Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs

I played for nearly an hour, which is completely different from the rhythm of the previous generation. I didn't even know how to reach the destination indicated by the prompt, so I walked and walked around this big house, circling one after another, trying to aim my sights at every possible interactive object (I only opened the bathroom mechanism). Until the hot summer wears away my last bit of patience. I'm not saying the game wasn't good, the game was probably much better than I thought it would be. But the fascinatingly difficult situation forced me to call it a day early and focus my energies elsewhere.

Been waiting for this for a long time. Constantly checking forums and Dev Diaries. I just finished the game. Well sory but took only 4 hours and even I did go all the posiable places and accuallly spend some time at the mansion (couldnt find my way). What they (thechineseroom ) focused was story. They thought they could give an intence experiance by focusing just that but saddly they dumbed down lots of game elements which made the series is a hit! For example there is no inventory so there for no healt or sanity or complex puzzles. You have unlimited light source! Another dumbed down feature is the blinks that your light is doing when a monster come nearby. So all you do is turn of, crouch and just stand still for a 8-15 sec. Then you continue walking and ingore all the creepy sounds or atmosphere. And since there is no gameplay features all you have is very simplified take this and put it there puzzles. They are so obsessed with the scripted events and so called story ( btw there is no twist ) they forget the "real story" what Frictional Games made all these years. The real story was the experiance! Since there is no gameplay there is no experiance. The Series become Dear Ester which is NOT A GAME! sorry but It is what It is. They've just wasted all the hard work on the details and story by not doing any gameplay issues. Frictional Games should deffinetly make this series for themselfs. Im very disappointed by It. 5/10 (+1 from soundtrack)

The least intense offering by Frictional in all respects, but still fun to play. The game flerts with terrifying and intriguing concepts but they don't quite come through as they could have in my estimation. No need to go out of your way, grab it on a sale.

Sadly, I didn't get the panic attacks I paid for. This sequel provides discomfort instead of pure terror. Fans of Dear Esther could like the intelligent entangled story plot with its poetical allegories (I don't). To be fair, this kind of story-telling is rare enough in gaming as well as extreme terrific experiences are. People expecting “Dark Descent 2” will be disappointed for sure. Anyway $20 are far too much for just 4 hours of gaming. Pros: + Very good sound effects creating a great atmosphere. + Feeling of anxiety until around mid-game. + Nice dia- and monologues. + The “enemy” stays mysterious until the end Cons: - Ridiculously easy riddles. - No inventory system. - No “mental health status”. - Extremely short. - Plot sometimes a bit too vague due to poetical allegories of the Dear Esther-creators. - The “enemy” is unseizable and therefore appears to be unimportant for too long. - Very vague and interpretable ending.

The first hour is really great, and got me excited for the rest of the game. A big, creepy late 1800's English mansion with terrifying rooms and 2 really great scares boded well for the rest of the story. However once you leave the mansion and the first hour is over, you quickly realize you're in for a different experience. The only thing you can interact with in what SHOULD be a physics-based puzzle game are chairs(???) and the puzzle solutions--what the hell? The “puzzles” are solved by simply picking up the nearest thing you can actually pick up and bringing it to the end of a hallway or door that you can open. Boom, puzzle solved, and onto the next section. The door locks behind you, and the second realization hits: this game is linear as FUCK, and not necessarily in a good way. The exploration is outright gone, and there are no health items, lighting utensils, nothing--all doors, dressers, closets, cupboards, etc. are all locked and/or not interactive, so just point your cursor forward and march on. While the game’s atmosphere is great for the most part, the story can’t carry it through the full 4-5 hours--even then, the gothic, foreboding atmosphere gives way to pipes and crates. The first game was ambiguous, but had disturbing implications and terrifying realizations as the narrative unfolded and both you and Daniel figured out what the hell was going on. It was extremely impactful to me back when I first played it in 2012, and it holds up extremely well in 2020. However, this game’s story just simply isn’t up the snuff. The implications that you are related to Daniel (and that the revenge ending is the canon one) is really awesome, but that’s about it. You quickly figure out that you’re behind all this madness, and while it’s gross and fun to imagine all the horrific experiments and descent into madness your main character went though, none of it is realized by the end. And boy, what a lazy, quick ending.