“Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” is a game with great immersion, dark overtones and compelling story.
“Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” is under the copyright of The Chinese Room/Frictional Games. All Rights Reserved.
VIDEO GAME TITLE: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
TYPE OF GAME: First-Person Horror Adventure
PLATFORM: Steam
PLATFORM GAME REVIEWED: STEAM PC GAME
DEVELOPER: The Chinese Room
PUBLISHER: Frictional Games
RELEASE DATE: September 10, 2013
The depth-delving, horror survival is back in new form with ‘Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” a standalone developed by creators of the art game ,”Dear Esther” and horror mod, “Korsakovia”, The Chinese Room. As well as being produced by the creators of the original, “Amnesia: The Dark Descent” Frictional Games, The Chinese Room takes a different approach in ‘Machine for Pigs’ with the same Amnesia feel, but streamlined mechanics such as no inventory, sanity meter, and less interaction with objects in game, bringing more of the focus on the story, adventure and overall experience.
In the same spirit of the first, you play Mandus who has been out for three months and now has amnesia after contracting a terrible illness. Much of the story there after is on delving into the depths to uncover what dark secrets lie beneath and how these dark secrets came to fruition being led by visions, voice boxes with a familiar voice, and journal pages scattered among the different levels.
With much of the mechanics from Dark Descent left out in Machine for Pigs the emphasis on story and experience is apparent when playing. Instead of managing inventory or adding more oil to your lantern the focus is shifted towards progressing in the story line and immersion. While those who favored Dark Descent’s mechanics may feel as if they received the short end of the stick, I felt that the story and immersion focus paid off overall.
While I was still spooked by Dark Descent’s immersion, “Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” seemed to leave more of an impact with much of the game streamlined in comparison to the first. The creak of floorboards or phantom copies of kids darting past areas in the game left me panicked and cautious to what may lie across the long stretch of hallway.
As a result of the streamlined mechanics, much of the puzzles held much less depth than the first. This gave much of the puzzles a ‘put square block into square hole’ feel and much of the confusion was short lived. Since much of the games items and objects are nailed down and can not be interacted with this left the one item needed to continue stick out like a sore thumb in most cases.
Regardless of focus, “Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” still has monsters about just as in the first that spells certain death if you find yourself cornered with one. While in “Dark Descent”, much of your time is spent finding hiding spots or planning ways of escape from monsters.
In “Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” however most monsters are duped by running away since the most hiding spots you have are limited to hiding under tables or pipes. I find myself more in favor of the original way of dealing with monsters, but the slight difference doesn’t seem like a ‘make or break it’ in this regard.
Levels in the game are more dynamic than the first, from a mansion, to an industrial nightmare, to the calming yet unsettling streets of London. The changes to environment was nice part of “Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” because it was enjoyable to have a change of scenery every once and a while in game and appealing to the eyes.
Story is of medium difficulty to follow, much of the story is grasped through the journal pages and putting two and three or four together is needed to grasp the entire picture. Much of the back story is also covered in the journal pages and explain the how and why of all that is happening. Voice boxes help to lead the character through the story and give direction to each objective.
Overall, I felt the story was done well and the tales told through the pages were well enough just as in the first.
Controls are mostly pointing, clicking and dragging to interact with everything in the game.
Which is better, keyboard or controller pad?
The controls are simple enough that it leaves the decision to personal preference. “Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” features full controller support so those who favor controller pad are all set.
Graphics for “Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” were better and smooth looking and were aesthetically pleasing. Items and environment were clear cut with no apparent eyes sore graphical errors. At the start of the game you have a prompt to set brightness to a level to be able to see all within the game. Details on pipes, gauges, and various metalwork was done well with rivets and stats done in detail. Horror elements such as blood and bodies are clear in their distinction and add to the ‘scariness’ of the game. Cut scenes did not appear to be much different from the actual game and just made you lose control of your character during the various sequences.
Sound is also done well no discrepancies and I recommend using headphones for a immersion focused experience. Musical scores are also done incredibly well with appropriate lyrics and genre used. The most interesting of the scores plays to the tune “God Save the Queen” backwards and provides a haunting feeling as the main lyric sung is “Kyrie Eleison” or “Lord have Mercy”. Ambient sounds were done well in immersing the player in the game whether it is the whistle of steam through pipes, creaks of the floorboard, or cries of monsters from below.
“Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of replay value except for achievements. Since the story is a large focus after you know the entire story you don’t have more reason than that to play it more than once.
I feel that “Machine for Pigs” did Amnesia justice with immersion and story focus.
Game play is definitely not for anyone such as kids to play due to some visually graphic horror parts of the game and the depressing and very dark parts of the story.
While much of the mechanics and intricacies that some may favor are left out, I was still satisfied overall with the game.
As a final judgement call, I’d say if you are a fan of the “Amnesia” games to give the game a try, much of the feeling from carried over and left it to be an enjoyable horror experience.
“Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” is a game with great immersion, dark overtones and compelling story warrants a four out of five stars.
PROS:
+ Story focused
+ Immersion heavy
+ Dark overarching story line
NEGATIVES:
– Veterans of Amnesia may find streamlining unfavorable
– Puzzles and other mechanics oversimplified as a result
