Amnesia: Rebirth takes you on a terrifying journey through hot deserts, dark caverns, and otherworldly locations of unknown origin in the very pregnant shoes of one Tasi Trianon. As your unlucky protagonist tries to survive and regain their memories, many horrors stand in your way.

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True to its name, this game feels like it’s meant to be a rebirth of the Amnesia series. With that in mind, it takes some interesting steps in narrative and gameplay to bring a new twist to an already iconic horror series. Although it’s a solid title worth adding to your spooky library, a few things could have made it even better.

6 Getting To The Scares Faster

Rebirth makes grand attempts at creating a story that is both intricately layered and grounded in the simple hopes and lives of its protagonist and side characters. As such, you can expect a meaty intro with lots of exposition.

While it manages to be intriguing and does a good job of connecting you to Tasi right away, it suffers from taking a little too long just to set up the main game. You could be a little over an hour into the game and still haven’t faced anything truly heart-pounding. Considering the game’s horror roots and its genuinely scary moments sprinkled throughout, it could be a much more memorable experience if it paced these scares better.

5 Less Predictable “Safe Zones”

One of the best things about Amnesia: The Dark Descent is the constant feeling of dread that follows Daniel’s every move. Whether in a dimly lit room or a sprawling hall with glimmers of light, you cannot help but feel like there’s always something waiting to pounce. Unfortunately, Rebirth has many areas that you can tell are free of any real danger.

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Although it’s best not to complain about any sort of reprieve from the terrors surrounding you, the atmosphere of danger makes the Amnesia series work so well. Even if you don’t see monsters lurking, you could suffer from other sights that could drain your sanity. Rebirth sees large gaps where you’re just running around well-lit spaces with no sanity-reducing visuals or monsters threatening to halt your progress, so you’re mostly just safe to solve whatever puzzle is in your way.

4 Changing The Puzzle Progression Loop

To give credit where it’s due, the puzzles in this game are by no means boring. The developers have done an awesome job of creating interesting puzzles that feel varied enough despite using familiar set pieces throughout.

The only thing that gets a little tiresome about these puzzles is the gameplay loop surrounding them. After a few major puzzles, you’ll find yourself in the same pattern: power a thing, get a scare, press on, progression gets blocked, and Tasi falls. How many times can this woman fall with her baby being completely unscathed?

Since you will be brought to point B anyway, why not make it feel like the solved path worked in at least some instances? Seeing Tasi solve a problem to get unceremoniously flung to another route makes it more frustrating than it has to be, especially since a few times feel more impactful.

3 Balancing The Newly Introduced Mechanics

Rebirth introduces some genuinely interesting mechanics to change up this game. The biggest ones worth pointing out are the amulet, the effect of exposure to the sun, and talking to your baby bump.

The game relies pretty heavily on the baby mechanic while seemingly underutilizing the sun and amulet. The amulet is an interesting waypoint device that you only ever use in select sections of the game and ends up being a pretty useless accessory for many chapters. Rebirth’s later sections also completely forgo the mechanic of avoiding the extreme heat of the sun, which is a shame considering how cool it is to have light, your saving grace, suddenly be another obstacle.

2 Using Flashback Styles Like The Previous Games

Many plot points are revealed through flashbacks comprised of drawn images and audio. Found notes and loading screens become more important when you play this game, as they provide lore and insight into the story and your character.

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Although the art style and voice acting in these are great, it’s kind of a slog to stop in your tracks multiple times and have a sort of “storybook” section thrown your way. This way of storytelling ties directly into Tasi’s character, but many narrative beats could have benefited from the same style the previous titles used - interactive moments that directly tie into the environment you’re traversing.

1 Fewer And More Streamlined Chapters

Because of the game’s pacing, you feel like you’re ready to go by the end of it - and not because you’re scared out of your mind. This rings especially true if you’re trying to get every ending.

Although it comes to an interesting close, the story feels like it could have been told in fewer chapters. Amnesia: Rebirth can take around ten hours to complete if you want to get the full experience, and the payoff is just okay. It’s still a good horror game with beautiful visuals and an interesting tale to tell, but a lot of the “telling” isn’t that engaging.

Many tedious sections and unnecessarily long sequences could have been cut without hurting the overall narrative. At the end of the day, Rebirth is an emotional rollercoaster, and whether the emotions you get are what you wanted is up in the air.

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