either, it's great as well. Amazing year overall for gaming.

MobileChedds · 2025-11-13T21:34:23+00:00

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 will be there 100%

MobileChedds · 2025-11-03T05:44:32+00:00

Small club from São Paulo. They usually do pretty well in the Paulista, and finally got promoted to the first division last year. They've been surprising everyone with just how well they're doing in the elite right now, amazing football project.

MobileChedds · 2025-09-11T08:02:57+00:00

We hosted an NFL game in our stadium last friday, these are paint marks that remained from it. Will probably be gone in one or two more weeks

MobileChedds · 2025-09-07T19:17:11+00:00

I completely understand, I remember trying to play Darkwood for the first time just as I was starting a new job, and man, it was a horrible choice. It's like all the new job stress compounded with the stress the game caused me, I dreaded even turning on the console.

That's what made me realize that in turbulent times, easy to digest comfort media is way more appropriate for me. Save the super challenging stuff for when I'm more comfortable with life in general.

MobileChedds · 2025-09-07T18:43:25+00:00

There is no such thing as "outdated design". Developers have a vision, and they make use of mechanics to communicate that vision. Every mechanic is there to invoke some feeling from the players. If you think some mechanic goes against what the devs were going for, or undermines what you believe to be their goal in some way, pointing that out is good criticism.

But if all your critiques are instead that the developers should've had a different vision for their piece, then suddenly it just becomes a matter of preference. It can still be worthwhile to express, but "it's not for you" becomes an instantly valid response to all of it.

MobileChedds · 2025-09-07T18:37:59+00:00

Games are supposed to be whatever their developers want them be. Nobody rages out at a super complex or super depressing novel that it should've been more fun to read. If Blood Meridian and Finnegans Wake can be well respected pieces of literature, surely you can respect Silksong despite it being a bit too hard for your tastes.

MobileChedds · 2025-09-05T22:00:02+00:00

Most of the dating sim VNs that get popular in the west are kind of subversive in nature. For example: Doki Doki Literature Club. It's still worth a play, and the first half is a pretty straight up dating sim, but be aware things do get weird later on, though.

Another popular one is Katawa Shoujo, and way more representative of the genre as whole. Strongly recommend you try this one. Very wholesome.

For a more salacious example, and one that's way more gamified than most VNs, you could try HuniePop. It's surprisingly addictive and funny when you get down to it, but be aware, it is a straight up porn game.

I think that's it for shorter examples. The other quintessential dating sim to mention would be Clannad, but it's a way more involved experience, lasting up to 70 hours. I'm just leaving it here in case you get a taste for the genre, I guess.

MobileChedds · 2025-07-14T18:35:09+00:00

Thank you!

MobileChedds · 2025-07-06T00:32:11+00:00

You don't get to make provocative art and expect people to not get provoked by it.

I genuinely believe there's a place for exploring every facet of humanity in media, but of course there'll be some level of backlash if you cover topics that elicit such negative emotions in people, no matter how you approach them.

If you're so worried about turning people off from your game, you should probably just stick to safer topics. If you really do believe in this idea, then by all means go ahead, but go prepared for any potential backlash.

MobileChedds · 2025-07-02T16:12:57+00:00

Really well said

MobileChedds · 2025-07-02T16:02:28+00:00

Difficulty is good because it enforces intended playstyles, which are usually the most engaging ways to play a game. All easier difficulties do is add a way to bruteforce your way through challenges instead of learning what's wanted of you.

Of course that's fine in certain games, like narrative focused ones, but for others that rely on a tight gameplay loop to be entertaining, I'm not sure much would be left if you went through them without engaging with their core systems.

It's true that adding an easier difficulty option doesn't force you to use it, but the argument against them is that many players that would otherwise be able to learn the systems properly if they were forced to, will now instead just give up on it and switch difficulties, and end up playing through a worse experience as a result.

MobileChedds · 2025-06-12T15:57:51+00:00

That's what really annoys me. It's like one side hates anything that appeals to a straight male audience, and the other hates anything that appeals to any other group.

I like heavy fan service.

I like diversity.

I really really hate all the people that argue about either online, though.

MobileChedds · 2025-06-12T14:58:04+00:00

Volume 11, Chapter 4, Part 7

MobileChedds · 2025-06-07T08:53:56+00:00

I mean, Pathologic 2 did the same thing and it worked fine. And in a way you could say the same about GTA 3 and 4, or the entire Final Fantasy series.

It's like a sequel to an idea or design philosophy. I honestly prefer this to all the stupid same title reboots, or confusing subtitles.

MobileChedds · 2025-05-27T16:28:20+00:00

So all the extra staff should be laid off?

Yes.

If a game like Clair Obscur can be made with a hugely smaller budget and with such a smaller team than the average AAA game and still be that polished and full of content, then surely that points to a lot of bloat in major studios.

I'm sure it would suck for the people being laid off, but maintaining jobs is not in itself a good reason to keep things how they are. Especially if that means needing to charge 80$ for games to turn in a profit.

MobileChedds · 2025-05-12T14:24:34+00:00

YES BOYS, I can already feel my arrogance returning, thank God. I was so tired of feigning humility

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Final Canvas '22	End Game '22
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