AMFP Member Review Thread

[zico]

Since my Review spans over the whole game, I'll put it in a giant Spoiler tag.

Please forgive several typos and grammar issues as
a) I am not a native English speaker and
b) my my is still trembling from the experience.

Amnesia - A Machine for Pigs
was truly an amazing and extraordinary experience.

Here's why:

Spoiler below!

The game lived and fed by it's story similar to the machine fed on life and my own mind while playing.

This game caused immense reactions in me. When starting in the Mansion I admit I DID NOT expect these children to be still alive anymore. But that didn't really kill anything for me. In fact I was surely noticing how Mandus himself was already far off the edge and so I sometimes asked myself if Mandus himself was still alive, if I was playing a "remnant" or maybe a totally different character.

I wanted to find out where the game led me and during the experience in the mansion I was fully immersed already. In fact when reaching the second map of the mansion I was pretty much sure the game would offer me the first chase with a monster since the layout would have been almost perfect for it. But it didn't and hell I am glad for it. Cause there was the chance that this may have gone wrong and spoil everything that was coming.

I gotta tell you I stayed away from many images of the game. Still I was somewhat sure the monsters would be pigs. But I wasn't sure of the details. In fact actually I suspected these enemies being TDD Gatherers with the pig masks which haunt you from the beginning.

So I went to the church and down to the basement. Along the way I got pretty unnerved already - especially by the semi encounter in that warehouse which gave me a pretty good impression on how FAST such an enemy would be. Descending the stairs made me jump when I saw a Pig rushing along. In fact I was more startled. I wasn't convinced this would be a monster since I expected those to walk on two legs. Going deeper I heard it, I saw moving shadows and yet I wasn't fully afraid. Hey, it's just a pig. ... even tho it was a very big one I saw ... maybe it's a bore. Then my light flickered and in the ambient light I saw this dark shape..... rising... standing up!

I KILLED my lantern and rushed to the next corner, listening to both the steps and the beat of my heart. Eventually my heart-beating went calm... but these steps were still there. IMMEDIATELY my heart was pumping again: This thing will not go away! There is no "search music" either! It's NOT GOING AWAY! If *I* don't slip along, I cannot proceed!

I gotta say this was when I was extremely shocked and totally amazed at the same time. Eventually I snuck by that thing and made my way to the factory which got me more encounters with these pigs.

By the time I reached the Bilge I got most of my fears covered. I had my first death behind me and I started to get "used" to them. However this occurred in the most perfectly and well considered moment. By that time I was fully engulfed by the narration - aware of the machine, disgusted of these disturbing events, unnerved by machine sounds and the mask which seemed to follow my every move. Things started to fall in place and still more questions were rising.

I have to say at this point that I never had a problem with the blue haze, many seem to complain about. I felt this was truly contributing to the atmosphere. After all this is not the story of a man but a machine. Cold as ice. Sterile I am tempted to say even tho many parts of the game are anything BUT sterile. So I felt this blue fog was VERY much fitting the atmosphere. But I was a bit confused why it was used THAT much everywhere. Until it occurred to me: The machine was EVERYWHERE, too.

And I put new life in it.

By that time the fear of monsters ceased and terror of Mandus' - and my own - actions befell me. I must say I really gotta compliment how Chinese Room managed to perfectly orchestrate the usage of the monsters as their encounters, the amount of encounters and my personal relation with them in terms of fear and interactions match perfectly my FIGHT against the machine... if that makes sense to you. In a way these pigs symbolized the machine. First I was afraid, then I accepted them and after they had beaten me, I took the fight to them - in the moment they took the fight against humanity. In the Pigline Mandus and I even KILLED one of these - once more symbolizing how Mandus was fighting the machine.

After that however the fear came back. Deeper in the bowels of the machine, that silence, more frequent flicker of the lights... Then this giant Tesla Pig was flashing into existence. I was truly horrified and I have to say I cowered in a corner and have that thing slaughter me. Only the second time I found the strength to fight back.

I won and I went to the heart of the machine, fully seeing the big picture. Something ends, something begins - the dawn of a new century - with a whimper of the machine.

I admit it still leaves me with questions I hope I'll find answers in my second Playtrough.


And I am sure on this new adventure I will be able to understand many things more clearly. The story was really well crafted and this is how the game painted true horror and terror in my head. Actually it's very similar to a specific event in TDD. The torture rooms. If you recall, in that event the game only uses audio, flashbacks, text to paint images of absolute, inhuman violence. This is especially powerful due to the atmosphere you experience in the Choir (or was it the Nave? I always mess these map names up). You have a lot of monsters there and I was totally beaten at this point, nerves almost cracking. That was a perfect setup for the torture scenes.

A Machine fror Pigs was using this very much, too. Even tho in a much more subtle but not less effective way. You have the machines, constantly hissing, trembling, creating startling sounds which made me wonder what kind of cues indicating danger they may hide. And all the notes, conversations, monologues were painting this image of that... world... these events - this machine for pigs. Some notes were downright confusing, some disturbing, most however were BOTH at the same time if read between the lines.

I loved every moment of it.

But I can also see why some don't. As I implied the story is a heavy factor here and the monster encounters were ... just not the SAME as in TDD. TDD was much more a straightforward game, pushing you under constant pressure, not giving you any space to breathe. In fact TDD was always the game for me where nothing you can do is RIGHT. You cannot fight the monsters. You gotta hide in the dark. And if you do, you'll lose sanity. Heck you cannot even look at them. A Machine for Pigs is TOTALLY different - as stated above. It's truly a game which lives more by it's story, narration and the thick-as-blood atmosphere created by the former. And by that I DO NOT WANT TO SAY: "If you don't like it you are just not smart enough for it."

Actually I think that it's very easy for the game to miss "the spot" where the game sparks your immersion. The whole reading between the lines again - in connection with the colourful but difficult language. Heck I had to read many notes two or three times.
But IF you fall in love with the game it's truly an outstanding experience.

I did not miss the inventory, I didn't miss the sanity meter - heck, Mandus was completely insane anyways - or anything else. If A Machine for Pigs would be any more like TDD, THIS game would not have worked.

And so I am glad this game turned out as it did. It's a different game and I very much appreciate it. Like I said if it would have been Descent, it would not have been the Machine. Also it's really great these games differ so that it's not that easy to draw parallels. Often when playing a sequel - one which is really good - I always get some sort of disappointment playing the original again due to the fact that it just doesn't have the improvements, dimension or whatever the sequel offers. And exactly the opposite is the case with a "bad" sequel. In this case both games are totally different cakes offering a totally different experience. And still I am glad they take place in the same universe. It just feels right and I think there is still enough connecting the to. In fact it takes A LOT to separate games. Much more than it takes to make connections. You always compare games to others. Willingly or unwillingly. For this you only take a few cues and that's enough to compare, judge, form expectations. Machine has a lot that separates it from Descent but also enough to make connections. So I am glad they did what they did in that regard.

So yeah, I know this was a very ... confused ... text. Heck, this wasn't even a "review". But please mind you, I just finished and what I wrote - I am still shaken inside. I am not making this up. Call me pussy if you wish. Say I am sugarcoating the game. I am not. I had a very powerful experience with this game. And one I am very happy I went down this road.

Thank you Frictional Games. And Thank YOU The Chinese Room!