Fire away. It took me 5 hours to finish since I know that one will come up.

How is it?

How many pigs were in the game? How do they operate the machines without opposable thumbs?

@samstrife said:

Good, has issues but it is a good game. My main issue with it is that it borrows from the first game a bit too much instead of evolving its formula.

There are a lot of pigs

Did you play Dear Esther? If so can you see any relations between this game and the Dear Esther game?

Were any of the pigs named Porky?

@enchantedecho: How scary is it compared to the first game? Did the similarity with Dark Descent take away from the tension/atmosphere/scares?

Was it scary?

@enchantedecho: Is there anything new you could say this game adds to the formula from the previous one? By the end of the previous game i wasn't scared at all and it just completely fell apart for me as an experience.

Not really.

Did you scream really loudly and contort your face strangely and upload it on youtube?

you doin ok bud?

It's better than Nosferatu : Wrath of Malachi ? that one made my heart jump off my chest and never came back.

2spooky?

If you played outlast how does it compare?

Rumors on the net the Pig is the Geico Pig. True or False?

Going to work I'll answer a load of questions when I get back in about 7 hours.

Did you soil yourself at any point?

If I hated Dear Esther and thought it was over priced, pretentious wankery that wasn't as deep and atmospheric as most people made it out to be, would I like A Machine for Pigs?

How are the puzzles? i loved the ones in Penumbra but Amnesia's were a bit disappointing.

Does it have any shovels?

@i_stay_puft: I played Dear Esther but didn't finish it, it doesn't feel like Amnesia + Dear Esther. It is Amnesia with a stronger story and a few quiet moments where you explore the environment.

@minipato: if you hated dear Esther you won't hate a machine for pigs. It is much less stale than Dear Esther in my opinion.

Does the story in A Machine for Pigs have any relation to the first Amnesia, even if it's only tangential? The description on the game on Steam says it's a "Fresh and new approach to the Amnesia world while staying true to its origins." I've never finished the first one, and I would like to play it before A Machine for Pigs if it's based on the world previously established.

@lumley:

It isn't as scary as the first game by a decent margin, I don't think I came across a single jump-scare. It is more focused on building tension and frantic escapes from things chasing you. Still pretty stressful at times but not scary.

It's a completely new character and setting, there might be some subtle hints to the last game but I didn't notice any when I played through it. So I guess it is tangentially related but easily digestible on its own.

They are pretty straightforward for the most part, bar one or two. They are more of a means to a end than a actual challenge.

It's a more refined game that has stripped out a lot of the annoying things about The Dark Descent (no more lamp oil, tinderboxes, inventory) that has a greater focus on telling a story. One of my issues with the game is that it relies too heavily on the first game's formula, it emulates similar scenarios from the first game to fault at times.

How much poop?

If I couldnt get through the first Amnesia (not because it was too scary, but because everything about it was boring. Especially the story) would I have a better chance with this one? From what I've read, the story is actually really well told.

If you've played the Penumbra series, how would you say it compares with it? The Penumbra games also made emphasis on their storytelling aspects (at least, the first two did), exploration and building up tension, in contrast to Outlast's and Amnesia's "OH SHIT THERE'S A MONSTER BEHIND ME I GOTTA RUN NOW" moments.

I wouldn't mind having a go at answering a couple of these, my own self, while TC is off and about.

There is a LOT of poop. I'm not even kidding, there are entire underground resevoirs consisting of all manners of bodily waste.

As it's the Chinese Room, and not Frictional Games, at the helm of this here venture, there is a considerable focus on the story. The story itself is fantastic, evoking the deepest, possible sense of disgust, revulsion and disbelief. I found the telling of it to be quite cryptic, they rarely beat you over the head with clear details on what is currently going on, and similairly to Dear Esther, the studio's previous game, it expects the player to put two and two together, that is if two and two equals five. I personally loved "Dear Esther" but can understand what it was about said game that drove a lot of folks away from it. Those same elements can be found in "A Machine for Pigs", but to a much lesser degree. The same can, unfortunately, be said of the elements the game has retained from "The Dark Descent". It is less scary than it's predecessor, but far more unnerving.

