How Super Mario Inspired a Horror Game

This Amnesia: The Dark Descent documentary details the development of the indie horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent and goes behind the scenes of its creation. Discover more about the indie horror game made by Frictional Games and how early iterations were inspired by Super Mario. The documentary also explores all the design decisions that Frictional Games made.
It also takes a close look at all the struggles Frictional Games had to go through during Amnesia’s development. There were multiple moments during its development that could have caused a premature end to both the game and the entire studio. Furthermore, it delves into how the game uses people’s own imagination against them by lying about the inner workings of the game’s sanity system. Lastly, the documentary shows a lot of concept art and early alpha footage that was hidden in the game’s files.
References:
thatguyglen.fun/video/how-sup...
Outro song: Thank You R.G.E. - Joe Bagale
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#AmnesiaTheDarkDescent #FrictionalGames #GameDevelopment

[@ThatGuyGlen]

What indie game would you like to see me cover next? Leave a suggestion in the comments below! Also, if you enjoyed the video, please consider subscribing to stay up to date on future “How Games Were Made” episodes. Leaving a like and sharing the video also helps out! Support me on Patreon and get exclusive content like Q&A sessions, ad-free content, access to my Discord server and more: www.patreon.com/ThatGuyGlen

[@muffin8460]

Cover hades please

[@pierssonclark]

pls do a video on forager:). great video. keep up the great work

[@flatgrimace]

Stormworks: Build and Rescue. It’s my favorite game at the moment

[@muffin8460]

@@flatgrimace Sounds interesting.

[@SpiralFlip]

Touho

[@Gamerkid124]

I love how the consequence for low sanity being simply passing out instead of dying is hinted as something harmless in the video. My most vivid memory of Amnesia is being chased by a monster with really low sanity, only to run into an other monster causing my sanity to hit rock bottom. I didn't have enough time to "pass out", instead my character began to pass out and lay there, paralyzed, as I watched the monster slowly walking towards me with tears streaming down my face. I would have had less nightmares if I had merely died from low sanity.

[@petkofuchalski9809]

jesus crist, that sounds terrifying.

[@Gamerkid124]

@@petkofuchalski9809 it was terrifying

[@totallynotboe4442]

holy shit lol

[@atab6555]

Frictional games :is low on money Steam: do i hear a sale?

[@filmotter]

OOP, got 'em

[@degox99]

The story of amnesia is one of my favorites, its an excellent example of sitting back and think what is hindering more than what is lacking

[@blade6965]

the fact that a steam sale helped to create one of the best horror games ever,and by extension made pewdiepie famous is mindblowing

[@Punkmonker]

Amnesia The Dark Descent will always have a special place in my heart as one of the best horror games I've ever played. It had an unsettling atmosphere, good gameplay, and an interesting lore. It definitely feels like if HP Lovecraft made a horror game

[@Afreshio]

I was gonna write exactly what you wrote. Best horror game ever. I almost had like a hundred heart attacks playing this beast.

[@aintijustthecutest3863]

This game skyrocketed alot of KZbinrs' careers back in the day and many of them I'm still watching to this day, like Pewdiepie & Markiplier, to name a few. Great video as always. Had alot of info that I didn't know about the game mechanics and the company's history. Indeed another "rags to riches" inspirational story.

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Much appreciated, glad you liked it!

[@mabe4322]

You realize that a country is doing pretty well economically when their government can dedicate a whole fund specifically to finance indie game developers... as early as 2008...

[@joshuaroa8503]

When I heard that part in the video as a 3rd world country citizen...

[@sjahbw]

Ok

[@skaruts]

Although investing in game development could be a way to raise the economy. That said, the government shouldn't ever fund any businesses. It's playing favorites, and it's unfair to all those that aren't so privileged. (And it's actually one of the main causes of monopolies.)

[@Valvad0ss]

@@skaruts 🤣🤣🤣

[@Bert4th]

@@skaruts I think it's a great idea. I assume the government recognizes video games as a source of entertainment, and thus an investment in the happiness of the citizens. It walks a dangerous line of governments having control over media, however the small scale it was done at for this funding was fine imo.

[@vyllix8546]

It's crazy that Frictional, even with their size managed to create such a inspirational game for the horror genre

[@foist101]

Penumbra Overture is still one of my favorite games of all time. I remember being so excited for Amnesia, and still have the pre-order email from their webstore in 2010.

