AMFP Member Review Thread

[Alex Ros]

From the very beginning of their existence as a studio Frictional were focused on making not usual win-or-loose games, but games that deliver unique experience. That's obvious and I do not want to describe why is that so. Amnesia the Dark Descent also wasn't a game for playing, it wasn't about win-or-loose, it was all about unique experience. Frightening, horrible and scare at most. But it wasn't a game in the common sense of the word. The same situation with a Machine for Pigs. It's truly not a game in the common sense of the word, it's also all about experience. And if I am right and everything IS NOT ABOUT PLAYING, but vice versa everything is about achieving experience, then that's the perspective from which we can and should judge a Machine for Pigs objectively. Have you achieved a unique experience with a Machine for Pigs? That's the question. The question "was it fun or scary to play" is a wrong question. And I can surely say that I did achieve my unique experience with a Machine for Pigs. That's all I have to say shortly.

And what is more important I believe that any experience that is unique is nearly priceless. How much does it cost to experience a life of someone else in a long-gone times? 20$? 200$? 2000$? Million or even billion dollars? Who would decide objectively? Unique experience is priceless and I do state on that.

[pinkribbonscars]

A Machine For Pigs story and imagery was far more horrific than a cheap sanity meter where your vision blurs and you get terrible mouse smoothing.

A Machine For Pigs was also much better than The Dark Descent imo.

Then obviously you didn't play TDD.

The sanity meter was in no way "cheap". It showed that Daniel was only human, and his fears effected him in a huge sense. Staring at the monsters, or staying in the dark too long frightened Daniel to the point of tears, nervous panting, and eventually, pretty much passing out. Tell me, if you were in a similar situation, with similar fears, would you not react in a similar fashion that Daniel did?

Without the sanity meter, you're pretty much a superman, who is afraid of nothing and can just run through anything no matter how terrifying/horrible, which is completely unrealistic.

And also, ah found almost nothing absolutely "horrific" in AMFP, just gross/gruesome/gory.

To say AMFP was better than TDD is to say that you've never played TDD at all.

Mandus isn't Daniel. And I personally think A Machine For Pigs is better than The Dark Descent. TDD may have been scarier, but the story was forgettable, and Brennenburg Castle was pretty bland compared to The Machine.

[Dune Jumper]

They took out the inventory and sanity meter, you don't have to worry about oil, and you can hardy interact with ANYTHING.
They removed everything that made Amnesia, Amnesia. Now it's virtually Dear Esther with Amnesia slapped in the title.
What do you know, The Chinese Room has made another flop. Working with them was a HUGE mistake and I hope Frictional Games doesn't do it again.

What do you mean with another flop? They sold over 750.000 copies of Dear Esther, I wouldn't call this a flop.

It made money, yes. But the game itself was a flop. Dear Esther was "Walking Simulator 2012", and Amnesia: A Machine for pigs is "Walking Simulator 2013".
I've played better mods for FREE.

You mean you didn't like these games and they were a flop for YOU, yea?

They're flops as games, not because I don't like them, but simply because they AREN'T GAMES.
You can call holding the W key a game, but it isn't a game.

[Draug]

They took out the inventory and sanity meter, you don't have to worry about oil, and you can hardy interact with ANYTHING.
They removed everything that made Amnesia, Amnesia. Now it's virtually Dear Esther with Amnesia slapped in the title.
What do you know, The Chinese Room has made another flop. Working with them was a HUGE mistake and I hope Frictional Games doesn't do it again.

What do you mean with another flop? They sold over 750.000 copies of Dear Esther, I wouldn't call this a flop.

It made money, yes. But the game itself was a flop. Dear Esther was "Walking Simulator 2012", and Amnesia: A Machine for pigs is "Walking Simulator 2013".
I've played better mods for FREE.

You mean you didn't like these games and they were a flop for YOU, yea?

They're flops as games, not because I don't like them, but simply because they AREN'T GAMES.
You can call holding the W key a game, but it isn't a game.

Ehm...? okay? Then what have I done instead of playing dear esther and amfp?

[Alex Ros]

Ehm...? okay? Then what have I done instead of playing dear esther and amfp?