This actually strikes me as intentional, as much of the horror in the previous game came from the enemies, of which there are very few in this installment. Rather, they allow the atmosphere to sink in deep and for the story to be given center stage. I absolutely fucking adore "The Dark Descent" and hail it as one of the best survival horrors of all time, but while I have fond memories of being scared in that game, I feel that "A Machine for Pigs" will remain with me in a far more insidious way, scratching at the back of my skull for months to come. It's a powerful story, one that deals with a lot of questions people ask themselves every day in truly twisted ways, and I'm sure that the next time I discuss concepts such as poverty, religion and the desire to better the world, I won't be able but to remember that the world is, infact, only a Machine for Pigs.

I did play "Outlast", and I found it to be a terrific game in it's own right. That said, it stopped actually scaring me towards the end as I simply became too aware of that it was a game, and the enemies, while creepy and unique, became rather rudimentary obstacles once you figured out their limited search patterns. On the other hand, "A Machine for Pigs" had me hooked the entire way through, in fact, my interest only grew as the story kept going places I'd not suspected. There is also a lot to say for the clever enemy AI which seems fluid and completely unpredictable, the only issue is, the enemies appear so rarely that you won't be able to experience this nearly enough.

I'd say that if you want a game to scare the living bejesus out of you, go for "Outlast", it's very much a haunted house, built to scare you, scare you some more and little else, where-as if you want more in terms of story and scope, I'd suggest "A Machine for Pigs". Personally, I prefer "A Machine for Pigs", but as they're very different type of horror games, I would ultimately recommend both.

You, probably, just sold a bunch of copies of the game with that description :)

Though, my life is going to be completely engulfed by GTAV soon, so I probably won't pick it up until its on sale/after GTA has used me and thrown me out on the street to rot (when Im finished with it)... You've definitely peaked my interest though!

I kind of have a different perspective on this: Personally I didn't really enjoy this game as much as I thought I would (after loving the hell out of ATDD). The story was interesting and the setting was very creepy, but the gameplay really let it down for me. The dangerous monster encounters (which there are only a handful, most of the time when you see an enemy you are safely behind a scripting wall) were not as tense as the previous game's. In fact I don't remember a single time in A Machine for Pigs where I was truly scared, either by a jump scare or sheer terror at a monster. It is a good game but it feels (thematically) more like a Dear Esther than a true sequel to The Dark Descent, with much more down-time and safety.

I cannot wait for Frictional to try their hand at an Amnesia again. In my eyes, those guys are still the true masters of the horror game genre :)

Yeah, I think I'm more in line with you. I completed the game last night and was actually surprised I was able to complete it in roughly 4.5 hours/2 sittings. And when the first hour is a prologue devoid of any danger, well then the game does seem to be on the light side. But hey, it's 3.5 hours longer than Dear Esther. I just viewed the monsters as Pig Ogres in some fantasy game and they were a lot less intimidating. And with no sanity meter, you can stare at them long enough for you to no longer be intimidated by them. Lack of sanity meter also makes it very easy to stealth past them since you can stalk around them in the dark while staring at them without penalty. There are very rare moments where you'll be forced to be chased and those moments got my blood pumping, but other than that, monster encounters are few and far between and quite easily subverted when you do encounter them. No tinderboxes and no lantern fuel also eliminates the need to explore around the environment except for when there's a puzzle. Puzzles themselves are pretty straightforward and none of them ever really stumped me or left me feeling satisfied upon solving them. You'll be able to predict the plot twist within the first hour of the game.

Predictible plot twist aside, I did really enjoy the story, setting, and music of the game. The world is dark, desolate and nightmarish. Due to this being what seems like an entire city or district instead of a confined castle, you're never quite sure if you're in reality or stuck in a nightmare. I think the story is much more interesting than in Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Again, due to the larger scale of the setting, there's a greater mystery to be solved. It's easy to imagine how a castle gets deserted and replaced with horrible monstrosities, but less obvious when it's a city. And The Chinese Room guys sure know how to write. The notes and bits of dialogue are well written, never explicitly telling you the gruesome details and merely hinting and talking around them. Voice performances are also well done.

