![My Top Ten Amnesia Custom Stories [OUTDATED] for Amnesia: The Dark Descent](https://steamsolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/my-top-ten-amnesia-custom-stories-outdated-amnesia-the-dark-descent.jpg)
Overview
Yeah, I know, there are some articles about the best Custom stories for Amnesia, but in my opinion, they all sucked.So, after about 100 hours of playing the game, I’ve come across some pretty amazing pieces of work.This is my Top Ten of them.Disclaimer: I’m not gonna put any fun custom stories on here (Like Red Waters or Destiny Rebellion). They don’t hold the horror I’m awaiting from a game like Amnesia.Instead I’ll focus on the more realistic, horror-driven ones, which involve good athmosphere and level design.
10. The Agony of (in)sanity
This custom story is about a man called Damion discovering a weird secret passage in his house covered in slime.
And then, ♥♥♥♥ starts to go down…
I enjoyed playing this mod, especially the later levels were very well designed. The story isn’t that interesting, but it’s the developers first Custom Story, so he performed well.
The events were the main thing in AoI.
Some scared me pretty good.
Here’s a synopsis for you to fully inform yourself about this and maybe triggers an urge to play it…
It’s a sad thing, the death of a loved one. On the evening of his mother’s passing, a courier delivered a letter to Damion. It was his inheritance. As he read the letter, he was shocked to find that he had inherited his great grandfather’s estate. An entire prussian castle, far out in the country. He struggled to understand why his mother had chosen for him…, which struggled through life when THEY were entitled to an entire castle. He suspended the thought.
As Damion arrived at his new estate, he was overjoyed. He could not possibly believe that after such a poor life, feeding on scraps of bread, sleeping in rags, living in a hovel of a house, he would be able to live like a lord! But it was getting late. Perhaps it was his cheer which countered the sense of dread which usually plagued those who entered this forlorn castle. It was getting too dark for him to navigate the halls, and so he took up residence in the nearest bed he could find and drifted off to sleep.
Damion had never had trouble sleeping before. He did not stir easy, and yet he was afflicted by nightmares, creatures of death haunted him, and he could not escape their cold grasp. Suddenly, he was awoken by a scream. It was the kind of sound that caused him to wonder whether it had come from his nightmare or reality, and yet he was almost sure that it came from the depths of the castle.
In a sort of trance Damion stumbled down steps which seemed vaguely familiar, into a cold, damp cellar. In the darkness, he was able to make out a shelf, which sat in an awkward position in the middle of the room. Only as he approached it did he realize that there had been a room behind it. He had to go inside, it pulled him in. A sort of squish sounded from his rear, and he turned quickly around to find that a strange fleshy mass had sealed him in. It was too late to turn back. He had to move forward.
The insanity had begun.
9. Bitterwood Peak
You have to explore a futuristic lodge and uncover all its secrets it holds.
That seems quite unique.
But the first problems of this mod show themself very early at the beginning of the game.
You suffer sanity damage from the cold. That is really frustrating if you don’t know what to do.
Of course the front door is locked…
Once inside, you begin to explore.
It is very realistic, not only in terms of level design, but also in terms of the puzzles. They are cryptic.
It’s not like: “Oh, look, a lever, lets pull it, ohhhh, the door opened!” No.
I don’t want to spoil everything, but Bitterwood Peak had me searching around for an eternity.
Also, the lodge crawls with enemies. Once, I encountered three of them in the same place.
And they aren’t as dumb as grunts.
But thats what makes Bitterwood Peak so challenging and very fun. You had actually to think logically. Also, it features an awesome ending.
8. Lifeless_The Abandon
You are John Anderson, a jornalist whose main interest is exploring castles.
One day, he hears of an abandoned castle in the woods.
He decides to go there until…
That seems like a pretty basic story.
It is: You awake imprisoned by a monstrosity.
After breaking out, you explore the castle and have to do some tasks which are pretty simple.
The story isn’t pushed forward by notes or flashbacks, simply because there is none, except You uncovering the secret of the monsters in this castle and also the history of it.
