Frictional Games Announces Amnesia: Rebirth

Frictional Games’ new horror title has been announced and — surprise — it’s a new Amnesia!

After weeks of teases and cryptic live-action video clips, Frictional Games has revealed that they’re returning to the series that put them on the map. Amnesia: Rebirth thrusts players into the desert of Algeria as a woman named Tasi Trianon. True to its namesake, Tasi has amnesia and does not know how or why she’s there. Based on the trailer, her journey sends her deep into the earth to face eldritch horrors in ancient caves and tombs.

In Amnesia: Rebirth, you are Tasi Trianon, waking up deep in the desert of Algeria. Days have passed. Where have you been? What did you do? Where are the others? Retrace your journey, pull together the fragments of your shattered past; it is your only chance to survive the pitiless horror that threatens to devour you. Time is against you. Step into Tasi’s shoes and guide her through her personal terror and pain. While you struggle to make your way through a desolate landscape, you must also struggle with your own hopes, fears, and bitter regrets. And still you must continue, step by step, knowing that if you fail you will lose everything.

Following the release of SOMA, one of 2015’s best, Frictional Games acknowledged some of the player feedback in response to their marketing, which positioned SOMA as a full horror game. While SOMA was filled with unsettling existential horror, it wasn’t “traditionally” scary in the way some people expected. When the studio announced that they had two projects in development, one of them was to be a pure horror title; ostensibly, Amnesia: Rebirth is that title. This is a smart move for Frictional Games as the Amnesia brand is familiar to even non-horror buffs. Frictional develops a pure horror title that has a good chance of selling well and their other game gets to reap the benefits of its success — allowing them to branch out a bit so us players can enjoy something familiar and something new from the developer. All in all, that sounds just fine to me.

Amnesia: Rebirth is set for a fall 2020 release on both PC via Steam and on PlayStation 4. While you wait, be sure to give SOMA a shot as well as the underrated Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs from developer The Chinese Room.