Amnesia alike?

[Amonides]

I got an impression, when I started to play Kholat, that it's highly similar to Amnesia - what are Your thoughts?

 

Let me quickly list what brought me to such conclusion:

 

1. Useless map in Kholat = no map - such as in Amnesia

2. Collectibles, which are not placed on the useless map, just like tinderboxes/Notes in Amnesia

3. Monsters which are not scary - I killed You, so what? Move back to the save point and play again...

4. walking ... walking ... walking ... and no matter what - do not use the flash light/lamp

5. If You want to 100%/plate me - find Yourself a guide ...

Edited January 5, 2018 by Amonides
Typo in the topic

[Sillshez15]

On 5.1.2018 at 0:01 PM, Amonides said:

I got an impression, when I started to play Kholat, that it's highly similar to Amnesia - what are Your thoughts?

 

Let me quickly list what brought me to such conclusion:

 

1. Useless map in Kholat = no map - such as in Amnesia

2. Collectibles, which are not placed on the useless map, just like tinderboxes/Notes in Amnesia

3. Monsters which are not scary - I killed You, so what? Move back to the save point and play again...

4. walking ... walking ... walking ... and no matter what - do not use the flash light/lamp

5. If You want to 100%/plate me - find Yourself a guide ...

Um... not to sound like that guy, but I don't think you can compare those two games.

 

1. Maps

It's true that the map in Kholat doesn't really help (mostly because of the weird compass mechanics) and Amnesia doesn't have a map at all, but in Amnesia you don't need a map if you make use of your tinderboxes. By lighting the candles in the game, you can mark the places you have already visited, so if you come across a dark hallway for example, you know you haven't explored this area yet. In Kholat however, you can't use gimmicks like this. All you can do is pay (very!) close attention to you surroundings and pray you don't end up running in circles.

2. Collectibles

While the locations of the notes are not on the map, you can actually make them out by paying attention to the sound effects. If you're close to a note, you can hear paper rustling in the wind which gets louder the closer you get to a note. In Amnesia, you don't get these audio cues. Instead, the collectibles glow when you're close to them. Also, you have to e.g. pull books out of a shelf to find a note which you don't have to do in Kholat, so you might run past a tinderbox without even knowing it because it was hidden under or inside another object.

3. Monsters

Well, it depends on the person if something is scary or not. A monster that creeps one player out might look boring or even hilarious to another. But in my opinion the monsters in Amnesia are much creepier than the creatures in Kholat. In Kholat, you never know if you can outrun the creature if it spots you; sometimes you can outrun it just fine and sometimes it catches you even if you didn't get out of breath. At some points when you have to get a particular note, it also spawns in places where you can't sneak past it and it just doesn't disappear, no matter how long you wait. In Amnesia however, the monsters disappear if you hide long enough or outrun them. Now for the "creep factor" of the Amnesia monsters: it works best if you like Lovecraftian horror. Since you can't directly look at them because they'll spot you faster that way, you might only see glimpses of the monsters. You don't know what they really look like unless you get close to them. Thus, you kind of "invent" your own monster as you imagine what it might look like based on what you saw and heard of it. Also, there's more variation: The Kaernk/underwater monster, the Shadow, the Brutes... And even though there are only four enemy types (including the Shadow), you might come up with more if you play without directly looking at the monsters. The way they were introduced really got me immersed in the game! You could hear them long before you actually encountered them, and this made the atmosphere much more unsettling. In Kholat however, the demon just randomly keeps popping up like: "Hi, here I am! Missed me?". There's nothing that makes you anticipate its appearance, you just hear the groan, see the footprints... "Oh no, not that SOB again..."

4. Walking

This is the point where I disagree with you the most. Yes, Kholat does feel like a walking simulator that tries to be a horror survival. While games focusing on exploration and narration don't always have to be bad (look at Layers of Fear or SOMA for example! Both are great games!), the lack of a climb or jump action feels pretty awkward when you play someone who tries to find clues about a mysterious case in a mountain area. Seriously, I had more fun playing Dear Esther and there, all you could do was walk. In Amnesia however, you can actively interact with your environment. In order to progress, you have to solve puzzles that, while most of them aren't too hard, are very entertaining. Also, unlike the character you play in Kholat, Daniel, Justine and Mandus are able to jump over obstacles, climb ladders, and stack barrels, boxes, chairs etc. to reach higher areas. You can also use those objects to barricade doors.

I could write more about this point, but to make it short: When I played Amnesia, it felt more like I'm actually playing a game than when I played Kholat because in Amnesia, the gameplay is more engaging. You're right about the lantern though ^^

5. No plat/100% without guide

I partly agree with you on this point. Getting all trophies in both games is very difficult without a guide, but for different reasons. In Amnesia, a lot of the collectibles are very well hidden and you have to think outside the box to find all of them. Saving Agrippa is also no easy task if you don't know how to get the ingredients necessary for the potion.

In Kholat however, it's mostly because the navigation is lackluster (if the compass actually pointed north, it would be easier to navigate the map) and glitches that might cause you to get stuck so you have to restart the game (I even glitched through the floor once and died, which would be extremely infuriating when attempting the gold trophy in this game. By using a guide, you know which route to take without getting stuck). Some of the trophies might be bugged (when I tried to get the Speleologist trophy, I used a guide but didn't get the trophy. After what seemed to be an eternity of aimlessly wandering around in the caves, I finally got it.), so even if you use a guide in Kholat it might not ensure you actually get the trophies.

 

TLDR: To me, Amnesia is an engaging game and hard to plat because the trophies require you to search every nook and cranny, but Kholat feels like a rushed game and is hard to get 100% in because it's a bugfest.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Sillshez15

[DrHambone]

This makes me want to try Kholat out, but the bug complaints scare me. I enjoyed Amnesia, a fun platinum to get IMO.

 

Kholat has been out for awhile right? The developers haven't tried patching anything?

[Sillshez15]

48 minutes ago, DrHambone said:

This makes me want to try Kholat out, but the bug complaints scare me. I enjoyed Amnesia, a fun platinum to get IMO.

 

Kholat has been out for awhile right? The developers haven't tried patching anything?

If it wasn't for the bugs, it would've been an okay game. The controls are pretty barebones, but you can get used to it (though I would have liked it more if the character you play could sprint for longer than 7 seconds without getting out of breath. Okay, it's a horror game, but come on!).

Nope, the devs patched nothing. I mean, they could at least try to fix the issue when you get stuck in a bush / between trees / etc. because it's pretty annoying if you lose half an hour of progress (more if you're unlucky) just because the game feels like being a jerk. But I don't think they will ever patch anything since it's been out for 2 years now. ?