Sc-sc-scared.

It's 2:30 AM. I'm sitting in a the dark with my headphones on. I just quit playing Amnesia: The Dark Decent for the night. I quit because I couldn't take anymore. That game is scary.

I've always been a fan of scary games. Seeing screenshots of Resident Evil in GamePro magazine was the reason I got a Playstation. The first gaming experience that Lindsay and I shared with equal investment was probably Fatal Frame. The early Silent Hill games used to fascinate me even though I didn't really get what was going on (and still don't).

Lately games have been a lot less scary. Resident Evil became an action series. Silent Hill just became a mess. And Fatal Frame kind of faded off. Dead Space had it's moments and even Bioshock was a little creepy in the beginning, but they're defintely shooters and adventures, not horror.

I'm only an hour or so into Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but it's probably more scary than anything I've ever played. I downloaded the demo when it was released and couldn't even make it through the whole thing. I got to the part in the flooded cellar, with the footsteps, and I turned it off. I knew I had to buy it.

I finally got around to starting it last night. I wanted conditions to be right. I wanted to be alone, in the dark, with headphones on. And I wasn't really disappointed. It's not the kind of horror that stays with you all through the night. When I turned it off, it was off and I wasn't jumping at the slightest movement or huddling under my covers. But while I was playing, I often found myself sayings 'I don't want to open that door' or 'I'm not going down that hall' or 'why am I playing this?'

I'll see if it remains scary throughout. It seems like it couldn't, but the reviews don't seem to mention it getting noticeably less frightening. We'll see, I guess.

When I turn off Amnesia thanks to nerves, I think the final line from Destructiod's review: "Pick it up, but you should know that you might be so scared that you'll have to put it down."