As other people said it's more creepy than scary. It's more of an adventure game than a horror game. They obviously put story and atmosphere before scares and gameplay. Coming into this wanting to shit my pants, I was left underwhelmed and pants shitless. Not that the game doesn't have its "OH SHIT" moments. I certainly yelled that out at some point. They are just few and far between. What I got instead wasn't terrible though. I enjoyed it more than Dear Esther.

My thoughts exactly. I loved the story, but it was anything but scary. The pig creatures felt like they were only in there because it was an Amnesia game.

To be fair, though, that one instance of music near the beginning (as seen in the QL) was pretty chilling, and I felt a bit of the ol' freakout during the gas pump sequence. Other than that, though, I felt like I was just walking through an old school, extra violent fairy tale.

@shagge said:

I totally agree. I just finished the game and it is absolutely closer to Dear Esther (which I loved) than Amnesia: TDD. I never finished Amnesia, thanks to the pants-shitting sewer level (vague AMFP spoiler) (which gets a great nod in this game), and always approached it as kind of a dare. How many minutes can I last this time before nope-ing and shutting it off?

A Machine for Pigs, on the other hand, is primarily a story-driven adventure game with (enemy encounter count spoilers) maybe 5 enemy encounters (I think) over 5 hours of gameplay. I loved it and couldn't put it down. Notably, around the 3 hour mark, I stopped fearing for my life and switched into rampant-disgust-and-dread mode. The story is phenomenal and drove me to keep playing the game until 2:30 in the morning. It takes many unexpected turns (and of course, a couple you see coming), but in retrospect is reinforced by every single element from the intro on.

In short, if you're looking for a challenging horror action experience, look elsewhere (it sounds like Outlast is awesome.) If you're looking for a great adventure theme-park ride, this is your jam. If you regret not completing the original Amnesia because it freaked you the fuck out, this one's for you. And me.

Ultimately, I think that the game succeeds, more or less, as a self contained, small story set in the Amnesia universe. It had a couple interesting themes concerning industrialization and the deification of technology, and that was certainly interesting, but many other aspects of the design just seemed toothless compared to the original. The monster encounters, for example, with the exception of the first in the church basement, felt almost entirely devoid of tension, as there were no sanity effects associated with the encounters, not to mention the shoddy AI(I was able to completely run right through monsters' line of sight multiple times and have them give chase at all). The story, I feel is worth getting through, and there were moments of real genuine intrigue, like going through the pig people's underground city and witnessing their wreaking havoc on the city above, although the writing seemed a little ham-fisted at times (pun kind of intended). Basically, if you haven't already experienced Amnesia: The Dark Descent, play that game. It is much more rewarding and fulfilling as a game. If you are a Dark Descent alumni, I would recommend playing this game, but to approach it as an interesting side story, as opposed to a full on, bold sequel.

My thoughts exactly. This doesn't feel like the first Amnesia at all, and while it was a good game, I can really see where the knee-jerk reaction of the fan base is coming from.

This game REALLY shouldn't have had the Amnesia name attached to it, I think it would have been judged a lot more fairly if it didn't have such a high bar to go up against.

I think it was a fine game, although not really all that scary, and I would encourage anyone who enjoyed the first to pick it up and give it a try (maybe in a few months when it's on sale). Really though the first half of the game I just kept thinking about this King of the Hill episode.

The music as seen at the end of the QL, the church scene, the city bits, and the very end of the game are all awesome, and the low temperature containment and sluice gate sections deserve special mentions as well.

I didn't realize that I was suffering from graphical errors throughout my play through. I only watched videos after completing the game, and I think coloured fog was brightening the game for me. The piston room looked amazing and scared the shit out of me, because it was one of the few places that was very dark and lacked fog.

Check your drivers and settings if things look funny at all at the start of the game!

I had the same change from fear into grim determination 3/4 of the way through. I am certain that this was intentional.

The last 30 minutes of the game were incredible.

I'll let my friend know that for what it's worth.

He loved Amnesia but three or so hours in to MfP he is as let down as let down gets.