AMFP Member Review Thread

[Blue Machine]

AAMFP: 4/10
ATDD: 10/10

[ClayPigeon]

I played the game with a couple of friends and... we finished the game at once. Around 4 hours.
The story is quite good but I feel like there could have been so much better. The mapping and the modeling is absolutely perfect.

There were a lot of dissapointments though:
1)We finished the game AT ONCE. We didn't even need to save. In other words - WAY too short.
2)There were so little encounters with the enemies... around 3 or 4 at max. I miss the good old feeling of TDD in which you'd have to worry about an enemy lurking in every corner.
3)The end was too predictible. The story started so great and unique... Everything was flowing, but the end kind of spoiled it all.
4)Way, way, way too much reading materials. The game had SO much reading to do. A memento every 10 seconds and a long-ass note every 2 minutes. The notes were written nicely, but there were way too many.
5)The game was... easy. No pursuits, no puzzles, no need to think. The hardest part was figuring out the point-the-light-to-lock thingy. The notes kinda gave away every solution to every problem.

4-5/10

In short, ATDD, which was perfect in all aspects, created a large anticipation and hopes that AAMFP just couldn't fulfil. Also, the delays of the release created a feeling that something big is coming out and a long and fantastic experience waits for us, but it wasn't the case...

[Lleviathyn]

I cannot believe this community. So TCR removes the inventory, and people have arguments over whether or not it's even a video game. ...Seriously?

To be fair, I too found it less scary than TDD, but not because the inventory+sanity was removed. No, the biggest reason was the lack of stalking/chase music. For example, look at Outlast. Some of the enemies are just normal humans, not scary/creepy in the slightest. However, you add that music and you get that "Oh shit" thought in your head.

Quick feedback on the monsters. The electric pig monster was well done, and the two other pig monsters were pretty original too, but there needed to be more dangerous encounters IMO. I only had to hide twice the whole game, and never had to close a door to slow a monster down, as I was rarely chased at all. I also would have found the wretches more scary if they chased you at their full height the whole game, but that's probably just me, as I find monsters your size scarier than dog sized monsters. But than again, the music made the dogs in Penumbra horrifying which proves my previous point.

Anyways, I'd like to thank TCR for making such a great game. Honestly. There was quite a few times you had me awestruck by some of the things you had in there. The level design and sounds/music were superb throughout the whole game, the story and immersion was great, and overall it felt like a brand new experience. Fantastic job.

[pagan]

I cannot believe this community. So TCR removes the inventory, and people have arguments over whether or not it's even a video game. ...Seriously

The problem is not the lack of inventory, or the sanity system, or stuff like that. The problem is that everything is simplified to almost nothing, almost every gameplay element have been removed, leaving nothing but walking in a linear corridor and reading notes. No interaction, no exploration, nothing. The way i was shepherded through a very linear path, while i couldn't interact with anything, and the doors were always opening and closing in a very contrived and illogical manner to keep me on the path was very immersion-breaking for me. No immersion, no player agency, no "telling the story by gameplay", after the first half hour i felt like an outside observer. The whole game-design went against everything that Thomas Grip is writing about on his blog. That's why i was surprised Frictional gave their blessing for this game.

If from the beginning it was declared to be a Dear Esther-like game, there wouldn't be so much outrage, but it wasn't, and the teasers suggested something entirely different as well.

[Kurton]

Giving both the trailers a quick re-watch, I'm having a hard time seeing how the final game does not reflect what's portrayed in them, or how they could have falsely advertised the final thing in any way. The teasy gameplay snippets (not the repeated dolly shots) are both the player hiding from pig monsters and not much else, so what's the deal? The only difference related to gameplay I can make out is that the pig broke down a door. The maps might be setpieces used exclusively for the trailer, but they're still strongly indicative of what you see in the final game.

I'm not trying to convince anyone from their opinion, I'm just not understanding this sentiment so could someone explain it to me?

[Diango12]

I cannot believe this community. So TCR removes the inventory, and people have arguments over whether or not it's even a video game. ...Seriously?

No the problem is people like you continue to pick on that one easy point and conveniently ignore the christmas list of other complaints levied against this game. Put the straw man down and take another look at the detractions.

