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Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs |OT| - This Little Piggy Cried AAHHH All the Way to Hell

S

Shawn6661

Member
8.5/10 "Petrifying"

Grand in ambition but focused in execution, A Machine For Pigs is a terrific slice of Victorian industrial horror that will stay with you even as you try to sleep with the lights on.

UPS Strong, disturbing story with sumptuous writing and thematic and historical depth. Highly effective environmental design. Scary enough to cause involuntary yelps. Lots of pigs.

DOWNS Disparate gameplay mechanics don’t quite gel together. The game's engine still has some rough edges. Visible game systems detract from the suspense at times.
 
N

Nugg

Member
D

dark_inferno

Member
Nugg said:
Alright, posting from my phone so I'll do my best with links. Canard PC, a major french PC gaming publication, is calling A Machine For Pigs "bad, linear, pretentious, no gameplay and nothing like the first one"

They're not always right of course, but I'll definitely wait for more reviews before preordering

Twitter links (tweets are in french)
https://twitter.com/Canardpcredac/status/377008098818285568
https://twitter.com/Canardpcredac/status/377008544060424193
Click to expand...

How many points got Gone Home from them?
 
S

SkyTurnsRed

Banned
Our review of Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs.

This is our first video review ever! We have been a podcast for a little while now and have been slowly transitioning some of our stuff over to video instead. Really excited to put this out there, even if I'm a little nervous about it. Haha.

Enjoy my face. Feedback is appreciated. Thanks for watching if you do. :)

Edit: also, the gameplay footage is dark because, well the game is REALLY dark. I did some YouTube editing at the last minute to brighten it, but really. This game is really, really dark.
 
B

big_z

Member
is this connected to the first amnesia game story wise? I haven't played the original and im not sure if I need to before jumping into this one.
 
H

Hawk SE

Member
Saving Content: http://www.savingcontent.com/post/60752138887/amnesia-a-machine-for-pigs-review


The valued the game at: Retails for: $19.99, Recommended Purchase Price: $11.99, which is basically a 3 out of 5.

I found this to be mildly disappointing. The story is rather confusing overly complicated, the enemies are almost non-existant, no inventory, no light management, you don't have to worry about your sanity - it's a very different game. Not all of it is bad, but for fans of the first game, it is nothing like you expect.

I don't want to trash the game. It looks decent, visuals aren't very impressive. But each location you visit does look pretty good, and each new area looks different than the last. There are some good scares, even if there aren't many.

I'll be happy to discuss more if you want to know more.
 
J

jacksepticeye

Member
Some reviews have me a bit worried about this game now.

Some people say it's 4 hours long and then other reviews say the last hour drags out :/
 
B

Brick

Member
jacksepticeye said:
Some reviews have me a bit worried about this game now.

Some people say it's 4 hours long and then other reviews say the last hour drags out :/
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm starting to worry as well. A lot of the reviews make it sound like it plays more like Dear Ester than The Dark Decent.
 
C

Clevinger

Member
Nugg said:
Alright, posting from my phone so I'll do my best with links. Canard PC, a major french PC gaming publication, is calling A Machine For Pigs "bad, linear, pretentious, no gameplay and nothing like the first one"
Click to expand...
Hawk SE said:
Saving Content: http://www.savingcontent.com/post/60752138887/amnesia-a-machine-for-pigs-review


I found this to be mildly disappointing. The story is rather confusing overly complicated, the enemies are almost non-existant, no inventory, no light management, you don't have to worry about your sanity - it's a very different game. Not all of it is bad, but for fans of the first game, it is nothing like you expect..
Click to expand...

Man, this sucks.

I didn't expect the Dear Easter guys to strip away a lot of the gameplay elements, but I guess I should have.
 
J

jacksepticeye

Member
Hawk SE said:
It took me 4 hours, but at most it's 5 hours long. I don't think it dragged out considering the length.
Click to expand...

I geuss I shouldn't complain cos it's not a $60 AAA game or anything but I was hoping for a bit longer.

As long as the scares and story keeping moving well pace wise it should be fine as Dark Descent was padded out as fuck

But this line from GS is what worried me
Drags over the last hour or so with repetition and story padding.
Click to expand...

