Amnesia: Rebirth is a 2020 survival horror video game developed and published by Frictional Games. It was released for Windows, Linux, and PlayStation 4 on 20 October 2020, for Amazon Luna on 22 October 2021, and for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on 20 October 2022. It is the third installment in the franchise and serves as a sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010). The game received generally favorable reviews.
Gameplay
Like The Dark Descent, the game is played from a first-person perspective. The player assumes control of Tasi Trianon, who must wander through desert caves and ancient tombs in order to find the whereabouts of her companions. The game is dimly lit, and players must use light sources, such as Tasi's own fuel lamp, to see clearly and find ways to progress. Players can also scavenge matches, which can be used to light up mounted torches and candles. Players also need to solve various puzzles to progress in the game, and read the notes left by non-playable characters to know more about the story.
Like the first game, Tasi's fear level would build up gradually. Fear would overwhelm Tasi when she walks completely in the dark, causing her to hallucinate and hear whispers in her head. Grotesque images will also pop up in the screen. Solving puzzles, hiding from monsters, and managing light sources can control her fear, preventing such from happening. The game does not feature any combat system and when Tasi encounters a supernatural creature, she can either run or hide. Unlike the first game, when the player is killed, the game will not reload an earlier save point. Instead, it will bring the player a bit forward, allowing the player to skip the monster encounter entirely during the player's second attempt.
Plot
The game is set in March 1937, and follows Anastasie "Tasi" Trianon, a French drafter on an expedition in colonial Africa. After her plane crash-lands in Algeria, she wakes up to discover that her companions are missing, with no recollection of what happened. Following the trail of her expedition, Tasi realizes that she is pregnant and has come into possession of a Traveler's Amulet, an alien device that allows her to travel to an alien world. During this time, she finds her husband Salim's corpse, having died from the crash.
Tasi reaches an abandoned French fort and discovers an unknown force has slaughtered its garrison. She contacts an expedition survivor, Dr. Metzier, who instructs her to head to a nearby village. Tasi travels under the fort and encounters mutated ghouls that stalk the tunnels. She makes her way out but is caught in a cave-in and falls into ancient ruins that belonged to a highly advanced, but now extinct, society. As she studies the ruins, Tasi learns that the facility was built by an alien race dubbed the Gate Builders, who could traverse worlds and extend their lives thanks to vitae, a substance obtained by torturing humans on a mass scale. A failed plot to end the suffering caused the Gate on their homeworld to destroy itself, wiping out the Gate Builders and spreading the Shadow, a dangerous force that manifests in red tumor-like growths. Tasi also comes across signs of a previous expedition led by Professor Herbert. To her horror, Tasi discovers that one of her expedition members, Leon, has been turned into a ghoul. She later rescues another expedition member, Richard, but kills him in a rage when he attempts to leave her to die.
Tasi activates a teleporter in the ruins to transport herself to the village, but finds it deserted and goes into labor. She encounters expedition member Yasmin, who in the process of turning into a ghoul had killed the villagers. Metzier arrives and kills Yasmin. Tasi enters labor, assisted by Metzier, and gives birth to a girl, Amari. Metzier takes Amari, claiming she is needed to reverse the curse causing them to become ghouls. Tasi chases after Metzier, who uses the Traveler's Amulet to travel to the Gate Builders' world.
During the pursuit, Tasi recovers her memories. Shortly after the plane crash, the Empress of the Gate Builders approached the expedition and brought them to the Gate Builders' world. The Empress, longing to be a mother after vitae treatment for an affliction rendered her infertile, gave them the Traveler's Amulet and promised to save them if Tasi gave her Amari. Tasi, still traumatized by the loss of her previous daughter Alys, refused. The Empress then tricked the expedition into drinking from a fountain that inflicted the curse, before sending them back to Earth.