Disappointed with AAMFP

[SurvivalHorror]

There was way to much hype behind this game. There shouldn't have been a word said about this game before they could give a real release date because now everyone expects so much out of something that never had the chance to be what people wanted it to be in the first place.

Everyone wanted another Dark Descent. What you got was A Machine For Pigs. A game with a rich story, thick atmosphere and deformed pig creatures. It did what TDD really didn't do well and didn't attempt to one up what TDD did get right which was being scary as hell. Honestly, after TDD I really doubt I will be as scared as I was while playing it because it set the bar pretty high. In order for me to feel that way again, the game needs to reach that bar and then go a little further and I doubt that will come from an Amnesia title.

Machine is not about throwing random objects for the hell of it or solving puzzles that were never hard to begin with, even in TDD. It's about the story and the atmosphere, and if you don't see that, you need to stop playing and wait for the time to come when you'll be able to appreciate it. Yes, I disagree with the removing of the sanity aspect, or that they took out some parts from the trailer, but that really doesn't affect my overall experience with AMFP, and the experience I had was great. A Machine For Pigs left me pretty excited for the next original Frictional Games title.

What atmosphere is everyone talking about? The sound of pounding machinery and lack of chase music removed any type of a sense of dread brought about by suspenseful and terrifying music, a key element of scare factor in any type of game. This was a key element of TDD imo. Rich story? The lack of a twist and the painful predictability more like. The horror element was piss poor and the story average at best, not even gonna talk about the gameplay.

[Khelim]

What atmosphere is everyone talking about? The sound of pounding machinery and lack of chase music removed any type of a sense of dread brought about by suspenseful and terrifying music, a key element of scare factor in any type of game. This was a key element of TDD imo. Rich story? The lack of a twist and the painful predictability more like. The horror element was piss poor and the story average at best, not even gonna talk about the gameplay.

Fully agree. AMFP is inferior to TDD in every possible way.
Story was obvious from title and first 15 minutes of play: protag's wife died, children are probably dead too, he built a machine that has something to do with pigs and probably turning men into pigs, now he's going to go thru guilt trip and commit suicide.

Maps were okay but felt very static and robbing game of atmosphere: everything but essential things are locked, so many light sources readily available, key items located in room or two vicinity from place to apply them. Lots of wasted opportunities for good scare in map design. Especially church - such a disappointment!

Lack of inventory, sanity, oil management made us concentrate on "story" but it didn't deliver.
Neither did AI. Pigs are smart creatures with good sense of smell, but AMFP obviously insults them. They slowly crawl 30cm next to you and don't even turn their head to your side. Same goes for you "Hmm.. sound of hoofs. Oh! A manpig! Okay, fine, I will wait. C'mon, move faster you fat slab of anthropomorphic meat!"
Electric manpig gave a vibe of Return to Castle Wolfenstein but that was small and fleeting excitement.


And pig masks. Really? Do TCR think that would scare or impress people? Pig masks appearing in place they were not before, pig masks falling from above, pig masks appearing and disappearing while you climb ladder.

Calling protagonist by last name was huuge mistake. Mandus, Mandus, Mandus.. The moment you see Mandus Logo you understand "I made this, I'm responsible". Story could be so much better if protagonist was referred as Oswald and we had feeling that we are lurking in someone's else creation, fixing someone's else sabotage (yes, it was obvious you did it), trying to save living children and not dead figments of our mind.
Good detective story keeps you unaware of truth or misguides you to believe otherwise until culmination point. AMFP is so easy to predict it turns into rushing thru linear set of rooms in search of end credits to find out names of true villains.

[Sanji202]

... why... how... how could they fail so hard with this game. All they had to do was keep all the mechanics from "The dark descent" and implement the new story and new environment. Apparently that was to much to ask.


This game had so much potential, but the following points ruined it all:

-The lantern now has infinite oil.

-Not that it makes much of a difference, since they removed the darkness mechanic. Your character no longer starts to shiver in fear after long periods in the dark.

-In addition, the enemies are pathetic. You can take several hits without dying. You will also regenerate health... YES... REGENERATE... this is not F#%&ING CALL OF DUTY.


This is a gigantic disappointment. Massive fail!

[Diango12]

TheChineseRoom's policy on games is "Look, but don't touch". Anyone can see this is just Dear Esther 2 with some really good sound assets. In a nut shell, a dark, interactive audio book.

[Cuyir]

1. Ever heard of electric lanterns that last upwards of 8 hours (beyond the time the game takes place)?

2.Oh no, Mandus doesn't have night vision and his vision doesn't get distorted if he stays in the dark. Such a useless mechanic. Only worked when it was scripted to do so, so moot. (Again, I spent 80 percent of TDD in the dark without lighting anything and using my lantern and Daniel didn't react poorly.)

3. Yeah, I would have like health recovery items instead of health regen but no inventory. So eh.

[Draug]

to 2. Daniel also developed nyctophobia as a child.

[Cuyir]

Well that's not noticeable ingame.

If he has nyctophobia you'd expect noticeable effects to his health and state of mind, not ''blurry vision, crackling noises and the bugs''.

I mean, come on. That's not a realistic or impactful reaction. When i've had to deal with my personal phobias in the real world the effects have been horrible. Not just something as minor as that but a whole chain of physiological reactions.

[Sanji202]

1. Ever heard of electric lanterns that last upwards of 8 hours (beyond the time the game takes place)?

2.Oh no, Mandus doesn't have night vision and his vision doesn't get distorted if he stays in the dark. Such a useless mechanic. Only worked when it was scripted to do so, so moot. (Again, I spent 80 percent of TDD in the dark without lighting anything and using my lantern and Daniel didn't react poorly.)

3. Yeah, I would have like health recovery items instead of health regen but no inventory. So eh.

Do you find this game better or worse than TDD?

[Draug]

Well that's not noticeable ingame.

If he has nyctophobia you'd expect noticeable effects to his health and state of mind, not ''blurry vision, crackling noises and the bugs''.

I mean, come on. That's not a realistic or impactful reaction. When i've had to deal with my personal phobias in the real world the effects have been horrible. Not just something as minor as that but a whole chain of physiological reactions.

I meant it that way, that this mechanic would be misplaced in amfp, because not every character can have a fear from the dark.

[Artyom]

Aa sht another one of these...

1. Firstly: Why would the "lantern" run on oil when it is clearly electric.
Sure, they could have added batteries or something but if you think about the actual time the game takes to complete that would mean that these batteries would only last like 10-20 minutes, And I personally would not like to look for batteries all the time or simply ending up not using the "lantern" due to being afraid of running out of batteries.

Also the "lantern" plays a big role in the game so it is meant to be used...

2. The darkness mechanic in TTD was based on the protagonists fear of the dark. Mandus may not have suffered as much from darkness as he has probably been living in a quite dark world already...

3. Sure the monsters seemed a bit stupid I can agree on that, but they still served their purpose.
I think the health regeneration feature was excellent, no more annoying red blur all over the screen.
Also the monsters in AMFP seemed to be hitting much faster so if you'd get caught and trapped they would probably have killed you...

Also if you think this game so incredibly bad then I do not believe you understood what the game was actually about. It is not meant to be compared with TDD as it's not made by the same studio.

Put it like this.
Someone on the forum produces a custom story.
You then play it and think it's great!
You then pick another custom story.
And you think it sucks only because it didn't include all the features the other one did.
Do you realize how stupid this is?

So before posting a comment like this... Please analyze the game and then post a educated comment about why you feel a certain way...