[@ThatGuyGlen]

That's awesome! I discovered Amnesia much later, but it definitely holds up, even today!

[@skaruts]

Red is still one of my favorite characters ever. :)

[@SylvesterAshcroft88]

The amnesia devs were so incredibly dedicated, they managed to do the impossible, and made one of the greatest games of all time!

[@digiorniboy]

I love how the wording of the title insinuates that Mario made Amnesia

[@RegalPixelKing]

I bet PewDiePie, and other horror let's players of the time really helped with the insane sales that this game got.

[@ProfessorSnack]

Man, I remember EARLY on, PewDiePie was the only English speaking let's player for Amnesia (that I saw at the time anyway) that's how I started following him originally. Crazy how huuuuge he became.

[@safespace4680]

Im like 90% sure that one of the reasons Pewdiepie and Markiplier have so many subs is because of their amnesia series. They clearly had hilarious reactions and so people subbed knowing there would be more like them.

[@bravo075]

Or people didn't buy the game because they watched it on their channels.

[@RegalPixelKing]

@@bravo075 No, it helped. Let's say around .01% of PewDiePie's viewership bought the game, it's probably higher than that btw, than that would lead to one million people buying the game. If all these KZbinrs never let's played that game it probably would have never reached 100,000 sales let alone the millions of sales that it got.

[@Afreshio]

@@RegalPixelKing Yeah that guy is absurd. Every indie developer prays that a huge numbers of lets players uses their new game to further sales. It's the dream, specially if the name is big.

[@WorthlessWinner]

It's funny how hard they tried to move away from Penumbra, but in the end they were all "yeah we're doing Penumbra again" 22:00 it seems more like a lesson to NOT experiment and to just do the same thing you're good at again

[@EmreUcan]

Dude, I thought I will die because of sanity in that game!!! FFS !!! I am cheated... In a good way. Really really clever

[@meucelularkrl]

Have you ever considered making a video on the *postal* franchise? I think the series could net you a lot of things to talk about, from the company starting with kids games, then moving to the infamous _"Banned in 14 countries"_ Postal; To the more comical Postal 2, and its share of quirks; -To the mistake they wish we forget, called Postal 3- ; To its revival in the form of Postal 4 (Currently in early access).

[@tiroforeal]

Great vid, I would love to see one about LISA: The Painful, or the LISA series in general, although they are a much more niche pick of indie games with a much smaller but dedicated fanbase. Very underrated series.

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thank you! And LISA is on my list ;)

[@tiroforeal]

@@ThatGuyGlen That's great to hear, looking forward to it! :)

[@Youmu_Konpaku_]

As a gamer of 2015 i never really cared much fot amnesia, the new crazy stuff was fnaf back then so i just brushed it off as "an old weird horror game with a monster chasing you" now that I've come to realize this i might actually consider watching markiplier's play through of it now

[@The_D_ray]

"Losing sanity will never kill you." Hard mode: "Are you sure about that?"

[@handsomelessking]

I didn't like amnesia when i tried it, might give it another try, but SOMA was amazing, loved that game

[@mabe4322]

I know that this expression is often misused, but seriously, SOMA was severely underrated. The horror on that game barely comes from the game itself, but from the fucked up dilemmas that the story proposes. It's really unique and it was executed on a very interesting way.

[@ossiehalvorson7702]

Amnesia created the formula, SOMA perfected it. I'd never had a game fuck me up so much, and never did again until Death Stranding.

[@spark730]

Amnesia, my childhood, the first horror game I remember playing, ended it over 20 times. After playing it my horror game standards were high as hell. I love the videos that you make and I hope you keep doing the work you do. Great job my dude.

[@cyrollan]

Wow I just loved this video! Thank you so much. I've enjoyed every everything that Frictional Games has put out and hope to see much more from them in the future!

[@ThatGuyGlen]

My pleasure, glad to hear you enjoyed it!

[@greatrulo]

I love your reviews, very well written, presented and edited.

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Much appreciated, glad to hear you like them!

[@greatrulo]

@@ThatGuyGlen I sure do!

[@kazukihiratani]

I'd really love to see you cover Rhythm Doctor!

[@perhapsYoYo]

Oh! I agree on this, they took a really long time to make the game!

