Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs Reviews

[h1]This game really suffers from amnesia — it has forgotten what Amnesia is all about.[/h1] [i]From the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Dear Esther comes a new first-person horror game that will drag you to the depths of greed, power and madness. It will bury its snout into your ribs and it will eat your heart.[/i] [h2]Story[/h2] Set in London, 1899, you play as Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist who awakens in his bed with no memory of recent events. Haunted by feverish dreams and the voice of a mysterious caller, Mandus sets out to find his missing children and uncover the secrets beneath his mansion. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is a first-person horror game developed by The Chinese Room (the creators of Dear Esther) and published by Frictional Games, who also developed the original Amnesia: The Dark Descent. This game is more of a walking simulator. It still includes light-based stealth and hiding from enemies, just not as often or fun and scary as Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Unlike Amnesia: The Dark Descent, A Machine for Pigs focuses more on narrative and atmosphere rather than complex puzzles or inventory management. There is no sanity system, inventory system, no oil, and no tinderboxes. The Lantern is repurposed, with significant changes, as it now runs on electricity and can be used indefinitely. The game still has a physics-based interaction system that lets you manipulate objects naturally, like opening doors by dragging the mouse, which adds immersion. Don’t expect the same level of gameplay intensity as its predecessor. [h2]Enemies & Bosses[/h2] [u]The enemies in this game are called Manpigs and come in four types:[/u] [b]Wretch:[/b] The most-commonly encountered enemy, frequently appear in groups, and serve a similar role to the Servant Grunts of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. [b]Engineer:[/b] A tougher counterpart of the Wretch, the engineers are encountered in the mid/late parts of the game. [b]Tesla:[/b] Phasing makes the Tesla difficult to track, as it will disappear and reappear continuously. It is the greatest threat in the game and is able to kill Mandus in two hits. Feels more like a boss enemy. [b]Failed Experiments:[/b] Highly reminiscent of the Kaernk of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and, likewise, are restricted to not being able to leave the water. [h2]Environment & Scares[/h2] Unlike the medieval, castle-like setting of The Dark Descent, this game is set in the mechanical world of 1899 industrial London. Some key environments are the Mandus’s Mansion, streets of London, the factory and the Machine, processing plants, sewers and underground tunnels, and more. The Machine is almost a character in itself, as it feels alive, just not as much as the castle from The Dark Descent in my opinion. Scares still include some jump scares and sneaking past enemies, but not as scary as The Dark Descent. It focuses more on narrative horror. [h2]Visual Design & Sound Design[/h2] The visual design is good. It uses strategic use of flickering lanterns, red warning lights, and darkness to create tension. The environment is beautiful if you are into industrial and steampunk settings. The streets of London are foggy, deserted, and ghost-like. The Manpigs are humanoid pigs with stitched flesh, bare muscles, and mechanical implants. It makes you question how much is man, beast or machine? The sound design is also good and consists of constant industrial hums. Machinery, generators, and steam engines create a low, droning tension. The sound of the Machine evolves as you progress the game. Manpigs make snorting, gurgling, breathing, and pig-like squeals. Their footsteps clank or thump with a disturbing mechanical rhythm. [h2]Constructive Criticism[/h2] I expected a game more like Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I did not like the simplified gameplay and the removal of core mechanics, especially the inventory and item management, like oil and tinderboxes. The Manpigs are not as scary as the Gatherers, and there are fewer encounters. They don't pose as much of a threat either. The horror is not nearly as intense or panic-inducing. [h2]The Verdict[/h2] This game is tough to recommend or dismiss outright. It’s not a bad game per se - it’s just not a good Amnesia game, in my opinion. It really depends on what you're looking for. You might be disappointed if you're expecting complex survival horror mechanics and frequent, dynamic enemy encounters. But if you're more into walking simulators and symbolic storytelling, it might be exactly your thing. [h2]Rating: 5/10[/h2]

Between frequent crashes and dumbed down mechanics from the first game, it's a huge letdown

I can no longer recommend A Machine for Pigs only because the game suffers from frequent crashes either during area transitions or when saving the game. It was a slog trying to press through all the lost progress, particularly because the only save method makes you quit to the main menu. If you do give it a shot, I think disabling V-Sync and running the .exe as Administrator helped me in the end. I played this game 13 years ago when it first released and I remember being incredibly disappointed. I now realize it's because I approached it as a follow-up to A Dark Descent and not as it's own, separate entity. The scares are much less impactful. The interaction and mechanics are streamlined and simplified. It's just not what made Amnesia Amnesia, to me. Although it revolves somewhat around Amnesia's lore, I think it would have benefited from being its own thing since players ended up having preconceived notions of what to expect. I decided to revisit it because I absolutely loved Still Wakes the Deep. When I found out Chinese Room made that and this, I had to play it with a fresh perspective. It's still a streamlined, less scary Amnesia game, but the writing and plot are much better than I remember. And maybe it's just because of current events and where I'm at in life, but parts of the story really resonate with me. Parts that probably went over my head when I played this so long ago. [h1]My Rating: 3/5[/h1]

Okay game, still enjoyed but compared to dark decent is mediocre at best

This game is weak, a quarter of the objects in the game are interactive, and the inventory system had been stripped from the original. The plot is a novel, with minimal audible dialogue; opposed the the original, voicing key documents, and it's moral conclusions lack coherent certainty. It was an interesting idea on paper, and an exercise to get through in practice.

Honestamente, siento que eliminar la mecánica de cordura y no tener inventario le quita parte del encanto y la tensión del original. Sin embargo, lo compensa con una historia fuerte, un diseño sonoro increíble y niveles muy bien logrados. Los monstruos no son tan opresivos como antes, los encuentros peligrosos son raros, lo que también le resta un poco de miedo. Aun así, es una experiencia interesante y perturbadora a su manera.

Damals wäre es warscheinlich nicht so gut angekommen, wie heutzutage. Man sollte aber trotzdem dem Spiel 100% deiner Aufmerksamkeit geben weil es sonst warscheinlich schlechter ankommt. Sehr underaprreciated und overhated, wirklich ein recht gutes Spiel

game is way better than what i expected. Not a masterpiece but its a good game

Frictional Games let the makers of Dear Esther do a horror game (because they were out of creative juice after Amnesia) in their popular franchise and it shows that they have let minimalism go a bit too far. Plunged into game without sanity meter, no visible health (autoregen), just no management, the first half of the game is lacking engagement to keep you interested in this horror. Usually you go for minimalism when you want player to focus on other things, like environment or pacing. Tho in this case you still go through looking at every corner of levels full of junk, which is now static too, searching for notes which are the main way Act 1 drives the plot. Reading post-mortem I can assure you the devs were full of shit in how to push horror games genre. Monster encounters suck too. Thankfully in Act 2 the active conflict is established and Chinese Room devs show their strong side with the drama going on. What a joy to watch. The voice acting is absolutely sexy, I loved simply hearing how characters talk. Which is in Act 1 too, just no big drama. Same for amazing sound design, this is delicious. So if you are a fan of Amnesia you should still enjoy the game, the payoff is not amazing but it's there. But still I wish it didn't squander much potential. Even just staying more conservative like keeping sanity mechanic would have helped it a ton.

My favorite part of the game is when the pig machine says "It's piggin' time!" and then crashes my game whenever I enter a new level