Amnesia: The Dark Descent vs Dying Light
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a horror puzzle game from Frictional Games (2010) while Dying Light is an action-adventure action-RPG game (2015).
Quick answer: Dying Light rates higher, 8.3 to 8.1 on the GamingPickz Score, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent is the cheaper at $1.99.
What each one is
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is filed under Horror and Puzzle. In contrast, Dying Light under Action-Adventure and Action-RPG.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, a first person survival horror. A game about immersion, discovery and living through a nightmare. An experience that will chill you to the core.
First-person action survival game set in a post-apocalyptic open world overrun by flesh-hungry zombies. Roam a city devastated by a mysterious virus epidemic. Scavenge for supplies, craft weapons, and face hordes of the infected.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
On 19 August 1839, a young man awakens in the dark and empty halls of Brennenburg Castle in Prussia with no memory about himself or his past. All he can remember is that his name is Daniel, that he lives in Mayfair , and that someone or something is hunting him. Shortly after regaining consciousness, Daniel finds a note he wrote to himself, which informs him that he has deliberately erased his own memory and is being hunted by a "Shadow", an unearthly… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Amnesia: The Dark Descent received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Josh Tolentino of Destructoid , Adam Biessener of Game Informer , and Bev Chen of PALGN saw Amnesia as a return to true survival horror, contrasting it with action-heavy titles like Resident Evil or Dead Space . Its focus on powerlessness and psychological horror was seen as a bold, influential move, with Ashton Raze of The… (Wikipedia)
Plot
Setting Roger Craig Smith provided the voice for protagonist Kyle Crane. In the fictional Middle Eastern city of Harran, a mysterious viral outbreak has turned most of the population into hyper-aggressive zombie-like creatures, forcing Harran's Ministry of Public Defence to quarantine parts of the city. The Global Relief Effort (GRE) assists survivors still trapped in the city by regularly airdropping supplies. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Critical reception According to review aggregator website Metacritic , the PC version of the game received "generally positive reviews" upon release. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions received "mixed or average" reviews. Dan Whitehead from Eurogamer felt that the story, despite being predictable, was serviceable, though he noted that the main campaign was "repetitive". (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Amnesia: The Dark Descent | Dying Light | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 8.1/10 | 8.3/10 |
| Steam rating | Overwhelmingly Positive (95%, 35,674) | Overwhelmingly Positive (95%, 494,569) |
| Critic aggregate | 85/100 | 87/100 |
| Price | $1.99 | $24.99 |
| Install size | — | — |
| Steam Deck | playable | verified |
| Released | 2010 | 2015 |
| Developer | Frictional Games | — |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent vs Dying Light, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Amnesia: The Dark DescentHorror puzzle gameDying LightAction-adventure action-RPG gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Amnesia: The Dark DescentHorror, Gore, Psychological HorrorDying LightZombies, Survival Horror, HorrorThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Amnesia: The Dark DescentScore 8.1 · 95% on Steam · 85 criticDying Light ✓Score 8.3 · 95% on Steam · 87 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Amnesia: The Dark Descent35,674 reviewsDying Light494,569 reviews · 41 add-onsReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Amnesia: The Dark Descent ✓$1.99Dying Light$24.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Amnesia: The Dark DescentPlayableDying Light ✓VerifiedValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Dying Light takes 2 of the marked rounds to 1. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueAmnesia: The Dark Descent and Dying Light on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Dying Light (GamingPickz Score 8.3)
- The cheaper right now: Amnesia: The Dark Descent ($1.99)
- Better on a Steam Deck: Dying Light (verified)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: Dying Light (494,569 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
HorrorGoreSurvival HorrorFirst-PersonStealthActionStory Rich
Where they differ
Psychological HorrorAtmosphericPuzzleNudityDarkLovecraftian
ZombiesOnline Co-OpOpen WorldParkourSurvivalOpen World Survival Craft
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Amnesia: The Dark Descent is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Dying Light is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Amnesia: The Dark Descent | Dying Light | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | — | NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 / AMD Radeon™ HD 6870 (1GB |
| Minimum CPU | 2.0Ghz - Low budget CPUs such as Celeron | Intel® Core™ i5-2500 @3.3 GHz / AMD FX-8320 @3.5 GHz |
| Minimum RAM | 2 GB | 4 GB |
| Install size | — | — |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Amnesia: The Dark Descent · Dying Light.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Amnesia: The Dark Descent and 1 for Dying Light. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Dying Light in scope?
Amnesia: The Dark Descent has drawn 35,674 Steam reviews. Dying Light has drawn 494,569 Steam reviews and ships 41 add-ons.
Is Amnesia: The Dark Descent or Dying Light better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Dying Light rates higher (8.3 to 8.1). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Amnesia: The Dark Descent or Dying Light?
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is cheaper right now at $1.99, against $24.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Should I get Amnesia: The Dark Descent or Dying Light?
Dying Light rates higher, 8.3 to 8.1 on the GamingPickz Score, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent is the cheaper at $1.99. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.