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thanks for the suggestion, I put it on my list!

[@usernametaken017]

ooooo thats an interesting one

[@noah.2B]

Fantastic work as always. It's fascinating to see how much Frictional Games was helped by their previous titles going on sale. I remember purchasing that first Humble Bundle out of love for 2 of the games in it, and the chance to snap up multiple other good titles was a golden opportunity. For digital products like games, after their initial sales, it seems like frequent sales + a notable decrease in price over time only serves to benefit the devs long term.

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thank you! And couldn't agree more. Without that Steam sale and Humble Bundle, there's a good chance Frictional Games might not have existed today.

[@perhapsYoYo]

Still great as always, Glen! Can't wait for more of these!

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thanks, Caleb! I’m always working on more videos :D

[@vicentevasquezb]

I really like your storytelling. At the end I think, what’s needed to make a great video is a good story and this one is a good example. Hope you keep growing, your channel is great!!

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thank you so much! That's basically what I try to do above all, to tell an interesting story in a hopefully not boring way :P

[@vicentevasquezb]

@@ThatGuyGlen You achieved that!!

[@edwardfrost7935]

Id love to see a cover on the game STALKER :3

[@filmotter]

Oooooooh yes! Love that game too!

[@jorissimaitis5204]

yess sirr

[@JimTim24]

Good idea 👍

[@prodj.mixapeofficial6431]

Check GAMER documentary on yt. They covered stalker and other memorable games.

[@JOHNDAYLL]

iAgree

[@MrSquidWhiskers]

Wonderful video as always, Glen!

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thank you very much, glad to hear you liked it!

[@ZMSTA]

Underrated channel. I think I have said that before.

[@meucelularkrl]

Good video as always, excited for more!

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thank you, glad you liked it! Working on the next one now :D

[@rraymondssilva]

I agree about the part of letting your imagination scaring you more than the actual gameplay itself (which is scary on its own). I remember my first time playing Amnesia TDD at midnight and suddenly hearing footsteps or seeing dust coming down from the ceiling would make me spiral and would keep me on edge. The ambiance and background music for most of the levels is chilling. Kind of like whispers, footsteps, touching walls, crying. I just love this game so much

[@sportakus3]

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is only game where even if you buy the game to play the main sotry and probably also justine (free dlc attached to the game), you can play alot custom stories made for the game that also has that many hours or even more than the main story lenght. I know amnesia reborn has released not long ago, but the original game should be remastered with better graphics like the amnesia reborn (or soma).

[@ThatGuyGlen]

I'd love a remaster/remake!

[@ribrob_]

This was a good video man!

[@jerrygreenest]

Honestly, I don’t remember I ever thought I would die from Sanity, but I’m glad they cut this out. It is good as it is.

[@greob]

Nice video! Love Frictional games.

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thank you!

[@dalemurman]

Another great video great job :)

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Much appreciated, glad you liked it!

[@christopherdsmd]

Great video. please consider making How Hotline Miami was made, my favorite indie game!

[@DrumEagle]

I loved that intense atmosphere of the Penumbra games. Amnesia was also awesome!

[@faizaliqbal2284]

Ahhh Amnesia, the game that made me have anxiety when i was a kid. Amazing game but goddamn it's scary as hell. Great video as always Glen!

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thanks, Faizal! I've been replaying it recently and it holds up :D

[@luyanda3746]

Phenomenal video bro! Would love to see how "stick fight: the game" was made next, as well as the original nes "super mario bros"😏

[@filmotter]

Oh man, that Mario video would be incredible!

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Much appreciated! I usually only cover indie games so the original Mario might not happen anytime soon :P

[@ryanmccain1158]

This is still a great game and one of my top 10 of all time. thank you.

[@MrBallerinakaka]

Fun Fact: When Amnesia: The Dark Descent Was First Released On PC That Led To Launched KZbinrs Carrers. (Pewdiepie Markiplier And Others)

[@skaruts]

Amnesia had budget issues because Penumbra is greatly underrated. (Personally, I found both Penumbras more memorable than Amnesia -- heck, I didn't finish Amnesia because I got bored of it.)

[@faelreklaw8837]

It will be interesting to do Amr2 not only that guy made the whole game alone but it is considered as good even or even better than some official Metroid games And the man was hired for Ori and the Will of the Wisps. A truly inspirational story. High content...