Otherwise, this CS features AMAZING aspects. The guy who made this, said it’s his first Amnesia Custom Story. If you look at the levels in terms of lighting, particles, emptiness of the rooms (which doesn’t exist) and placement or creativity of the maps, you have to admit he did a tremendous job.
He put in custom music, custom monsters and ambient noises, which partly scared me to death.
Sadly, he gave up on mapping for Amnesia.
So there will be no continuation of this series.
Over all, it is an outstanding custom story.
And it’s a must-play.
7. Endless Insomnia
Look at the picture.
What is your first impression? Write it in the comments below.
The storyline goes like that:
You experience Insomnia and have to suffer from the resulting insanity.
Your whole house has changed, you find yourself in places you never know existed and you are haunted by abominations. Furthermore, your dog has died. But he also makes a comeback…
What made the Custom Story so interesting for me was over all the level design.
It has well crafted maps and looking at the picture also some pretty unique ones.
In every level, you can find a secret item which allow you access to the hidden room in a hidden area.
But thats about it.
I stopped playing this mod because it crashed a lot in later levels and there is no respawn mechanic.
Once you die, you have to load a previous save file.
This mechanic had me hiding for a long time in most parts of this CS.
Endless Insomnia also features copyrighted music, this is exceptionally bad if you are doing a walkthrough of it on Youtube.
If you want a unique athmosphere and really well done levels, you should give Endless Insomnia a go.
But only if you are patient.
6. Premonition
This mod is really huge.
And when I say it, I mean it.
It features most of the AMFP assets and uses them to create an athmosphere of playing A Machine for pigs for a second time.
The story is also pretty well.
As a detective you have to investigate murder cases from time to time.
One leads you to an old mansion in which numerous people were reported missing.
So you explore the place and very quickly it turns out that something is not right there.
As you discover more and more of this mysterious estate, the story takes a far more sinister turn than you expected.
The assets of AMFP give this story a very interesting yet creepy look.
The level design is full of variations and the puzzles are not very hard if you have a good eye.
What can be bad about this? Why is it only in 6th place?
Premonition is nearly entirely made out of huge maps.
So you get lost very easliy.
Even if you found a part to a puzzle, you run around searching for the place to use it.
Eventually you will loose the will to play, wandering around for an eternity can get very annoying.
If you don’t mind about that, you should try it out, the developer has spend very much time on it.
5. Sins of the Father: Eternium
It is 1884, twenty years ago, Edward, the father of Alex, went on a pilgrimage to witness a holy event known as the Eternium that occurs once a century. During this, his wife was kidnapped by cultists, never seen by the living again. His father becoming obsessed with her disappearance abandons his son, and dedicates himself completely to finding her, taking up residence in a manse in the Yorkshire moors. Twenty years later, Alexander investigates into his parent’s disappearance, determined to find the truth of what happened to them.
For my part, the story was explained well in the mod, although it was displayed via various notes and I tend to not read them.
The high mapping quality and the scare factor dominate this mod.
I found myself taking screenshots ingame to save them to look at them later on or use them somehow.
This is when you know the mapper has done his job well.
I also got very scared and had the feeling that something bad would happen anytime.
This aspect is linked with the use of very creepy and intense custom music.
Also, the monster seemed to be smart, if it appeared, it seemed to know where I was.
Maybe the developer played a little with the
ShowEnemyPlayerPosition();-Script.
A certain part made me jump out of my chair, you’ll know when you get there.
For the bad parts, the story wasn’t brought to the player very well. As I explained, notes aren’t the best way to tell you what happened.
Furthermore, the lantern sucked. It wasn’t illuminating very much and I didn’t use it for the main part.
Also, the monster was a regular suitor.
Otherwise, this is a must-play.
4. String
Tied at 4th place is The String.
This has the best level design I’ve ever seen in Amnesia.
You can walk through an abandoned mine, chilling castle hallways and a gruesome morgue.
More challenging is the fact that you can replay it and choose different ways to get to the inevitable finale.
It even features a speaking brute, which is terrifying, and not only one scene in which you think “I don’t want to go any further!”