You have experienced Dear Esther and a Machine for Pigs. Interactive story experience.

[Draug]

Ehm...? okay? Then what have I done instead of playing dear esther and amfp?

You have experienced Dear Esther and a Machine for Pigs. Interactive story experience.

I'am sure it's not wrong to say it in that way, but nevertheless I would call both games... yea games.

[Solitary Walker]

I've played better mods for FREE.

I have to agree with this.

[Alex Ros]

Well, games as a phenomenon are based on the win-or-loose system. Frictional games, all of them aren't about win-or-loose. As a result they are not games at all. At least Frictional games are not games in the common sense of word.

[felixmole]

Well, I think AMFP is pretty great, but I miss the good ol' chases TDD-style where you had to make barricades and the monster kicked in the doors. In this game you hardly get to do it, and when you do, the pigs only bang into the door only once before vanishing... It is too bad TCR didn't think of doing chases just like the old game, because I think that's the very reason many people were disappointed by the game.

The levels are gorgeous and very detailed, the music is exquisite, it remains psychological horror as the monsters' presences are revealed by the flickerings of the lamps around and especially Oswald's lantern. I liked that they decided to make the game very linear to change from the former game; TCR was very smart as to make some doors pop up or disappear depending on how you progress. I don't care about the inventory and interaction, as we still can interact with a few elements such as chairs and obviously the puzzle objects.

So, as I said, TCR should have put more encounters like in TDD. AMFP's terror meter is barely noticeable and so is the chase music! They should have put more complex puzzles in the exploration part so that the game would have lasted longer and some players would have found the begining less dull.

It is too bad that they didn't introduce these few elements that I think would have made the game better from the first opus as a survival horror game.

I'll rate it 8.5/10 because other than all of that, it's a very fine work, I can definitely see they worked hard on it, and the story and the telling of it are way better than those of Amnesia: TDD. Makes me want to try out Dear Esther.

[Dash213]

ok, i just finished the game (took me 7 hours) and here are my thoughts. mind you this will contain spoilers so if you didn't play the game don't read any of it.

first of all, while i am not part of frictional games and don't know any of it's devs, i think if i were frictional games i would feel ashamed after reading some of these posts, they completly miss what frictional games is trying to deliver in their games (again, my opinion). i played all frictional games's games and the idea they try to deliver is story and immersion over action mechanics, i mean what about no weapons in black plague? same as getting rid of sanity meter and inventory for me.

i will agree that in the middle the story seems kinda mendatory and simple but it gets way way better the more you get to the end. the writing is obviously better and the story is great in it's own way, diffrent from Dark Descent but not any worse. also the voice acting was superb.

the scary stuff, it had less jump scares then the last amnesia but the ones that they do have were really good and surprising, i espacilly liked the electric pig (that guy is damn fast) and when they teleport you twinstingly. there was also the part with avoiding the pig guy which was really good, you had to hide in the dark and close your lantern and it was really fun and scary hearing him sniff (the number 1 sound effect of all time)

the level where the pigman are taking over london was also a testament to the imporvments of the engine. the levels with the rivers of blood were really great ("i think now i understand what the other component of compound x is"), and the idea of a machine god created by a madman and works on steam and gas felt like taken straight from a h. p. lovecraft book (the inspiration for frictional games's every game). also the pigmen as kids playing and with cubes or being chained to walls in cells really made me feel for them, i tried to open one of their cells multiple times lol, was a better monster design then those of amnesia in my opinion.

lastly, it feels short in the beginning, until you realise it has 3 more hours after the "ending". the game is great and amazing in a diffrent way from amnesia, and thats great in my opinion. redoing the same thing is one thing you don't want to do. getting rid of obvious mechanics like inventory or sanity meter and replacing it with ingame mechanics that do the same thing, like close lantern when piggy is near and hide in shadows.

the really scary stuff are sometimes not the jump scares or whispers in the background, it's the story and the ideas of the story, inhuman creations that were created by humans. a god made out as a machine, and loads of blood as a vital ingredient of the enemy. it's really like reading one of h. p. lovecrafts greatest books and i think it's a testament to how the chinese room dealt with this game.

9/10