Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Discussion Topic Part 1

[The Rock Worm]

I recently saw the new Halloween trailer for the upcoming game and new screen shots and noticed something I simply had to bring up. I saw in the background of this image http://www.aamfp.com/images/201210_aamfp...shot_2.jpg that two rifles are in a glass case. Based on all of the stuffed animals in the room, I bet the guns aren't decoration only. I believe that you the player will use them in game. I will list below reasons why I think this and what they could be used for.

My evidence for guns/weapons in Amnesia comes from what they [Frictional Games] officially released to use... the ModelEditor! If you open it and load a monster's properties you will notice slots for: sounds made when a sword/bullet hits the monster and what particles made when a sword/bullet hits the monster. Seeing that The Dark Descent didn't have weapons, I'm lead to conclude that they put that option for future use.

Now I know what some of you must be thinking "Oh no, they're making a First Person Shooter!". Based on their success rate on making terrifying games, I am 100% sure it won't lead to that. The monster properties allows you to give it regeneration and/or toughness. I will discuss how the two can counter guns and add scares to the gameplay.

Fast Regeneration: This ability allows a monster to heal wounds faster than a human normally could. Let's look at the Amnesia 1 monsters as examples. All of the items in the game, if tossed, deals 5 damage. Grunts/Brutes regenerate 5 points of health... so you can never kill one in game.

Regeneration Scare Scenario: You grab the shotgun from the display case and fill it with ammo. It deals 25 damage per shot. Suddenly Mr. PIG (my name for the Pig monsters) bursts n on the scene and runs towards you. You fire the gun, but to your horror it almost instantly heals! You can't shoot fast enough to deal any lasting damage. All you've done is wasted precious time for running away!

The weakness in regeneration is doing more damage than its regeneration, but Frictional Games left another defense option for monsters.

Toughness: According to the info in the ModelEditor, if a creatures attack strength is 1 less than another monster's toughness, half damage is dealt. If the attack is 2+ less than the toughness, no damage is dealt.

Toughness Scare Scenario: You managed to flee from Mr. Pig after the shotgun failed.You soon find a double barrel shotgun that deals twice the damage of a regular shotgun. Hope and courage building, you set off in search of monsters to kill. You bump into a warthog variant of Mr. Pig in the room. You sneak up to it and fire at point blank range. All of your hope and courage evaporated as all of the bullets simply bounce off its hide! Pure fear and terror fills you as Mr. Pig turns to face you.

Now toughness can be beat if one's attack strength is equal or greater than it. Considering if both were put to use in Mr. Pig, then that gun is as useful against the monster as throwing a box at an Amnesia 1 Grunt.


So if guns wouldn't be used in combat, then what? My guess for the guns would be puzzles/obstacles. Picture this: "Mr. Pig is in one room that you MUST enter. The trouble is that he's much faster than you are; you'd never outrun him if he spotted you. He's in the middle of a large and open room, and the item you seek is right in front of him. The rooms you came from has nothing to toss to get his attention. What do you do? Using some string as a fuse and other stuff in your pack, you set up the gun to fire in the farthest room you can access; but fire when you've hidden and ready to move for the item. When the gun fired, Mr. Pig came running for it, giving you plenty of time to grab the item you sought!

Granted this is just one example, but it shows how a gun can be used to get past a tricky situation. With the defenses available to Amnesia monsters, they can easily be immune to gun fire, thus making your new found hope into that much more fear and terror.