In a game people are saying is short already that's not what you want to hear.

Bottom line Is the game scary?
 
P

Protein

Banned
I hope the Chinese Room never touches another Amnesia game again. Frictional did an amazing job on the original.
 
J

jacksepticeye

Member
Protein said:
I hope the Chinese Room never touches another Amnesia game again. Frictional did an amazing job on the original.
Click to expand...

I'd say it more like Frictional did a great job on the first half of the original. The rest was repetitive and entirely too predictable. Plus the story and dialogue was pretty poor overall with a lame payoff at the end

At least this game seems to have a much better story with much darker themes
 
A

ArjanN

Member
I don't mind them not copying the exact mechanics of the first game, would probably feel too similar otherwise.
 
R

Rooster12

Member
It seems that the reviewers are saying that there are a lot less monster encounters here than the first game.

That's a good thing if you ask me, the second half of Dark Descent the monsters appeared a bit too much, and they lose their "scariness".
 
S

SlasherJPC

Banned
Pixel Warrior said:
Are we in for a disappointment? :\
Click to expand...

I'll post my thoughts so far that I shot over in the review thread

SlasherJPC said:
I haven't beaten the game yet I can point out and say that the two games in the series def stand out and being different from one another. The gameplay elements from one are mostly stripped, you can barely pick up/interact with anything unless the game wants you too, it's linear, no sanity stuff. So yes, some folks will see this as a step back.Then again when it comes to stlye, atmosphere and narrative, I think this possibly beats it. Now I can't speak about the ending, but I already care more to finish this game and see the conclusion then I did the first game (which I actually never did finish)

Being the sequel to what is known as "the scariest pc game ever" is a hard act to follow so in some regards, this will probably dissapoint people. Though for those wanting a interesting, scary, puzzle game you'd be hard pressed to pass this up. It's enemies and take on horror is def not as cookie cutter as the rest of the genre can be.
Click to expand...
 
B

BobTheFork

Member
For some reason since this was announced, I've been expecting part of the game to be people being mamed and turned into pigs somehow. I guess I'll be disappointed if I don't see that but I'm looking forward to giving this a shot anyways.
 
X

Xater

Member
Here is my review of the game. I gave it a 4 out of 7 which is an average game on our scale: http://nerdsontherocks.com/amnesia-machine-pigs-review

I was pretty disappointed by the game. It's short and they just do a lot of mistakes which make the game way less scary than the first one. It's still a nice story experinece and it that sense it feels closer to Dear Esther than the first Amnesia.
 
D

dark_inferno

Member
I dont get it. Amnesia AMFP is a Story driven game and it has puzzles and is 3 hours long. Costs 12.80€. Gets 6-8/10.

Gone Home is a Story(Really poor story) driven game without gamey elements and is 1 minute long. Gets 9-10/10.

I have the feeling that people are comparing it too much with the first Amnesia. Dear Esther team focused on Story not on Gameplay. They wanted to differentiate from Amnesia and still everyone wants to compare it. Yes they used the name to get a small boost. But if it fits into the Universe why not?
I havent played it yet. But it just looks like a shortstory written by Lovecraft himself. The Atmosphere from these pictures etc. Im so damn hyped.
 
X

Xater

Member
dark_inferno said:
I dont get it. Amnesia AMFP is a Story driven game and it has puzzles and is 3 hours long. Costs 12.80€. Gets 6-8/10.

Gone Home is a Story(Really poor story) driven game without gamey elements and is 1 minute long. Gets 9-10/10.

I have the feeling that people are comparing it too much with the first Amnesia. Dear Esther team focused on Story not on Gameplay. They wanted to differentiate from Amnesia and still everyone wants to compare it. Yes they used the name to get a small boost. But if it fits into the Universe why not?
I havent played it yet. But it just looks like a shortstory written by Lovecraft himself. The Atmosphere from these pictures etc. Im so damn hyped.
Click to expand...

if you follow up Amnesia I expect it to b scary and that really wasn't the case with this game. For the most part I shrugged off whatever happened. There is probably handful of stuff in the beginning but later it's just whatever. I have not played Gone Home so I can't comment on it or compare it. Also the guys from The Chinese Room were pretty adamant about making this an even scarier experience than the first one and in that part they just failed.

