AMFP Member Review Thread

[Mr. 3vil]

I'm a new member, but I've played all the games TheChineseRoom have made including the Conscientious Objector Doom mod, Korsakovia and original Dear Esther. I also own all of FrictionalGames titles released thus far. So I'd like to give my thoughts on the game itself because there are a ton of great ideas and I'm sure a lot of people have agreed that the story is good.

The problem with the game is that it is essentially, a mystery horror game, not a "survival" horror game anymore. And I'm given this impression that Oswald Mandus is overweight and shouldn't be able to run too long. It would have been more interesting if he gets tired from running too much and the monsters would run faster when this "stamina" runs out. The game essentially removed what I'd consider the "health" survival aspect of TDD and replaced it with nothing. Like any survival game, even games like Blood and Doom, health is a key factor that helps induce fear of death. In some ways, the sanity meter was an additional factor to the health because when it got too low, Daniel would drop to the floor and alert the monsters while he lays helpless and we watch as the character dies by a grunt or brute. It's creepy because we know he's going to die and we can do nothing about it. This is what I thought was needed in A Machine for Pigs, something like "health" that makes the player fear death and the surroundings around them, to make them always on edge whether their character is safe or not.

Some things that really killed the immersion for me was actually the voices of the children and the slow pause that happens when they're there. Removing them would have made the entire opening even more creepy as I had a bunch of situations where I just wanted to walk and the silence was sort of creepy only to be halted by kids that clearly sound like scripted kids trying to be scary. Honestly, no kids would go "daaaaaaaaaaaaddy" in an eerie way unless it's Halloween. I guess it's tough to expect kids to be good voice actors. I'd argue that it makes the story less believable and in some ways, I'm sure people figured out they were ghosts or dead. Which really spoils the story because you're there to rescue your "children" so to speak (where I clearly have none because I'm not a father).

This goes into a larger problem with the game actually, the objective in TDD compared to A Machine for Pigs. TDD was essentially to survive and the only way to really do that was to kill Alexander. In some ways we forget that we're not Daniel as we immerse ourselves into Daniel's position until the end when we figure out his past self was insane. I'd say rescuing children, isn't a bad objective, it's just that I'm reminded they're not just children, but my own children (which I don't have any). Saving children is quite a noble cause, the writing could have made do with them being missing orphanage children and Oswald Mandus being a donator to the orphanage instead because honestly, he lives in a pretty rich house anyways.

As for the technical issues, screen tearing and game stuttering FPS problems for me. The blue fog tint which I'm sure the fans agree is terrible should be removed for a better and darker experience. I know how to remove them and people are removing them, but it should have just been off right from the start. And for those that say turn down the gamma, I already did and the blue still sticks out and rather makes the game less scary, it's really something that shouldn't have been added into the game.

My final thoughts are that this game could have been even better than what it is now. I'd love to see a modified version of A Machine for Pigs where there could have been a stamina bar and running out of stamina entirely would increase the monsters pursuing speed, where as walking required stealth abilities. With the TDD engine being updated, I'm sure some people could port the game and see how it runs with sanity effects and different AI.