Amnesia Custom Story: "Real Life"

     Over the past few Sundays I've been inviting friends over for a session of "Sunday Afternoon Amnesia". A few of them were interested in the game, but not brave crazy enough to actually play it themselves. That's where I come in. In a fit of bad judgment, I bought the game and decided I wanted to play it (should have probably been the other way around). My friends became engrossed with the story... so much so that they decided to play a little prank on me... (Unfortunately, they didn't take pictures, and to keep this blog post from being a wall of text, these standard issue Amnesia pictures will have to suffice.)

Oh boy, this just got real... Literally...

     It's Friday night. A little after 10 PM, I leave work. A few minutes prior to clocking out, I received a text from my roommate. It said, "Call me when you get off." So, as I walk to my car, I call him. He tells me that he had wanted me to run to the store, but that my brother had already done so, and therefore I didn't need to. He asks me if I was coming straight home, and I tell him, "Yeah, but I'll probably grab some Taco Bell along the way." He says, "Okay, I'll see you then." This is a common conversation at our apartment, so I think nothing of it...

     Around thirty minutes later I arrive home, a bag of scrumptious burritos in one hand and my MP3 player in the other. As I approach our door, I notice something hanging from the door knob. It's a lantern. Next to it, duck taped to the door, is a note...

"Brad,

By now, you won't remember any of this, but it is probably for the best... all you need to do is make it to your bedroom, despite your amnesia... After all - IT'S JUST A GAME...

Your former self,
BRAD"

Kind of like this, but with better graphics...

       I'd like to take a moment to say that at this point I knew exactly what was going on. I laugh, pull an about face, and walk back to my car. Along the way I call my roommate. Of course, he doesn't pick up. He replies with a text, "Play the game." I reply, "I have a machete." I reach into my car and pull out a two foot long machete, unsheathe it, and walk back to the front door. I drop my Taco Bell at the door step, stuff my MP3 player in my pocket, grab the lantern, and unlock the front door...

     I throw the door open, hoping to catch anyone hiding behind it off guard. No one is there. As I enter my apartment, I boldly proclaim, "Whoever is in here, I just want to let you all know I HAVE A MACHETE." With no answer, I cautiously inch my way inside. I flip the light switch next to the door. Nothing; the bulbs have been taken out of the ceiling and the lamps unplugged. I think for a moment: This is probably a bunch of my friends just trying to have some fun. If I end up running one of them through with my machete, it would probably be a bad thing. I lay my machete on the ground near the door, and continue inside...

Anybody home?

     I observe my surroundings: the entire apartment has been rearranged. Numerous electric candles are scattered about the living room and kitchen, giving off a small amount of light. My computer speakers have been re-purposed, and are playing the creepy music from the game's soundtrack. Boxes and other "set pieces" clutter the floor. The atmosphere of the game has been faithfully recreated in what used to be the comfort of my own home. So what do I do?

I play the game like I normally do. I pick up a bunch of cups that are sitting on my desk and chuck them all over the place. I find a "tinderbox" on the table, and utter aloud, "Ooooh! A tinderbox!" I kick a bunch of boxes around and make small talk with myself to try to alleviate the terror. I pick up a chair and take it with me. I try to joke around when I play Amnesia. It helps relieve tension...

Pull all the levers!

     I reach the hallway that leads down to my room, and on my right is a door to a closet. A chair in my hand, I throw open the door. Nothing inside (except for the water heater, but that's always there). Then something clicks in my head: I forgot a door. I walk back to the front door and try to open the coat closet. It opens a few inches then is pulled closed. I pull again, but whoever is inside is holding it closed tightly. I say, "Ah! The door is tightly locked. Better make sure it stays that way!" I walk over to my computer desk, grab a folding chair, and jam it up against the door knob. It's not the best door stop, but I hope it will do. I turn back to the living room, confident that I'm safe for the time being, and start exploring...

     I head back towards the hallway leading to my room. I stop, look to my left, and see a cluster of candles on top of our stove. I am intrigued, and head into the kitchen to investigate. A sign sits below the candles that reads, "THE KEY." Below is a golden key. I pick it up and try to put it in my pocket when I encounter some resistance. The key has a piece of string attached to it. Using my considerable amount of deductive reasoning, I assume that the string is attached to a trap. I try to cut the string, but it's no ordinary string. I figure it has to be some sort of wire or fishing line. I think, I guess I'll be springing this trap anyway...

Probably a trap...

     I pull the key out. *CLANG* Attached to the other end of the wire is a a bunch of keys on a keyring. It hits the metal stove-top and the metallic sound reverberates through the kitchen. I wince, knowing full well that it was far too loud. I exit the kitchen on my way to my bedroom, when I hear pounding on a door. I spin around looking for the source, holding the lantern aloft to see what was going on. I hear a door open and the clang of a metal chair hitting a wall. Around the corner comes the monster from Daniel's nightmares...

     I stand there, dumbfounded. A, "Huh." slips out of my mouth. On the one hand I was impressed by the quality of the costume. On the other, I was completely surprised at how realistic the simulation was. The monster turned the corner, stood there a second, then took a step forward. Then it hit me... RUN YOU IDIOT! I snap back into the game and go running down the hall. I make it to the door and grab he handle. It's locked. I flip out, the monster is right behind me. Then I remembered the keyring full of keys, and completely forgot that the door to my bedroom doesn't have a normal key lock. The monster catches up with me and starts slashing. After a few hits I "die", slump over, and play dead. Then I flip out again, "Where's the KEY!?!"

OH HAI! Did you drop something?

     I reach into my pocket and pull out what I think is a key. Nope, those are my head phones for my MP3 player. I check my pocket again. Nothing. I've dropped the key somewhere. I decide there's nothing else I can do... LEEEEERRRRROOOOOYYYY JENNNKKIIIIIINNNSSSSSS! I run headlong into the monster and take him off his feet. As he falls to the ground I hear him yell, "Pineapples!" I stop, confused. "Pineapples?" I say, "PINEAPPLES!?!"

     Apparently, "pineapples" was the safe word, alerting my friends to come out and restrain me if I ceased playing the part of Daniel and started playing the part of Rambo. The doors behind me open and my roommate and a few friends walk out, laughing. They then proceed to explain. The whole thing was somewhat unplanned, or so they said. They had prepared for several different situations. My brother had taken on the role of the monster. The costume was pretty close to the real thing: he wore a complete set of grey long-johns, with a mask that was surprisingly close to what the monster looks like in the game. He also had one of those "personal soundtrack shirts" underneath the gray one, and had downloaded the monster's growls from the game and played them as he chased me.

I probably would have wet myself if I opened a cupboard to something like this...

     In the end, it was I who broke the game. I "meta-gamed" instead of "role-playing". They told me later that I could have turned off the lantern and hid, and my brother would have walked past me and gone into one of the other rooms. I didn't consider him a dumb, easily fooled A.I., so I didn't think I'd be able to hide like that. Had I been in on it, I would have done a few things differently. However, the whole thing was done very well, and I got a real kick out of it. Usually I only hear about cool pranks like this over the internet, I never really get to be a part of one. So, I say thank you to all for what is probably the best custom story ever made... but never do it again or someone will probably get stabbed.

(I claim no ownership for any pictures used in this post! It's easier to find good pictures using Google Images than it is to try and make them myself. I guess I'm just really lazy...)