Giving both the trailers a quick re-watch, I'm having a hard time seeing how the final game does not reflect what's portrayed in them, or how they could have falsely advertised the final thing in any way. The teasy gameplay snippets (not the repeated dolly shots) are both the player hiding from pig monsters and not much else, so what's the deal? The only difference related to gameplay I can make out is that the pig broke down a door. The maps might be setpieces used exclusively for the trailer, but they're still strongly indicative of what you see in the final game.

I'm not trying to convince anyone from their opinion, I'm just not understanding this sentiment so could someone explain it to me?

Here's how I would have made an honest trailer of this game. It would cut in with the player going through a mansion and picking various notes and journal entries, the contents of which would be presented on screen for a brief moment before excerpts were read aloud here and there in vague sequences. Add in a scene with a door being thumped by some unknown creature and a few scenes of lever and flashy button triggering. Then cut out with a final quote from in-game dialogue.

The two trailers marketed were made to give the impression of a Amnesia like horror game. I know it, they know it, you know it. Stop being coy and try being a little honest about something glaringly obvious.

[Lleviathyn]

Just to clarify:

1. Interactivity was not removed, just toned down for a good reason. It was said if they left all objects interactable you'd need a beefy computer just to play it. To be completely honest with you, I didn't notice it much. I didn't spend too much of the first game looking for random shit to throw around, and for me it didn't really matter this time around either.

2. Yeah, it's linear. So was the first one. So was Outlast. So are a lot of good games in general like Portal 2. I disagree when you guys say there's no exploration. The levels are pretty big, and you do need to explore and search desks and etc for notes. I'm pretty big on exploring, and I didn't feel particularly restricted at any point. The only difference in the first one was you weren't just looking for notes and you'd get to backtrack to complete a puzzle. I'll admit, the puzzles were pretty easy this time around and I missed the complex ones but hey, they were original.

Like I've said in my review earlier, the only thing I felt disappointed about was the lack of encounters and stalking/chase music. I was hoping to be hiding in a cage and wait out a patrolling piggy (edit: Like in the trailer) but that never happened. I only ever hid twice, I was chased only twice (both of those times were scripted), and I never got to slam a door in a monster's face to slow them down. (edit: I don't count the scripted door in the tunnels)

If TCR's ever up for DLC and/or updating MFP with a "Super Scary Patch", those are things I'd hope to see.

[Kman]

Here's how I would have made an honest trailer of this game. It would cut in with the player going through a mansion and picking various notes and journal entries, the contents of which would be presented on screen for a brief moment before excerpts were read aloud here and there in vague sequences. Add in a scene with a door being thumped by some unknown creature and a few scenes of lever and flashy button triggering. Then cut out with a final quote from in-game dialogue.

The two trailers marketed were made to give the impression of a Amnesia like horror game. I know it, they know it, you know it. Stop being coy and try being a little honest about something glaringly obvious.

yeah and if they would have done that it would have been boring as shit and everyone would have ignored the game cause the trailer was terrible

literally the entire point of a trailer is to selectively show parts of a game or movie or w/e that are iconic or eventful to catch peoples attention which in turn gets them interested, so no shit they're going to use the more eventful sequences for the trailer. it wasn't even false advertising either, they had a good few monster encounters in it and when there weren't monsters around the atmosphere of each level was still very oppressive and horror oriented.

[JPTS]

Just to clarify:

1. Interactivity was not removed, just toned down for a good reason. It was said if they left all objects interactable you'd need a beefy computer just to play it. To be completely honest with you, I didn't notice it much. I didn't spend too much of the first game looking for random shit to throw around, and for me it didn't really matter this time around either.

2. Yeah, it's linear. So was the first one. So was Outlast. So are a lot of good games in general like Portal 2. I disagree when you guys say there's no exploration. The levels are pretty big, and you do need to explore and search desks and etc for notes. I'm pretty big on exploring, and I didn't feel particularly restricted at any point. The only difference in the first one was you weren't just looking for notes and you'd get to backtrack to complete a puzzle. I'll admit, the puzzles were pretty easy this time around and I missed the complex ones but hey, they were original.

Like I've said in my review earlier, the only thing I felt disappointed about was the lack of encounters and stalking/chase music. I was hoping to be hiding in a cage and wait out a patrolling piggy, but that never happened. I only ever hid twice, I was chased only twice (both of those times were scripted), and I never got to slam a door in a monster's face to slow them down.