The story is mostly told through phonographs. That prevents you from skipping some important parts, because you have to listen to it.
The storyline isn’t quite simple though.
At first, you won’t understand why you are even in the game.
It becomes a bit clearer as the story progresses, but the end caused a WTF-moment for me.
You’ll see…
Another bad point is that it’s far too short. It easily cover 45 minutes of gameplay and the different approachings won’ change much either.
Do you like good level design and a story to really think about? Then this is definetely for you.
[link]3. Collapsing Cosmos Series: The Silver Key
Dive deep down in a world full of mysteries and search for your lost collegue Jonathan.
You are William Carter, an occultist of the nineteenth century.
He discovers a realm no human has ever seen before.
But his friend and also scientist Jonathan gets lost in this strange other dimension.
You have to find him! And there will be only one way…
The Silver Key’s main good points is the story, which is based off H. P. Lovecrafts Chtulhu stories, but it’s not copying it but developing a whole new experience.
It tells you time after time horrifying bits of the happenings which caused the portal to open.
The Custom Story promises never-seen-before mapping and I can only say this is a true fact.
You’ll find yourself in very big, ancient-looking surroundings which hold an intense, old and mighty athmosphere. The custom music sets a very moody flair to it.
The puzzles are not too hard, it involves backtracking and jumping parts, also a boss battle is featured.
Notes tell the story and this is the main bad point about this.
You have to read, if you want to understand the story and progress with it.
The developer is working on a second part for the series, and for listing your impression (after you played it) on his ModDb-page you can help him make the next Collapsing Cosmos-part a true masterpiece.
[link]2. Key to Freedom
Mr Wilkinson, the headmaster of Darwin Institute for Misbehaved Youngsters, has presented to me a challenge, in response to my most recent efforts of escape. He promises me that if I accept and complete the task he will allow me to leave the Institute. All I need to do is find a key. A key that will unlock a safe deposit box located at the local bank. The key, of course, is situated in the old mansion. He won’t tell me why the place has been sealed off and abandoned or how I will be getting inside. But one thing’s for sure, I wont let this opportunity pass me by! (Directly taken from ModDb)
Key to Freedom starts you off like a classic Custom Story: You stand in front of a locked door.
How do you get in?
After you successfully made it in, you should continue searching for the key.
But some entities in Ashbury Manor surely want you not to search anymore.
Can you escape them?
As you slowly descend into the manor, the history of it reveals its ugly face…
In the end it is clear that you didn’t only get freedom for yourself…
This custom story scares you. But not in a way you are used to in Amnesia.
The creator (it’s his first CS) created custom monsters and entites by completely rewamping an ordinary thing to something entirely different.
For example:
A falling box in the water can be a unseen being walking around etc.
Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t die, you will exceptionally.
But thats only one part of the amazing aspects of this game.
You collect notes, they’re read to you, just listen and you are able to tell what to do and how the story goes.
The mapping is well done and you can play it a second time to listen to the developers commentaries which are giving you an insight on how Key to Freedom was made.
What makes this only second place, you may ask?
The scares are scary, but not that scary, you’ll scream your lungs out.
And one particular puzzle is very hard and frustrating.
Other than that you have to play this!
It’s awesome!
And number One is…
I’ve tracked this.
Then I played it as soon as it came out.
I’m not a smart man.
As you can maybe see, it features a custom enemy.
Long story short, it scared the ♥♥♥♥ out of me.
I’ve never screamed because of a horror game like in A Coward’s Debt.
Beautiful AMFP surroundings, moody music, a well-told story, very intense athmosphere and a lot of looking around and backtracking (which surprisingly isn’t boring, because of the “Anything could happen at anytime”-factor) makes the custom story a masterpiece.
It easily conquers the number one on this list.
And I’m talking too much already.
Go play it (at night).
It’s an overwhelming experience.
And there you have it!
My Top ten Amnesia Custom Stories.
Do you agree with this list?
What could’ve been better?
And which Custom Stories do you like?
Leave a comment!
Otherwise, thanks for reading my list!
I hope I can see you soon in another article!
Piece,
ztp