Amnesia: Rebirth is so scary that the developers at Frictional Games added a new Adventure Mode to the PC version today, with a similar update planned for PlayStation in a few weeks.
Much like what Frictional did with SOMA’s Safe Mode, Amnesia: Rebirth’s new Adventure Mode makes enemies more passive, brightens up dark areas, and removes the game’s fear mechanic, which in the normal game can attract monsters and even result in a game over if it gets out of control. The developers also threw in some new puzzles to flesh out the experience.
“The reason behind Adventure Mode is that we know that there are tons of people out there who can’t really stomach horror but that would love other aspects of a game like Amnesia: Rebirth,” creative lead Fredrik Olsson explained in a video announcing the mode. “It has a strong narrative, interesting story, cool environments, and of course a pretty unique theme. All of these things are things that we hope Adventure Mode will help introduce to new players.”
While it’s impossible to remove everything that may give someone the heebie-jeebies, Amnesia: Rebirth’s new Adventure Mode sounds as encompassing as possible. I think it’s super cool that developers are starting to think outside the box when it comes to accessibility in video games, and I very much hope this trend continues.