Play the game that defined 2010s survival horror before it leaves Game Pass

polygon.com:

The first time I played Amnesia: The Dark Descent, I had to put it down and walk away. I’m a big fan of horror games, and I don’t usually put them down unless they’re unplayable or just bad. The Dark Descent was different, though, a game that freaked me out so badly that I had to turn the lights on and just sit in that glow until I could catch my breath. My vision had become too dark; I was out of oil for my lantern; and there were cracking noises coming from somewhere off screen. I hadn’t been taken aback by a jump scare or a disturbing creature. I was just unnerved, tense, and extremely uncomfortable. So, you know, the best way to be scared.

There are very few games that are genre-defining in a way that actually means anything, but Amnesia: The Dark Descent, developed by Frictional Games, set the standard for survival horror in the 2010s. After a few years of action-oriented horror games, most notably 2005’s Resident Evil 4 and 2008’s Dead Space,Amnesia took it back to basics, removing combat entirely and relying almost solely on atmosphere to induce scares. This was oddly refreshing at the time, and while there are plenty of Amnesia-likes available to play these days, including two direct sequels, Frictional is still a unique developer in this space for its dedication to this particular kind of horror, even as it’s gone on to explore other themes and styles in separate titles, like Soma.

While The Dark Descent, as part of Amnesia: Collection, is available to play on nearly all modern consoles, it, along with Frictional’s Amnesia: Rebirth and Soma, is leaving Xbox Game Pass on April 15. That means you have just a few days to play some of these relatively short (The Dark Descent is around eight hours long) but highly impactful horror games. And if you don’t make it in time, you can still get 20% off if you have a subscription.

In The Dark Descent, you play an amnesiac man named Daniel who wakes up in the eerie Gothic corridors of Brennenburg Castle.