It's entirely possible that you will enjoy this game. The critics sure seemed to. But I didn't. I didn't absolutely hate it, and if nothing else, it definitely succeeded in being mysterious. But I certainly have no interest in playing it a second time.

There is such a thing as too minimalist and too abstract, and I think that's where Kairo has unfortunately landed itself. There's too much "nothing" to navigate to even get to the puzzles in the first place; the setting is far too open considering how little you get out of exploring it. The puzzles were very poorly designed, uninspired and lackluster. Unfortunately Kairo's setting worked *against* the the puzzles and good puzzle design in general, even though it needn't have. This was all the more disappointing to me considering how well-made Richard Perrin's debut game "the white chamber" was.

The hint system is also badly executed. The hints always seem to go from "not helpful" to "still not helpful" to "let's just basically tell you the answer and ruin it for you".

For those of you who have played Antichamber, allow me to draw a comparison: Antichamber succeeded where Kairo failed. Antichamber is inspired, inspiring, powerful, elegant, and unforgettable. Kairo, though it tried hard, is *none* of those things. If I try, I can recall moments that felt awe-inspiring at the time; but they have not stuck with me. They were forgettable, as was most of this game.

I first played this game years ago when I was in my early teens, and fell in love with it immediately. As a reviewer below said, it's "shallow fun". In all the best ways! It's simple, but still makes you use your brain, while being ridiculously fun at the same time. The bright colours and simple graphics make you feel good and let you focus on playing.

And it's cheap! For the number of levels, and the hours of fun it provides, $6.99 is a VERY good price!

At first, I wasn't convinced that this game was actually going to be scary. I started playing, and all that happened at first was that there were some weird noises and the walls seemed to pulsate when I was on low sanity. I thought, "Creepy, sure. But scary? No." I kept playing. Even after seeing my first monster, I was only creeped out, not actually scared.

But then I got to the Archives, where there's very little light, and the invisible Kaernk chases after you. The last bit, where you have to outrun it by closing every door behind you, had me panicking and whimpering with fear.

Then, I got to the Guest Room, where a Servant Grunt appeared. I was horrified by its appearance, but I didn't think it would attack me! I freaked out when it started coming towards me. I hadn't read the manual and didn't know anything about hiding, so even though I went into the closet like the game told me, it kept killing me, until about the third time when the game got rid of it for me (I guess to make it easier).

Now I'm in the Storage Room, where I've had two or three Grunts chase me so far. The first time, I was playing with a friend watching. I heard the music that means a Grunt has spawned somewhere, but the Storage Room is oppressively dark, so I couldn't even see two feet in front of my face to find a door. I turned around AND THERE WAS THE GRUNT. I literally screamed out loud. And then it killed me.

Last time I played, I ran through several hallways and crouched down in a dark room to escape a Grunt. That's where I quit the game out of sheer terror. And now I'm scared to keep playing. Since then I've discovered from an Amnesia wiki that there's another kind of monster, called a Brute, which I haven't encountered yet, and which is FASTER THAN DANIEL AND CAN KILL IN ONE HIT. And that I'm close to getting to an even scarier part of the game.

I'm absolutely terrified to continue playing. I'm scared to get up out of the room Daniel's holed up in, in case the Grunt hasn't left. In case another one shows up. I'm scared to go through the Back Hall, where the Shadow will have left its mark now that I have all the rods. I'm scared to go back to the dark Machine Room and fix the elevator. I'm scared to take the elevator to the next part of the game, where more horrors will await me. I'm so freaking scared.

Eventually I'll muster up the courage to continue. But for now I can only congratulate Frictional Games on a job well done. People were always telling me how scary this game is, so I decided I had to get it. When I first started playing, I didn't see what all the fuss was about. Now I do and I'm one of the people making a fuss. At first, I thought I'd made a mistake in buying it. Not anymore!

The game recommends that you play Amnesia in a dark room, but for the sake of my own sanity I'm unable to do this unless I have a friend with me.

I'm sure I'll have loads more to say once I've finished the game. And I can't wait for Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs!