The Swine are Rising! In 2010 Frictional Games terrified the world with the cult horror Amnesia: A Dark Descent. Now they bring you a new nightmare. Created by The Chinese Room, the studio behind Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is an intense and terrifying journey into the heart of darkness that lurks within us all. The year is 1899. Wealthy industrialist Oswald Mandus awakes in his bed, wracked with fever and haunted by dreams of a dark and hellish engine. Tortured by visions of a disastrous expedition to Mexico, broken on the failing dreams of an industrial utopia, wracked with guilt and tropical disease, he wakes into a nightmare. The house is silent, the ground beneath him shaking at the will of some infernal machine: all he knows is that his children are in grave peril, and it is up to him to save them. Step back into the horror.
"Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs" was a great game! I thought the atmosphere was amazing and the ambience was very intense! The storyline could have been explained a little better- but I suppose that's what keeps fans more interested. Anyways, Great Job!
First of all, I want to say this game was brilliant. I will put down the reasons why I gave it a 9/10. I gave this careful thought...
This game focused more on the psychological aspect of terror rather than jump scares and in your face visual terrors. The true "horror" of the game felt like it was in the peripheral encounters with these piggy men that felt like they almost surrounded you earlier on in the game. You didn't always see them up close until later in the game when you were finally faced with these bizarre and unnatural creations. Then to suddenly face yourself and realize what you had done...only to have to tear yourself apart again...wow....
That being said, I did miss some of the puzzle aspects from the first Amnesia. While there was still a little bit of investigation which seemed to point more towards the inner questions of the character themselves...I was hoping for a bit more trouble destroying the machine. Or maybe even a bit more difficulty getting around the piggy men. But that is my personal preference.
Thirdly, I understand why they didn't add things like oil and laudanum or sanity potions. This character had not gone through the same things that Daniel did which gave him his phobia. This character was already settled in his actions and knew (mostly) what he was doing and what had happened. His condition was different and focused more on his fevered illusions of his children. I'm not sure even a sanity potion would have helped. As for the lamp...since, again, the fear of the dark played no role in this game, it was not needed.
The twists, tugs and turns of the game were over all very enjoyable and I loved the questions and scholarly humor used within the notes. It did not shy away from going inside the mind of someone willing to do good yet turning to twisted ways of "purifying" the imperfections of humanity. It touched on many disturbing thoughts and questions that many might shy away from. Very, very well done.
graphics could be alot better and the pigs could of been so much creeper
9/10 is a very high score, but I honestly think this game deserves it.
Yes, The Dark Descent is the better horrorgame. Yes, the gameplay of TDD is better. However, while the horror and gameplay of A Machine For Pigs are inferior, the story, the level-, audio- and visualdesign are superior.
Thus I don't think there is a clear answer to the question which game is better. It all comes down on whether - for the individual player - its strengths make up for its shortcomings or not.
Since I am a gamer with great interest in videogame stories, for me they do. Though I can fully understand why one might think otherwise.
For me it's the same situation as with Portal and Antichamber. I think Portal (AMFP) is the better game; I like it more; It's a much better crafted experience. I think that Antichamber (TDD) is the better puzzlegame (horrorgame) though; It excells at what makes games of its genre great.
Or in short:
For me A Machine For Pigs is the better game, while The Dark Descent is the better horrorgame.
A game with a great idea and atmosphere. On the other hand sometimes to easy to play with too little variability.
It's different than the first game (A Dark Descent), but scary equally on quantitative levels if not qualitative. I think one could say that Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a horror game for the thinking man. In story, this second one rises far far above the first. If you play this game, don't play it for fear of being completely vulnerable and helpless like the first game, play it to fear at the utter horror that should be had when you consider the events of the story.
Think about the character's motives. How did they set out with this goal, what were their sacrifices, what was the driving philosophy, and how does the player character change?
Perfect storyline, perfect atmosphere of the Victorian era and brilliant music. The Chinese Room did their best in that. But despite the wonderful scenes gameplay itself is rather flat. The monsters are predictable and after the first encounter are not scary at all. Even the chase and death, thrilling in the first Amnesia, became routine. There is even a strange glitch, perhaps only on linux, when monster attacks you collisions are not working and you could stuck into a wall or some machinery.
I enjoyed the game. It is a beautiful mix of perfectly made scenes, music and narration.
Pity developers decided to cut off some material due to moral constraints. I wonder will the game be even better if they left everything as planned.
Well... What can I say about Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs?
Here is my review (sorry for my English, i´m not in the mood to check for grammar mistakes and everything).
- The background story is definitely better than the first one. The Chinese Room is an expert in making immersive stories, and you can see that by playing Dear Esther, which is an awesome experience.
- All the characters has a very strong position in the game. The children, the main enemy and even Mandus are very well planned and choosed for an Amnesia sequel.
- The graphics (I do not care any little for graphics, but it still being a good point for a game) suffered a huge update! It´s simply beautiful.
- The Chinese Room is learning from it´s mistakes. AAMFP is the second game from this company, and this is an advive for the players that haven´t played A Machine for Pigs yet: do not hear the people that are saying that this game ruined the Amnesia universe, because it´s not. A sequel not been better than the original game doesn´t mean nothing. Frictional Game has a lot of experience with horror games. I thought that this was a great idea, because The Chinese Room had their chance to explain what horror means for them. They have a different perspective of horror and they showed up this.
Different mechanics are necessary for a company to have the full control for a game that do not belong to them. It was necessary and it ended very well. CONSIDERING only this game and the company which have made it, I would give it a 10, but comparing it with TDD, I give it 9. The Chinese Room has surprised me with this awesome game, showing that, in time, they can be as good as Frictional Games.
- No Custom Story support. OF COURSE! Now both games will be alive. If aamfp had cs support, everyone would stop buying tdd. With a cs level editor upgrade, they will need to buy both games to keep playing it, making the game even more alive. A wonderful idea.
BAD POINTS
- few encounters
- easy puzzles
- not very scary.
I like the new things of this game but I will always miss the effects that the old game had :(