Not as good as The Dark Descent, but still worthy.
Not bad by any means and I was never bored while playing it, but the gameplay is relatively uninspired and none of the scares genuinely terrify me. Disturbing backstory though.
Chinese Room are a joke.
Definitely not a bad game, I just wasn't really enjoying it a lot because I don't normally play this kind of game. I would've kept playing if I hadn't gotten stuck in one section and never bothered to look it up. I was probably a third of the way through when I dropped it
God knows the chinese room can make some incredibly stunning looking games but I really wish they would also work on actual gameplay occasionally. This is so close to being good to the point where its painful as had they actually had some proper threat in here, this game would have sung.
Instead its half an hour of nerves, half an hour of confusion and then you realise that this game is only really capable of atmosphere and very little else so you end up sleepwalking through to the obvious end-game plot twist thats telegraphed so hard it hurts.
Instead its half an hour of nerves, half an hour of confusion and then you realise that this game is only really capable of atmosphere and very little else so you end up sleepwalking through to the obvious end-game plot twist thats telegraphed so hard it hurts.
Historia boa, mas o primeiro é bem mais tenso.
This review contains spoilers
"A Bunch Of Slop"
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is an indirect sequel to the acclaimed Amnesia: The Dark Descent , a revolutionary title for the horror genre and one of my favorite games of all time. I was looking forward to the sequel despite the massive amount of backlash it received, and tried to temper my expectations as not to critique the title in any unfair way. After two separate attempts at slogging through this incoherant mess, I've decided that I'm going to critique this disappointment as the crud it turned out to be.
The biggest praise I have seen towards this title is with the story. I've seen phrases like "brilliant worldbuilding", "smart narrative" and "dark storytelling" floated around plenty, and I have to say one thing in response - are these people crazy? Okay I can understand the dark narrative aspects because... well its Amnesia, but the other statements are completely ludicrous. I have rarely ever played a game with a story as confounded, exposition heavy, and boring as the one told in this title. The language of various texts throughout the game is incredibly pretentious and provides barely any substance, and most conversations are abstract, unclear, and repetitive in nature. The worldbuilding is absent outside of dialogue and notes, with an environment that looks sort of good but lacks any real character to it. This is an incredibly overstated characteristic of this title that many fans of the game insist on.
As for gameplay, there are numerous subtractions to the overall experience. Gone are all aspects of survival-horror gameplay involving sanity and resource management, and instead the game becomes a pseudo walking-simulator. This does not bode well in the light of the original game, and makes the experience feel dull and tasteless throughout its course. There are no longer any sort of physics in the environment which, in the first game, would alert enemies of your presence when interacted with. Unlimited light means staring at enemies has no consequence, so much of the tension of many situations is removed. Puzzles are an absolute joke in this title as most devolve into placing two or three items into their correct positions and moving onwards with barely a few minutes of involvement. Gameplay is simply a disaster compared to what the first game contained, and in that light it really changed the experience.
The enemy AI here is also incredibly poor. Enemies will simply walk back and forth in hallways at times, and at best will lazily trudge around an empty room until they spot you. It is very simple to escape, and your character can survive multiple strikes. Sound design in still pretty good though, so some tension remains during enemy encounters initially, but after encountering them firsthand the horror takes a nosedive in overall effect.
The visuals here are solid, with some improvements to the textures in the environments. However, this doesn't translate to the overall art/level design. Whereas the original game's Brennenburg Castle was dark, moody, and intricately designed with multiple choices in paths, A Machine For Pigs' levels feel mechanical, washed out, and linear. Areas blend into one another, and the lighting is not as well done as the first title. Sound is done well in these environments, but it can only provide so much substance.
Voice acting here is actually still great, though the writing of many characters is very poor. Mandus comes off as very whiny despite having a strong VA, as does the voice of "The Machine" himself (or whatever he is called). There are some definite highs for the experience when it comes to VA, though this isn't much for the game to stand on.
Overall, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a shockingly empty sequel in many aspects that I would Not Recommend. The great writing and smart gameplay design of the original title are completely scrapped, and in its place lies a linear, mechanical, and pretentious experience. There is some good sound design, texturing, and voice acting, but everything else is dull, weak, or terrible. This was a huge disappointment for me, but thankfully Frictional's next game SOMA has already proven the company's penchant for quality in their games as of late. The recent Amnesia: Rebirth has caught my eye as well, though I will have to somehow temper my expectations even more for that one after A Machine for Pigs' massive failure in my eyes.