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thanks for the suggestion! I've put it on my list ;)

[@chesterwu1625]

I think you should do a documentary on the game gris, that would be awesome!

[@ThatGuyGlen]

It's on my list ;)

[@weightupitshannah]

Dude fuck yeah! I was waiting for this!

[@Kashakunaki]

I loved this story. Creative restrictions produce the best content.

[@kyrillakalaew9751]

Could you please cover the making of OMORI. love your content !

[@creecker64]

You are so underrated :(

[@binarium4376]

By now i redid all my code like 3 times and still cant get it to what I expected

[@antzerobooks]

ori the blind forest and also will of wisp would be a nice addition to the series, kinda weird seeing a how amnesia was made without any mention of pewds though lol

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Good suggestions! The series is mainly about the development of games and the PewDiePie stuff only happened after release so that's why I didn't brought it up. If he helped design the game, then that would have been a different story :P

[@androsh9039]

Excellent.

[@moose7561]

I love your videos

[@_Just_John]

Stuff like this proves there was true passion behind games. People were taking life-changing risk just to have a chance of releasing the game. Nowadays big companies just decide to throw few millions in a few directions and see what makes them money. And if it works out, you will get an Assassin Creed game each year, until it stops making money. The same goes for Marvel movies. Just a calculated mediocre experience for masses. That's why we need to support capable indie devs.

[@sriyanimangalika5905]

Awesome! 😍

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

It's such a cool story!

[@Sharlenwar]

Never heard of this game, cool!

[@dead3moji58]

There is No First There is No Last -kid in the internet

[@BraveAbandon]

Inventing is expensive, yet necessary

[@TheMultiverseTraveller]

I won't watch it now cause I'm actually playing it right now but I already know it's going to be a good vid!

[@filmotter]

Good point! Don't want to spoil the story for yourself. Enjoy the game tho!

[@ThatGuyGlen]

There’s some minor spoilers in the video (concept art of the final area) so it’s probably best to watch it when you’ve finished playing.

[@justinunger3526]

Wanted a less violent game, then basically make a game about a villian harvesting adrenochrome(vitae).

[@fluffy1667]

no, its based off of this tv series called: the trapdoor.

[@grape264]

8:38 why does it say "unkown"?

[@jorissimaitis5204]

love it

[@moomodogg8737]

this channel is amazing ... if you can do an episode of cuphead it would be great

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thank you! Cuphead is on my list ;)

[@CarlosBallena]

Hahahaha damn! I used to freeze BECAUSE of the levels of insanity of the player. I was too afraid to continue playing cuz at times there justseemed no way forward. No game played me this hard...

[@NathanJamesJerritze]

i think mr barrels helped as well

[@the3rdimension]

Plzz make some videos for AAA Titles as well like GTA V, The Last Of Us Series etc.

[@ThatGuyGlen]

For now I'm focusing on indie games only, but I'm not ruling anything out for the future!

[@the3rdimension]

@@ThatGuyGlen Yeah, I saw ur poll, then I would like to see a video on Inside by Playdead

[@aranerem3767]

I really enjoyed the game

[@WindowsNT_]

Hello again Hope you are having a good day

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Hi! Thanks, hope you’re having a great day too!

[@crowcoregames1785]

you should cover chicken police

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it!

[@bardofhighrenown]

The story of this game is why you should never pre-order anything. The game wildly changed from when they opened pre-orders to when it shipped

[@nannaogashawarmabrendan]

*sigh* Time to watch another Glen video I guess *stops doing all my chores*

[@DullUsername]

How about a video on Plants vs. Zombies?

[@ThatGuyGlen]

Not sure yet if I want to cover mobile games in the future, but I'm considering it!

[@sjahbw]

Ok

[@sjahbw]

Ok

[@theoneandonlymrbones]

people still speedrun this game thats crazy haha

[@coldstuff9784]

Great video! I remember people like Pewdiepie playing this, I thought he was super cute and played a bit of it myself, but I didn't find it scary personally. The story is really interesting though! :)

[@belalbaker1]

i was here 8 mins ago

[@johnmm.]

cocomelon was inspired by amnesia

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

4 days ago, hi

[@shubhamraj25]

The PewDiePie game!

[@filmotter]

LMAO literally tho