Frictional Games’ main mechanic in their titles is the use of fear to affect your sanity. If you’ve played through SOMA and The Dark Descent, you’ll have some inclination of what we’re on about. Yet when it comes to Amnesia: Rebirth, they take the fear aspect one step further. Fear has a genuine impact on the main character Tasi’s mental state, so managing it is vital for your survival. But how do you manage fear in Amnesia: Rebirth?
We will say that one of the methods used in this guide is a massive spoiler to the game’s story. Read on at your own risk. We’ll place this method at the very bottom of the guide, so for those who don’t want to find out about it, don’t read further than the spoiler warning.
How to reduce fear
If you’ve played The Dark Descent, fear works in more or less the same way. Staying in the dark for too long will slowly drive you insane. Not only with screen distortion, which makes things harder to see, but the game will also turn your vision purple, and you’ll hear the sounds of bugs, and that alone is to make you go insane.
Looking at monsters is another way that hits your fear hard, as well as other gruesome sights, rooms filled with dead bodies and blood, will tank your sanity. You never want your fear levels to drop below a certain threshold because then the game will use it against you. It’ll start jump-scaring you a lot more by flashing strange images all over your vision; when this starts happening, find some light as quickly as possible.
To reduce your fear in Amnesia: Rebirth, you will need to find and be in the light. There are ways you can create your own light, such as matches and lantern oil, but these are pretty rare, especially if you light up every light source you see. You need to balance your supplies, use matches for lighting certain rooms, but save your lantern for long stretches of darkness.
So to reduce your fear, stay in the light, and don’t look at monsters. If you start hearing bugs, and flashing images, find some light as soon as possible!
SPOILER
There is a third way to reduce your fear massively and is a mega plot point to the game. You can rub your tummy, as Tasi is pregnant. To do this, hold down the X key or button, and it’ll cause Tasi to rub her tummy to keep calm. However, there will be certain times when the baby kicks, which reduces Tasi’s fear tremendously. In the early game, this happening is not common, but it’ll become more of a thing as you progress.