Final Verdict: 3/10 (Poor)
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is an indirect sequel to the acclaimed Amnesia: The Dark Descent , a revolutionary title for the horror genre and one of my favorite games of all time. I was looking forward to the sequel despite the massive amount of backlash it received, and tried to temper my expectations as not to critique the title in any unfair way. After two separate attempts at slogging through this incoherant mess, I've decided that I'm going to critique this disappointment as the crud it turned out to be.
The biggest praise I have seen towards this title is with the story. I've seen phrases like "brilliant worldbuilding", "smart narrative" and "dark storytelling" floated around plenty, and I have to say one thing in response - are these people crazy? Okay I can understand the dark narrative aspects because... well its Amnesia, but the other statements are completely ludicrous. I have rarely ever played a game with a story as confounded, exposition heavy, and boring as the one told in this title. The language of various texts throughout the game is incredibly pretentious and provides barely any substance, and most conversations are abstract, unclear, and repetitive in nature. The worldbuilding is absent outside of dialogue and notes, with an environment that looks sort of good but lacks any real character to it. This is an incredibly overstated characteristic of this title that many fans of the game insist on.
As for gameplay, there are numerous subtractions to the overall experience. Gone are all aspects of survival-horror gameplay involving sanity and resource management, and instead the game becomes a pseudo walking-simulator. This does not bode well in the light of the original game, and makes the experience feel dull and tasteless throughout its course. There are no longer any sort of physics in the environment which, in the first game, would alert enemies of your presence when interacted with. Unlimited light means staring at enemies has no consequence, so much of the tension of many situations is removed. Puzzles are an absolute joke in this title as most devolve into placing two or three items into their correct positions and moving onwards with barely a few minutes of involvement. Gameplay is simply a disaster compared to what the first game contained, and in that light it really changed the experience.
The enemy AI here is also incredibly poor. Enemies will simply walk back and forth in hallways at times, and at best will lazily trudge around an empty room until they spot you. It is very simple to escape, and your character can survive multiple strikes. Sound design in still pretty good though, so some tension remains during enemy encounters initially, but after encountering them firsthand the horror takes a nosedive in overall effect.
The visuals here are solid, with some improvements to the textures in the environments. However, this doesn't translate to the overall art/level design. Whereas the original game's Brennenburg Castle was dark, moody, and intricately designed with multiple choices in paths, A Machine For Pigs' levels feel mechanical, washed out, and linear. Areas blend into one another, and the lighting is not as well done as the first title. Sound is done well in these environments, but it can only provide so much substance.
Voice acting here is actually still great, though the writing of many characters is very poor. Mandus comes off as very whiny despite having a strong VA, as does the voice of "The Machine" himself (or whatever he is called). There are some definite highs for the experience when it comes to VA, though this isn't much for the game to stand on.
Overall, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a shockingly empty sequel in many aspects that I would Not Recommend. The great writing and smart gameplay design of the original title are completely scrapped, and in its place lies a linear, mechanical, and pretentious experience. There is some good sound design, texturing, and voice acting, but everything else is dull, weak, or terrible. This was a huge disappointment for me, but thankfully Frictional's next game SOMA has already proven the company's penchant for quality in their games as of late. The recent Amnesia: Rebirth has caught my eye as well, though I will have to somehow temper my expectations even more for that one after A Machine for Pigs' massive failure in my eyes.
Final Verdict: 3/10 (Poor)
El peor sucesor de uno de los mejores juegos de mi infancia
cool adventure/horror game, atmosphere, visual-style and sound-design are very good but essentially killing the Amnesia formula by removing everything that made the previous one so great was kind of dumb tho.
It feels like they started with "wouldn't it be fucked up if there were pig men?" and worked backwards. Still a decent game, but not as good as Dark Descent. Good music choices though.
more like amnesia a please give me amnesia so i dont remember this game
Gameplay wise Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a disappointment. I would go as far as to say it is not scary in the traditional sense. But narrative-wise? If you give it some thought it will hang around your head for far longer than just some monster chasing you in the dark. It is a great reflection on the horror and abuse humans are capable of inflicting on each other and is perhaps the most disturbing narrative the series ever had. Now that it can no longer be pinned as the "death" of the series, and you were mad at it in the past like I was, consider it giving a second chance with a fresh set of eyes and an open mind. You might be surprised.