If TCR's ever up for DLC and/or updating MFP with a "Super Scary Patch", those are things I'd hope to see.

I totally agree with everything you said here. I like exploring too and I actually didn't notice how linear the game was until I got inside the machine. But in that part it makes sense.

I just watched Mathasgames livestreaming A:AMFP and he had to hide from the pig under the church. He stayed in the dark and stopped using the lantern. The pig looked like it was looking for Mandus and left, slowly. I guess it all depends on how you play.

When I did, I was scared and I hid a lot. And I even closed a door on the monster's face near the centrifuge. It was the door that disappears so imagine how I felt...

An update with scarier monsters would be great.

What about letting players make custom stories with the pig monsters, but making them behave like the grunt or the brute? That would allow us to have scarier pigs.

[XDamienDaKillaX]

I am not going to bash the game as many as have, or hate on the game for its lack of inventory; I do not care for the lack of inventory, or the removal of sanity. I do agree on one thing though, it was not a worthy Amnesia title.
Now now, I know what you're all thinking, "He's just gonna say the game wasn't scary and give it a 3/10 like everyone else, and his opinion isn't valid because he is a new member of the forum!", No. The game was scary, it had me refusing to continue at points, but OVERALL, it was not a worthy Amnesia successor.
Its graphics were great. Nothing else needs to be said.
Its story was great; I did not like how in the very beginning everything was straight to the point, Mandus must find his children and that's it. The pacing of the story in the beginning isn't too good either though once you exit the Mansion area those two complaints change and the story just gets progressively more awesome. Oswald also never makes a mention of having amnesia for some reason. It was stated he has no idea how much time has passed since his last memory, he never says this in-game. Does anyone else find it strange that he is never mentioned by the name Oswald? When his name appeared near the end of the game, people did not even know who he was, as they did not research the game prior to release.
Music was excellent.
Atmosphere was excellent, up until the final few chapters. When everything starting being

Spoiler below!

WAAAAAAAY out there, rivers of blood, and that sort, everything just felt... off. The creepy atmosphere went to being no atmosphere at all, and I just kept thinking to myself "What the hell is going on?" and not in a good way.

So this comes to my two major complaints about the game; How the monsters are presented, and the final few chapters. I'll start off with the end of the game as it is easier to explain.
The end of the game does not feel like Amnesia. It goes in a totally different direction, which is okay, but it feels too out there. The atmosphere from the game is killed, I had no fear anymore, or fear of the unknown for that matter, I just felt it was an entirely different game. Even the

Spoiler below!

Tesla Pigman

did not ignite fear in me, and it just felt like it was lumbering around, aimlessly. You're all probably gonna say, "But TCR wanted it to be a different Amnesia and it wasn't supposed to be all scary" and this and that. AMNESIA is in the title, no matter how you look at it. I just expected that the majority of the time, the atmosphere be intimidating, and it wasn't at the end of the game. Don't get me wrong, the game is absolutely fantastic, I just wish more fear was invoked in me as the game went on.
For the second major complaint, the pigs. There are only 7 dangerous encounters with the pigs, and most of them are underwhelming. The first one was excellent, you'll know why when you play it. The second one was meh, only because of how big the area was, and the fact you could see the pig from a mile away. The third one is one of the two scripted chases in the game, and it is terrifying if you are immersed. The fourth one introduces a new type of pig, and there are two of them. Once again, you can spot them from a mile away and even if they notice you, you aren't really gonna panic. The fifth one is the second scripted chase- no fear at all. I saw it, and ran. That's it. Wasn't scared or anything, due to it being a straight path. The sixth is entirely optional; if you are stupid and jump down, it attacks you. You can entirely avoid it by just going the other way. The seventh and final encounter introduces another new type of pig. Very boring. You'll see why. The fact I can remember every encounter in detail is not a good thing.

Overall, I don't think the game is a worthy Amnesia successor. Had it been called A Machine for Pigs, it would have been received much better. I give it an 8 out of 10, as the story, graphics, music and atmosphere (for the most part) are great.
One more thing. Take away the enemies from the game. You got yourself Dear Esther version 20.0. However, that isn't exactly a bad thing, just something I realized and thought I should mention.