If a Dear Esther with some rare enemies and a really creepy story appeals to you this game is probably still for you. People who come to this for the reasons I mentioned should probably stay away.
 
D

dark_inferno

Member
Xater said:
if you follow up Amnesia I expect it to b scary and that really wasn't the case with this game. For the most part I shrugged off whatever happened. There is probably handful of stuff in the beginning but later it's just whatever. I have not played Gone Home so I can't comment on it or compare it. Also the guys from The Chinese Room were pretty adament about making this an even scarier experience than the first one and in that part they just failed.
Click to expand...

Well i thought the exact same about Outlast. All the reviews said about how it was the scariest game ever. And i was scared in the first 30 minutes. Then it became boring. And after the shitty Story from Outlast we should appreciate a horror game with a good story.

Maybe its different from person to person. I hope we see some real Lovecraft game with Story by Chinese Room, Gameplay,Leveldesign and Audio by Frictional and Graphics by Red Barrels
 
S

Spoo

Member
Kinda looks like they *did* move the release time up. Earlier for me I would have to wait 24 hours from now, now it's just 13 hours.
 
N

NAPK1NS

Member
Gaddamn it. It unlocks at 3:00AM EST, why not just at midnight?

Less monsters? No more item management? Less puzzles? This is music to my ears. Those are assumed (archaic) mechanics of a survival horror title and the genre doesn't need them anymore. Just let me drink the atmosphere, story and scare the shit out of me. Don't need those chaff distractions.
 
R

Rooster12

Member
I don't mind a few tough puzzles, I think they can even add to the atmosphere.

But I like how there's a huge emphasis on story this time around.
 
P

Protein

Banned
Artanisix said:
Saying shit like this is so, so incredibly stupid unless you've actually played through the game already.
Click to expand...

The general consensus among reviewers is that the game is 'allright', but maybe I expected praise around the block. From what I read, they removed gameplay mechanics, arguably not much of a loss, but didn't bother to fill that void with new ones or expand on it, or even bring anything new to the table other than the story. The game being slightly shorter than the original is sort of a downer too, was a punch in the gut when I saw people saying 3-4 hours.



On a side note, I hope we can get more amazing posts like this:

http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=406129&page=9

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";23274476]Ok, I might be fucked. So I reloaded my game to figure out what the fuck was happening. I waited around again for the monster to lose interest. 10 minutes later, music's blaring. So I peek around and look towards the door, but it's covered in shadow. I slowly fall off the statue, creep over to the door and use my lamp to look through.



Nothing there, even peeking around the corner, I can see about to the barrels but no monster walking around. Ok, I figure the barrels stopped him, so I SLOWLY open the door. The barrels are covered in shadow, so I creep a little closer and start the lantern again.


Nothing again, but I still hear the music, and monster noises are louder than ever. At this point, I'm pretty satisfied with my barrels, and the monster must be barreling up and down the hallway looking for me. I turn, thinking about catching my breath, when I see something that took it away, sweat instantly flooding my whole body.


Little dots coming out of the corner of the wall across from me. They would appear and reappear rapidly. It hit me: The monster path-finding fucked up, and it got stuck in the corner before the barrels, the model clipping through the wall as it tries to run towards me. In any other situation, I would be laughing my ass off in victory, but well, here's the updated map:

cv8uE.png


I'm trapped. There's no other exit from this room, and suddenly I have no idea whether my roadblocks will do anything at all. On top of that, this monster is fueled by Mountain Dew™, and won't stop for anything. if I jump over the barrels to bait him, I could very well die instantly. I don't want to die.



It's no spoiler, but people should figure it out themselves, you know?[/QUOTE]
 
K

Kouriozan

Member
Hawk SE said:
I found this to be mildly disappointing. The story is rather confusing overly complicated, the enemies are almost non-existant, no inventory, no light management, you don't have to worry about your sanity - it's a very different game. Not all of it is bad, but for fans of the first game, it is nothing like you expect.
Click to expand...
And that's exactly why I liked the first.
The game probably shouldn't be called Amnesia then, I'll still buy it but I'll wait for a sale.
 
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