Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
quad damage
Hey guys,
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs came out yesterday, and I was surprised not to see a thread about it. I've only played about fifteen minutes so far, but in that short time, I was already sufficiently creeped out. I know it doesn't necessarily say much about the rest of the game, but these first few minutes are markedly more tense than the first few minutes of "The Dark Descent"...
I look forward to playing it some more tomorrow.
I'm really excited to see what the rest of the game is like.
Anybody else got it?
I feel like horror games are some of the hardest to pull off well, but the guys over at Frictional Games, and The Chinese Room seem to really know what they're doing.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs came out yesterday, and I was surprised not to see a thread about it. I've only played about fifteen minutes so far, but in that short time, I was already sufficiently creeped out. I know it doesn't necessarily say much about the rest of the game, but these first few minutes are markedly more tense than the first few minutes of "The Dark Descent"...
I look forward to playing it some more tomorrow.
I'm really excited to see what the rest of the game is like.
Anybody else got it?
I feel like horror games are some of the hardest to pull off well, but the guys over at Frictional Games, and The Chinese Room seem to really know what they're doing.
Replies
I think this is true of every medium nowadays, I think it's down to the fact that our basest fears have been covered pretty extensively, so as new angle, a new way to make skin crawl is rare (the Welcome to Night Vale podcast, while being a comedy actually achieves this every now and then). But it applies to games so much more.
And now, I haven't played Amnesia yet, but I'm looking forward to it.
A Machine For Pigs is, unfortunately, a disappointment. I finished the game in 3 hours; there was only one memorable moment and personally I didn't get scared at any point. There were some panicky parts but nothing amazing, nothing that makes this game stand out.
The plot is fairly predictable; the story isn't too bad but TCR seem to love being very abstract and vague - I wanted some concrete details, some reason to really care. I didn't share the protagonists motivations either; I found it hard to care.
While I didn't really mind the simplified game mechanics (Unlimited lantern, no inventory) I was bothered by the... puzzles. If you can call them that. I didn't really have to think at all during the game, you see a button, you press a button. Doesn't get much more involved than that. Having less objects with physics was sad too, made the game world seem flatter, less interesting.
Lots of user reviews on the Frictional Forums too if you want to read up on other opinions: http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/forum-51.html
If you haven't yet purchased A Machine For Pigs, you might want to consult some spoiler-free reviews - I'd only recommend this if you're a massive fan of Amnesia:TDD and want something similar. If you've ever downloaded a custom story for TDD you probably fit in to that category. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend it (then again, Frictional Games are wonderful people so if you've got the spare dosh, go for it)
Oh well, back to hoping for Stalker 2...
I remember initially being completely terrified, moreso than with any other game as I hid behind a crate, trying to avoid the glances of mysterious creatures. Give it a few hours and I'm jumping through corridors slapping dogs with a wrench or whatever.
didn't live up to it's predecessor and was less of a terrifiying experience than outlast.
seriously, the enemies in this game are sooo easy to outrun/evade.
best review i've seen on YT so far
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2kMMRceqrg
I'm GLAD i didn't buy it.
It's pathetic how developers are so bad with the horror genre. Amnesia was a good game, but i did not feel horror, nor anything except playing the "mice and the cat".
Probably why pewdiepie stopped playing it after two videos, I've heard nothing but bad about it.
There's (at least) one blatant CGtexture in the early level/s, see if you can spot it. It's on a minor prop (Which is fair enough, they're indie devs... if this were AAA though then I'd actually list this as a crit)
If Robert Briscoe (Dear Esther) worked on this game it would look amazing. Pretty sure he had nothing to do with it. I could be wrong though.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first amnesia, dark decent. For reasons that were not really present in Machine for pigs.
The environment was kinda an issue for me, there were so many re used assets from the previous game. (Besides props there was kit bashing with the previous game) and i just dont feel i got to see what i wanted to see. (judging from the concept art)
Kinda had to stop and giggle when I saw they had made a door frame from an old stone enviro kit from the last game .. Just looks weird when you remember it being about 16m tall in the previous game, now its 0.5 ish.
Bit disappointed.
It felt like a much more merciful game than dark decent.
Puzzles mostly stripped down to the occasional "where's the hidden door" or "carry this item to the next room". Since the inventory was stripped, you'd never end up with items trying to figure out use over different areas.
Almost all encounters were very rare, on a simple patrol AI, in a tightly contained area.
No sense of danger, no fear of the dark, and surprisingly short. Oh well.
Looked nice in some areas, but a lot of super low res assets were a surprise.
I guess I'll still probably buy it at some point down the line, but seems there's no reason to rush.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/10/amnesia-a-machine-for-pigs-review
One thing, I played thirty minutes in my lit apartment, with my roommate watching some stupid TV show eight feet away from me, and talking to me periodically.
It wasn't scary at all then.
But tonight he was gone, so I shut off all the lights, turned up the volume, and played it the way it is meant to be played. The difference was astounding. You have to get in the mood for a game like this to be what it is meant to be.
haha yes i always play horror games at night in complete darkness with a headset on, it helps get you into the games