My favorite custom story

I met the toilet man
thanks, I laughed XD

@groover Isolation was never too much of a factor for me. Some sections, yes, but overall I was more focused on the story and characters and trying to keep an air of mystery and intrigue. Horror is so subjective that it wasn't something I allowed myself to worry about too much, otherwise I'd go crazy. I do hope that someone out there found it scary, but I wanted to make sure that it was first and foremost a good game, and I'm still working to make changes that reflect that goal.

And thank you, @donna beneviento. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

@groover As far as your example with the main campaign, narration during notes helps keep note reading from becoming tedious and the flashbacks keep the notes from becoming too repetitive while still driving story development. I made the same choice with my mod as I knew it was going to be more story driven.

@groover I appreciate your feedback but feel what you're describing is something that is really subjective. I personally don't see talking as being antithetical to horror. It comes down to context and intent. And while I'm not certain your comment on mediocre voice acting was directed at my cast, those kind folks who lent me their voices are my friends and are extremely talented. I couldn’t disagree more with that opinion.

The voice acting was absolutely necessary for the kind of story she was trying to tell (and it was good!)

It's also less work for you, only requiring that you sharpen your writing chops. Let the music, the environment and the world you so meticulously crafted do the talking.

The overlapping voices is definitely a real problem that can be fixed, but I'm focusing moreso on the constant talking that happens throughout the story (and many recent custom stories). It's antithetical to horror to have the soundscape constantly being taken up by someone speaking, especially mediocre voice actors. The Great Work, Key to Freedom, hell, even Frictional's OG Penumbra Overture are so memorable BECAUSE they reinforce the isolation by very sparingly using voices. Just having a text box with vague descriptive text that lets your imagination run absolutely wild will always trump someone (who isn't me) reminding me that I'm not in any real danger and I'm just playing as a dude with a dorky sounding voice.

Please refer to those works to get a better sense of what I mean.

@groover If you're referring to the panic system where Ludwig talks over other events, this was a bug that I have hopefully fixed for the final patch. I'm still tweaking it to make sure that it definitely does not interfere with other dialogue.

It's especially egregious since there's constant repeating dialogue and characters talking on top of each other. Let your work speak for itself, reinforce the loneliness of the player character, and use voices sparingly to really highlight the fact that we're alone, far from help, and at the total mercy of the dark forces surrounding us. I was practically telling everyone to shut up out loud at my computer with how obnoxious it became.

Thank you for your work nonetheless, I realize I'm a bit of an outlier with my criticisms, but it wore me down and pulled me out of the experience more times than not. I hope you continue to make more content in the future, because the strong elements are particularly good.

The character constantly talking to himself ruins a lot of the mood. It'd be considerably more atmospheric with silence, rather than having the game tell me to be afraid.

Lovely game, Olivia)

@Roxcuttle I believe from the Steam library, you can right click on the game and select Browse Folder or some similar option, and once inside the game folder, there should be one labeled as custom_stories.

Where can I find the mod folder, my custom story folder is empty due to the nature of subscribing in Steam Cloud. BTW by far one of the greatest custo stories I've played and I am still far from finishing this story.

The password for the collectibles guide is wrong, or I'm putting it in wrong... please help!

@Silly Willy For Promise, all you need is to find most of Helena's notes, complete
the nightmare sections quickly, and not die too many times. If you've already completed the game, you should have the code to open the endings walkthrough guide for more detail.

hey I need some help on how to get the promise ending. ive collected all the notes and letters but no mater where i look I cant seem to find the "missing document that makes me get this ending I absolutely adore this mod and have played through it twice but i really want to see this ending because it sounds more satisfying than the resurrection ending

Ok, I managed to mak the combining the drill problem work by reinstalling the CS and replaying it.

Great custom story but I was not able to combine the drill bits into a drill. Is this a bug? No matter what I did and in which order iI combined the drill bits in the drill was never built in the inventory and I could not progress any further. Anyone else had this issue?

Such a quality mod genuinely thank you for taking the time to make this everyone. Its so nice to play something that was clearly made with passion.

the rusty torture key needed to progress neglected to spawn, but otherwise its a great mod

asking here on a whim, the password to the secret rar pdf at the end of the credits doesn't seem to be correct or i'm really dumb

why is the cellar door locked?

What a great custom story! Unfortunately it wasn't an entirely smooth sailing as I ran into several bugs that other people have mentioned here, but nothing that wasn't fixed by going back on a previous save. I was also not a big fan of how big the map was as I had to look up a few things just to remember where they were at. Other than that, I had a blast!

