Peope often forget the 'game' side when It comes to the Cinematic "Games"

It shouldnt be like watching a movie when It comes to the games. Every art ( yes I think games a new kind of art since games arent just about scores) has It own objectives and tools to present when It comes to expressing a feeling through art. For example in films, you have to use Movie tools ( editing, lighting,etc..) and should offer good movie techniques to tell your story. Another example is Novels. You have to use Its own tools ( been fluent, portrayal,etc..) to give a good story aswell a good art. Thats why we have these arts to spread our feeling and stories. If you want to just tell a thing you can just do that at a bar with friends.

In this case - games - shouldnt players aspect from a game, with good gameplay? Every big game ( in this case Amnesia ) has Its own uniqe atmosphere (consept), a story and a feeling. Along with all that. A player also care for a gameplay ( because Its a game and one of the most important tools is gameplay) So thats why so called games like The Walking Dead (Interactive Cinematic Story Telling), Dear Esther ( walking ) and alike games are not games! Couse they offer zero gameplay what so ever.

Thats why I am telling Amnesia: A machine for pigs has zero gameplay. Its a dumbed down product. You have no inventory there for there is no complex puzzles( or NOT even a puzzle If I can dare to say), there is no heal system, no sanity system and because of there is no interactions with the objects "puzzles" are even more easy; the only pickable objects are ment for puzzle piece so there for you can easly solve any puzzle. There are really cool objects out there and I want to just exemine them but now I cant and story telling is not good aswell. You allways have to look for your diary for what to do but be carefull sometimes diaries just spoile all the fun out of the puzzle or story. Example: I must fill X with Y . I seen some Y at the Z I should check It out. With all off these issues makes sadly breaking me away from the game.

The game is dumbed down because there is no survival elements left in this game. This time you have unlimited light sourse and your lamp is become monster detected tool! When It blinks all you have to do is turn off light, crouch and just wait 8-15 sec. like that, then continue what you are doing. Its a very very bad mechanic that makes you focus more about your light and pulles you out of the creepy sounds and area. I seriusly stop scaring after 1,5 hours of this game, which last 4 hours. There is no tension left! Even the story has no twist or epic moments(beside one scene) because you allready expecting everything before It happens.

Because all of these things, this game is just another Cinematic Story Telling "Game" and has no gameplay in It. Thats why I'am disapointed about this product and thats what I think of "gaming".

The ones who managed to pass Amnesia: The dark descent can be considered to be really tough guys. In my opinion the prequel was one of the scariest games I ever played in my whole life. I even had difficulties to convince myself to continue playing it. And that's something I never experienced before. In change A machine for pigs can at the utmost be considered to be a title for people who like to play games which cause some sort of slight stress.
How is that?
IMO The dark descent was a great game and so there was no need for Frictional Games (the prequel's developer) to change many things. They could have easily used the new more modern setting using the same engine and setting up a new story (like they did). For me, personally, that would have been enough to scare the hell out of me again and to make it a great sequel.
So what's my problem with the game?
I am not going to spoil anything about the story, but I consider it to be okay. I like the new setting more than the prequel's. The game engine is mainly the same, I guess. And yet, they made two significant changes that ruined the game for me:
1) They removed the whole inventory system. That's okay. You don't need it anyways because the "riddles" in this game are so simple, that it is a joke to call them like that. You really don't need to carry anything with you. If your task is e.g. to repair a machine just look around! The missing item lies around (in most cases) only a few steps away.
2) The mental health status was removed. Therefore your character can stay in darkness or stare at enemies as long as you want to.
Apart from that I noticed that - despite the engine being the same - there are not many items you can interact with. As you got no inventory you can (logically) not pic up anything. Therefore searching rooms does not make any sense anymore and you might miss a lot of the atmosphere and the design of the rooms. I caught myself many times stepping into a room, looking around and stepping out again within only a few seconds. To go on exploration simply doesn't reward you anymore in this sequel. On the other hand this is exactly what the new developers want you to do: to concentrate on the story!
That's my main problem with this game. It was developed by The Chinese Room, mainly known for their adumbration-monster called “Dear Esther”. And that's the reason why the story is mainly built up around hints and other sorts of indications. This might work with interactive stories like Dear Esther or Gone Home, but does not with real games where gamers expect to be told a frightful story. Therefore it does not surprise that the ending is (again: imo) very unsatisfactory. At least as long as you are not ready to engage in the story telling like you need to do in Dear Esther. Talking about the ending: After merely 4 (sic!) hours of playing this game I already saw the end titles. I couldn't believe that I waited such a long time for such a short and (for me) unsatisfactory game.

MY CONCLUSION:
I already said that the first Amnesia scared the hell out of me like no game ever did before. As horror-experiences like those are rare enough in gaming, I could not wait to start playing A Machine For Pigs. Sadly, I did not get the panic attacks I paid for. This sequel provides discomfort instead of pure terror. Also, the game mechanics are quite unbalanced. Nevertheless fans of Dear Esther could like the intelligent entangled story plot with its many poetical allegories (I do not). To be fair, this kind of story-telling is rare enough in gaming as well.

MY PERSONAL (positive and negative) HIGHLIGHTS:
- Exceptionally good sound effects that supports the mood of the story.
- Dense atmosphere that causes anxiety until around mid-game (but that disappears immediately after reaching that point in the story)
- Almost $20.00 are definitely too much for such a short game.
- The plot is told very imprecise from time to time (due to highly poetical and interpretable allegories).
- The “enemy” is quite mysterious but unseizable at the same time, and therefore considered to be no thread and unimportant for too long.

Ahhh the old GOG vs Steam conundrum.
I'd like to support GOG but the Steam features are nice...

Which features? Do you mean the achivements?

Popp "You walked 3 steps" popp "You finished the first level" ...

No, I don't like these achivements. They are destroying the whole atmosphere when they are popping up and they are good for ... nothing. Wow, I get a small picture because I finished the first level. Who the f... cares?

Otherwise buy it through Humble Store. You get there a DRM-free version and a Steam key.

I hope that Outlast will make it also on GOG ... one day. That's also a nice horror game.

a tear came from the corner of my eye when i heard the developers of "Dear Ester" were working on this, and after i was what the game is... omg, this isnt amnesia, if you liked dear ester maybe you can tolerate this, if you liked amnesia you are gonna cry at seeing how bad this game is

Steam cloud. Linux support.

In 1999 I don't think it was even a debate. Most people just assumed and yelled at anyone who suggested otherwise.

The march of progress.

it sounds like this game isn't very good :(

Still prefer Penumbra to Amnesia, so it looks like the slow slide downward has continued.

After playing this a bit last night, its not bad... but if Frictional games reads this forums, If you ever let the Chinese Room make another game for you, I hope YOU get stuck in the Machine for Pigs!


That is all.

This game...


Why frictional, just why?

It's baffling, why did they outsource the game to Dear Esther devs, when the results were so predictable?

I think I read somewhere that in the early days Frictional were a small group of guys living in a garage below the poverty line to make games they loved, and then to come to this...

Tthis is me in real life right now


:'(

A new century starts when the old one finishes, so 1900 is the start of the 20th Century and simultaneously the end of the 19th Century. Since the meaning of 'eve' is: "the period preceding or leading up to any event, crisis, etc", the 'eve' of 1900 (the new century) is 1899. Centuries start at 0 and go from 0-100, not 1-100 - that would be 99 years, and centuries don't go from e.g. 1901-2001.

Don't you want to add this as a review on the game's page? I'm sure more people would find it handy and here it gets lost in time fast.
Gamasutra: Why Frictional passed Amnesia to Dear Esther's developer