Cells (The Dark Descent)

"A cleansing fire always burns little Mandus, but it purifies and it makes anew."

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Cells
Previous	Chancel (discontinuous)
Next	Nave
General information
Location	Brennenburg Castle
Builder	Alexander of Brennenburg
Constructed	1300's or 1500's
Destroyed	1839
Affiliations	Alexander of Brennenburg
Game information
Appearance(s)	Amnesia: the Dark Descent
Objective(s)	Escape the cell
Encounters	None (safe)
Designer(s)	Thomas Grip
Map(s)	25_cell_tunnels
Level style(s)	Castle

This article is about the area from Amnesia: The Dark Descent. For the area from Amnesia: Justine, see Cells (Justine).

“

I will grant you another chance to redeem yourself. You can wait here and stop the Shadow. Thank you – friend.

”

Alexander, after locking Daniel in a cell

The Cells are a dungeon area located next to the Nave. It is inaccessible from the Nave upon first arriving there, and likewise cannot be reentered after it is left. It is the twenty-fifth (25th) level in Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Information

After collecting all six Orb fragments, Daniel is captured by three Servant Grunts upon attempting to pass through the Chancel. The Gatherers bring him to the Cells, where he is locked in. After Alexander mocks Daniel, he must free himself before the Shadow has the chance to kill him, and then escape from the area with the guardian in hot pursuit.

There is also a way to end the game here; if Daniel stays in the cell and does not escape, the Shadow will overtake the cell and consume Daniel. Alexander will thank the player and the ending will progress in an identical manner to Alexander's ending in the Orb Chamber.

Layout

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Light sources

Can waste as much oil as you want since the lantern will start to kinda become useless at this point in game since the last couple areas will be lighted up. There are 0 Candles, 16 Torches, 0 Lamps and 0 Fires.

Flashbacks

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Walkthrough

"Do you see, Daniel? A whole other world – isn't it beautiful?"

The following section is written from an out-of-universe perspective.

• Waking up in the cell, there is an oil potion in the back corner to your right, next to the bed.
• You have twelve minutes to escape the cell before the Shadow kills you.
  • At three-minute intervals, the Shadow will roar and more of its flesh will appear.
  • Being killed by the Shadow in this level grants Alexander's Ending.
• There are multiple methods to escape the cell.
  • Two of the bars are loose; one at the top in the center and another at the bottom right. Breaking off one will make you unable to grab the other.
  • Breaking the top bar will allow you to simply jump out between the bars, though this requires jumping onto the nearby table to get the necessary height.
  • The wall on the left has some loose bricks. You can either jam the Iron Bar in there and pry the bricks loose, or use the Hammer and Chipper.
  • Behind the wall is a cracked wooden beam supporting it. Push it a few times to make it break, causing the wall to collapse.
• In the cell to the left, there is a note on the floor and an oil potion hidden behind the bed.
• The note mentions that a key has been dropped into a pipe. This pipe is to the right of the locked exit door. Going over to it, the key is visible between some cracks in the pipe, which are not wide enough to allow the key to be removed by hand.
• One of the cells has been broken open. Entering it, the screen fades to black as we hear a Brute kill a man, whose corpse appears afterward.
  • A tinderbox is on the right between the bed and a bucket. A second one is in the rubble on the opposite side.
• The final cell contains a Wooden Bucket.
  • A tinderbox is to the right of the bucket, behind the table.
  • A bottle of Laudanum is under the bed to the left.
• There are two ways to get the key. Either use the well in the middle to fill the Wooden Bucket and pour it into the pipe, or use the Iron Bar to knock the key down the pipe.
• Once you have the Rusty Key, you can unlock the door.
• Soon after entering the hallway ahead, the Shadow will appear behind you and chase you.
• While you can sprint much faster than the Shadow can move, there are obstacles in the way to slow you down.
  • The first one is a door blocked by debris. Work quickly to move the beam and rocks out of the way.
  • Shortly after, you will come to an intersection. The direction you go does not matter, as either one will collapse in front of you, forcing you to go the other way.
  • Next you will need to run through water. You should already have a decent lead on the Shadow by now, though. You can hear when it enters the water, so you can use that to judge how far ahead you are.
• Run up the stairs and exit to the Nave.

Collectibles

Puzzle items

• Iron Bar
• Rusty Key
• Wooden Bucket

Tinderboxes

Main article: Tinderbox

• After escaping from your own cell, head into the cell in front of you. An event will trigger, and when you come to a dead body will be in front of you. One tinderbox can be found on the left side of the bedframe he is slouched over. Another one can be found on the opposite side of the room, behind a bunch of boulders on the floor. ^{(142 & 143)}
• Another tinderbox can be found in the corner of the cell where you pick up the bucket.⁽¹⁴⁴⁾

Oil

Main article: Oil

Canisters

• An oil container can be found in the cell you wake up in.
• Another one can be found in the southernmost cell, where a note can be found.

Barrels

• There are no oil barrels in this area.

Laudanum

Main article: Laudanum

• In the same cell as the bucket.

Documents

• Last Prisoner Note – Found in the first cell to your left after you escape from your own cell.

Trivia

• There are two ways to escape the cell; you can remove a weak part of the cell bars and use it (or the hammer and chipper) to open a small hole in the brick wall which you can break down to escape. There are two bars that are loose and weak, one located at the upper part of the cell, where you can jump-crouch out of, and below on the bottom right-hand corner. After removing one, the latter will trigger script announcing that you should not waste time on it. You can also drag the bed to the cell bars, remove the weak part of the cell bar and jump-crouch through it to get out.^{[incorporate]}
• There are also two ways to get the key. You can either get the bucket of water to flush the key out of the pipe, or you can use the cell bar part on the pipe to get the key.^{[incorporate]}
• It was originally planned that Daniel would be captured and escape from the Shadow in the Crypt instead of the Cells. This was dropped from the final version of the game; however, Frictional Games later used the Crypt for Amnesia's expansion pack Justine.
• The Intelligence of the Grunt can be discussed,^{[periphrasis]} since the Grunt left the Cells without destroying the Main Hall exit door, or even hiding the Key to escape the Cells.
• If the Wooden Bucket is picked up the way a barrel or box would normally be, it can be thrown the same way. However, it seems to be cast upward with great force and it then rapidly spins and bounces when coming into contact with a wall or the floor. This may be programmed or a glitch.^{[why would this ever be programmed?]}
• If the player decides to grab the Wooden Bucket and keep it for the rest of the game, it can be lured into the well with the Kaernk in the Nave, with or without water.
• Apparently, a Brute once destroyed the bars of one of the cells and killed the prisoner that was in it. This event can be heard as a flashback if Daniel enters that cell. When the flashback is over, there will be a dead man lying on the bed. The body is probably a hallucination since it wasn't there before the flashback occurred.
• Once the door is unlocked with the obtained key, the Shadow immediately begins to harass the player. Despite the fact that the character is slightly faster than the guardian, it is still advisable to escape the cells with haste.
• When you reach the fork in the hallway leading to the exit, going in either direction makes rocks appear there: Go right, rocks are on the right, and you have to go left. Go left, rocks are on the left, and you have to go right.
• Once you've reached the stairway leading to the Nave, the guardian gives up, as one can "camp" at the top of the stairs and be unharmed.
• Despite getting the water from the Well, if you drop the Wooden Bucket (or any interactable object small enough to fit) in the well, there seems to be no water sound when the object lands.

Gallery

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Video

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