[ Full review at https://bluedemonarchive.blogspot.com/2022/12/review-amnesia-machine-for-pigs.html ]
[ Full review at https://bluedemonarchive.blogspot.com/2022/12/review-amnesia-machine-for-pigs.html ]
the dark descent é melhor
The game is about endless walking inside a giant machine, partly using electricity and partly steam. Corridor gloomy levels with simple puzzles. The atmosphere of horror here is inferior to the previous part of "Amnesia". It seemed that the game was slightly delayed for its plot.
Of the outstanding advantages: an interesting setting of the beginning of the twentieth century and simply delightful musical accompaniment.
Of the outstanding advantages: an interesting setting of the beginning of the twentieth century and simply delightful musical accompaniment.
jogo massa, me caguei todo sem nem ver que bicho tava me seguindo
An interesting experiment but very weak compared to the first game.
Made me cry but only from boredom
Pretty garbage unfortunately. Didn't even capture the feel of the original and ran into a game-breaking bug right after an auto-save. Never finished.
The only good thing this game has is the story and it's not even a really good one
decent sequel but not enough spooks
I guess I'm just not cut out for walking simulators.
I was not entertained by this at all. The plot is pretty basic, gameplay is nonexistent, puzzles are solved with items just in the arms-reach. Placing pig masks literally everywhere is just silly, it doesn't work for the atmosphere but takes from it. Also later part of the game just stops trying to make an environment and starts to teleport you around.
The episode with walking through burning pig-infested city is kind of good though. And I loved all the pipes intersecting each other and hanging everywhere when you go down to the heart of the machine. Everything else though is just plain grey mass of boredom.
I feel like it's still better than original amnesia but can't say for sure, as I played it a long time ago.
I was not entertained by this at all. The plot is pretty basic, gameplay is nonexistent, puzzles are solved with items just in the arms-reach. Placing pig masks literally everywhere is just silly, it doesn't work for the atmosphere but takes from it. Also later part of the game just stops trying to make an environment and starts to teleport you around.
The episode with walking through burning pig-infested city is kind of good though. And I loved all the pipes intersecting each other and hanging everywhere when you go down to the heart of the machine. Everything else though is just plain grey mass of boredom.
I feel like it's still better than original amnesia but can't say for sure, as I played it a long time ago.
Primeiro jogo de terror que zerei e foi uma jornada longa na época, hoje eu aprecio muito o seu terror psicológico bem feito, onde não é necessário por um bicho pulando na tela e gritando a cada 1 segundo pra me fazer sentir medo de prosseguir
The most disappointing game of all swine.
História boa, gameplay fraco.
In terms of story and aesthetics a thousand times better than the first game, but sadly loses much of the actual gameplay and tension.
This is essentially a walking simulator, unlike many others I don't consider this neccesarily a negative, I think walking simulators are a valid genre and do not provide the same experience as watching a movie like many seem to claim. However because the previous game did have puzzles, resource management and enemies that were actual obstacles it does feel like a downgrade.
Much of the horror in this game relies entirely on the amazing sound design, the machine you walk through moans and screams as you wander through it's insides and the distant bumps and bangs in the distance never let you fully relax. However take the headphones off and the game becomes a cheap ghost train at a carnival. There aren't enough actual threats in the game for it to truely frighten the player past the very beginning.
The setting and story of the game is it's strongest aspect, unlike the slightly generic castle from the first game the vast living industrial meat processing factory is a fascinating setting, and the story goes to some interesting places, despite still having some goofy elements, like the factory somehow being made from the protagonists soul? People seem to hate the overuse of the pig motif, but I didn't mind it, partly becuase it gets used to represent different things throughout the story, and partly just becuase I think pigs are inherently creepy animals.
This is essentially a walking simulator, unlike many others I don't consider this neccesarily a negative, I think walking simulators are a valid genre and do not provide the same experience as watching a movie like many seem to claim. However because the previous game did have puzzles, resource management and enemies that were actual obstacles it does feel like a downgrade.
