Amnesia: Rebirth's launch was a bit cursed oOooOoo
First it had no exe, then it vanished
In my expert opinion, the best thing a horror game about amnesia and half-glimpsed horrors can do upon launching is disappear. Was it ever there? Am I crazy in the coconut? So it's thematically splendid (if practically inconvenient) that today's Amnesia: Rebirth launch went spooky on Steam. At first some owners found it didn't have an executable so they couldn't play, which is a solid jumpscare after paying £24, then the game promptly vanished from the store. An excellent series of chills. But it's okay now! Come relax with the launch trailer.
"Noting that a lot of people have problems with the Amnesia Rebirth exe missing," Frictional said at 4:29pm. After a little probing with help from Steam techs, 31 minutes later they said they had a fix and it'd be fine if you just restarted Steam.
25 minutes later they observed with a panicked repetition, "Amnesia: Rebirth seem to have disappeared disappeared from the Steam store. ?" Indeed it had! It's back now. For now?
Two other problems are slightly more enduring, and less thematically pleasing. Frictional note that it's not working on Windows 7 and the Linux version "can have some graphical artifacts." They say they "are working on" this and will say when it's all fixed, but it's "unlikely" fixes will come today (European today, at least).
Amnesia: Rebirth is out now for £23.79/€24.99/$29.99 on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. It's available on Windows and Linux - unless you're on the Epic Store, which doesn't support Linux.
Alice Bee has played Rebirth and found a lot to like. "It's testament to Frictional's skills as horror designers that they can make you feel afraid in bright sunshine, and it feels a bit like they're showing off," she said in our Amnesia: Rebirth review. But continuing the series rather than fully being its own thing might not be a strength, as she said "I can't help but think that Rebirth suffers as a result of being an Amnesia sequel."
Speaking of taking dingy horror to a bright desert, Imogen talked with two of the Frictional gang about that and more in her Amnesia: Rebirth interview. A good long read, that.