8.5/10

Sounds so cool!!! Can´t wait to play it

Great custom story! I loved the first part in the mansion, was so creepy.
I'd like to know how the F you're supposed to figure out the moon/star/sun puzzle, I had to look up a walkthrough, I got the moon number fine, but I've got no idea how you get 5 and 7 from the other two lol.
also I found some of the enemy AI to be a bit buggy, the first encounter while leaving the guest bedrooms was especially borked, the grunt just kept getting stuck at the 2nd staircase
Overall though, really fun story! Deserves more attention on here

Hey, ryrobnic! As for the mementos, that may either just be a game bug or there are so many mementos that they are on multiple pages. When that happens, the journal will open to the older ones first and you have to use the arrows to navigate to the new ones.

For the second issue you need to collect the three rods from Allan's, David's, and Martin's rooms, and use the Widows' Watch key from Nikolai's room on the Widows' Watch door to grab the oil hiding in the bookcase behind the vanity screen. When all needed items are gathered, a loud bang will sound and you will then be able to enter Helena's room.

If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask. :D

Hi, I really like this custom story so far, but I've ran into some issues.

First, my mementos seem to have bugged and no longer work. I don't know if it was after I picked up the first phonograph reel in the storage room next to where I got the cellar key, or when I went in to the cellar, but I think it was sometime in that part of the game that they quit working. I see the little book icon appear in the bottom right, but when I got to look, nothing new is written.

I also can't figure out how to trigger Helena's bedroom door to open. I've been in all of the other room, had all of the visions, and picked up every note and item I could find, but it still doesn't open.

I would greatly appreciate your help so that I may continue this story.

Sorry for the late response, but that is very good to hear! Can't wait to see what you come up with next, no matter if Amnesia or something else.

Sorry, my brain just processed the last bit of your comment! Hopefully! Custom stories are super fun to work on. Might participate in a jam or two when they come up, but I'm looking to focus on voice over and learning to make my own games/writing.

@Blazing Black Dragon No worries! I appreciate the feedback! The last section is where I felt the least confident, and it's something I'm striving to fix with the next patch. Feel free to be as specific/harsh as you think is needed! All critiques and suggestions are being listened to. :D

As much as I want to enjoy this custom story, I think the puzzles for this are at times a bit too tedious during the last section of the game. I like the voice acting, and the storing does seem to build towards something interesting, but the fact that I have the guide constantly open, just to know where I actually get to use the new items I aquire just kills my drive to play.

Sorry for the harsh review, I am quite curious if you guys are gonna keep doing Custom Stories, no matter if for TDD or other Amnesia titles.

Can you double check the curtain? The curtain itself doesn't open all the way. If you're standing in front of it and you see no door, try resetting to an earlier save. If the problem persists, let me know.

I seem to have encountered a bug. The secret door behind the piano{/spoiler] doesn't open when I pull the lever behind the painting. It makes the clicking sound and pans the camera, but nothing actually happens.

Can't find the file for this custom story, help!

Thanks, I didn't know about the PDF.

Heavenly bodies puzzle: each symbol corresponds to a particular portrait. The riddles under the paintings will give you the symbol, a number to look for, and what to do with that number against the total number of people/beings in them. The answers can also be found in the pdf in the main folder of the custom story. :D

I don't understand sun, moon and stars riddles.

Thanks

With the crowbar, open the locked doors (the two in the library and the private parlour, which is next to the library). If you have the lantern, that means you've already completed Solange's room. Once all foir rooms are open, head the main hall/big front door. An event will play, then the upper floor doors along the big main staircase will unlock. Hope that helps!

I found the crowbar and the lantern and I've been stuck for 2 hours I need help.

And thank you so much for responding to me

Also anyone who is stuck on the sun, star, moon puzzle. i have the code

There are only 4 slides, but you use them in various combinations. The slide box poem will help with the order. For the master key, you use the key found in the chapel on the underground offices padlock.

Are there more than 4 slides? if so i have 1 through 4 and cant find the 5th one, can someone help. Also is the master key suppose to work on the secret padlock in the underground offices? its not working for me

Thanks, JibOos! Your comment means the world to me and I'm so happy your enjoying the mod so far. ❤️

Hi from France :)

I wanted to say this is so good to see mods like this one appear in 2024... I love The Dark Descent, it's by far my favourite Amnesia. So I wanted to play again these last few days and, scrolling by curiosity on ModDB I found Helena.

This is Huge, in every sense of the term. Some maps are really big and very detailed which gives (to me) a satisfying feeling of every little thing well placed and thought.

Of all the stories I have played so far it's one of these, you know, that could be a game on it's own. I have rarely seen something so elaborate and with real efforts and work to make something amazing, both in terms of story, acting and puzzles. This is precisely what's keeping this game alive for real, thank you so much.

I haven't finished yet, saved at the Attic entrance yesterday but I think tonight's the night to complete it ;P

Get your hands on it guys, it's pretty solid ;)

daora

Noice one

Nice