Much of the horror in this game relies entirely on the amazing sound design, the machine you walk through moans and screams as you wander through it's insides and the distant bumps and bangs in the distance never let you fully relax. However take the headphones off and the game becomes a cheap ghost train at a carnival. There aren't enough actual threats in the game for it to truely frighten the player past the very beginning.
The setting and story of the game is it's strongest aspect, unlike the slightly generic castle from the first game the vast living industrial meat processing factory is a fascinating setting, and the story goes to some interesting places, despite still having some goofy elements, like the factory somehow being made from the protagonists soul? People seem to hate the overuse of the pig motif, but I didn't mind it, partly becuase it gets used to represent different things throughout the story, and partly just becuase I think pigs are inherently creepy animals.
In many ways, a step above the first. Sound design is perfect, along with much more impactful voice acting and even some nice musical scoring at times.
This game genuinely had me on edge for a good chunk of it also! There were moments where my eyes would widen & begin to tear up in fear. Great horror work, although this was entirely in the first half of the game...
You see, it's just simply far too long. Way too many levels feel like the same endless dark metallic corridors. Most of these levels barely feature any enemy encounters or any real puzzles either (despite many areas featuring looping paths and alternate routes, implying chases that don't ever happen), so a huge chunk of the gameplay is made up of just walking about.
I do admire the greater effort on making a cinematic story, but it also begins to lose my interest towards the end. It begins to feel a little confusing and drawn out also, but I'm not sure if that was me just getting bored of it or not.
Overall rating: 5.2/10
This game genuinely had me on edge for a good chunk of it also! There were moments where my eyes would widen & begin to tear up in fear. Great horror work, although this was entirely in the first half of the game...
You see, it's just simply far too long. Way too many levels feel like the same endless dark metallic corridors. Most of these levels barely feature any enemy encounters or any real puzzles either (despite many areas featuring looping paths and alternate routes, implying chases that don't ever happen), so a huge chunk of the gameplay is made up of just walking about.
I do admire the greater effort on making a cinematic story, but it also begins to lose my interest towards the end. It begins to feel a little confusing and drawn out also, but I'm not sure if that was me just getting bored of it or not.
Overall rating: 5.2/10
Uhhhh this is a uh.....it's a different mod. I'm calling it a mod because it was originally supposed to be a mod until it was made a game. I'm just so indifferent that I'll just give it brief thing I guess.
Pros:
I liked the idea of the story
Setting is cool
It's a short game if you wanted to just have a small game to play for a day
Soundtrack is WAY better than this game deserves
Enemy design is cool I guess
Cons:
Stealth Segments suck
Depending on who you are it's short as hell, like 4-5 hours IF you take your slow a ss time
"WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN??!"
I don't know, I'm rather indifferent to this mod, it's not particularly bad and I'm trying to stay positive here but this isn't my style of game for me. I'm not into the Dear Esther type thing. I'd say if it's cheap and you're bored one day give it a go. But you could get WAY more satisfaction on everything by just watching a playthrough or going to the Amnesia Wiki.
From Steam Reviews: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gamemast15r/recommended/
Pros:
I liked the idea of the story
Setting is cool
It's a short game if you wanted to just have a small game to play for a day
Soundtrack is WAY better than this game deserves
Enemy design is cool I guess
Cons:
Stealth Segments suck
Depending on who you are it's short as hell, like 4-5 hours IF you take your slow a ss time
"WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN??!"
I don't know, I'm rather indifferent to this mod, it's not particularly bad and I'm trying to stay positive here but this isn't my style of game for me. I'm not into the Dear Esther type thing. I'd say if it's cheap and you're bored one day give it a go. But you could get WAY more satisfaction on everything by just watching a playthrough or going to the Amnesia Wiki.
From Steam Reviews: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gamemast15r/recommended/
Focuses more on story buildup than the physical threats and maintaining sanity that Amnesia The Dark Descent focused on, and does an excellent job telling an interesting one slowly showing your character's motivations for his past actions leading to one of the best endings and ending tracks in a game. Excellent atmosphere and sound design throughout.
youre not supposed to but i can beat this game in 1 hour
surcot et osef