Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

Basically a walking simulator, including "scary"? atmosphere, but I found it quite annoying and boring. Do not recommend.

It's a walking simulator, surprising no one who knows what Chinese Room have put out before. The weakest entry in the Amnesia series, and a free skip for those looking to experience the whole thing. You are missing nothing with this one that can't be experienced by reading the Wikipedia page for it.

govno

It's like the other one but worse. That's all you need to know.

Let's assume you liked the first one, or are even one of those people who praise it as being a masterpiece in horror gaming.

Well this one takes the any real good that the first had, throws it out the window, and replaces it with goofy pig monsters and a bad story.

decent, confusing in some parts but decent.

I did not finish this, but I am sure it would be good. It just didn't hit the Amnesia vibes for me. I'll probably finish it eventually.

So far so good...

"On rails" cinematic horror. Not nearly as good as Dark Descent but if you don't go in expecting a sequel to that you might enjoy Machine's story telling and neat visuals. The removal of the inventory systems means a lot less survival in your surival horror and simplified puzzles.

This game is such a good balance of basic game mechanics, and storytelling. I love how this was very story oriented to the point where everything you interact with tells you something about it. At parts it was terrifying, at others it was intense but bearable. I recommend this for anyone who is really looking for a story rich game that is mentally traumatising whilst fun to play! As someone who has completed the game 100% It is enjoyable through and through!

Boring AF.

The final dialogue from *Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs* evokes themes and imagery reminiscent of several literary works and styles:

1. **Wilfred Owen** – The mention of "mud and bone" and "mustard gas" strongly recalls Owen's war poetry, particularly *"Dulce et Decorum Est"*, which vividly depicts the horrors of World War I, including gas attacks.

2. **T.S. Eliot** – The apocalyptic tone and imagery, especially phrases like "autumnal fallout" and "child's shadow burnt into the brickwork," echo Eliot's *"The Waste Land"*, with its fragmented vision of societal decay and destruction.

3. **Joseph Conrad** – The line "a house of skulls in the jungle" may reference Conrad's *"Heart of Darkness"*, which explores the brutal exploitation and dehumanization of colonialism.

4. **George Orwell** – Themes of mass oppression, dehumanization, and the line "starved the masses into faith" could align with Orwell's *"1984"* or his essays on totalitarianism and war.

5. **William Blake** – The stark juxtaposition of innocence and brutality echoes Blake’s *Songs of Innocence and Experience*, where innocence is corrupted by the evils of society.

6. **Biblical imagery** – The apocalyptic tone and references to judgment and consumption ("they will eat your hearts") evoke passages from the Book of Revelation.

The dialogue draws on this rich intertextuality to create a grim vision of industrialized violence and societal collapse.

DON'T BUY THIS! UNPLAYABLE DUE TO CRASHES!

Seriously, I can't even finish the game due to crashes. Throughout the game on each level transition it always crashes the first time, which I worked around by Save and Exit right before and trying again. But further in the game even Save and Exit could crash the game! Still I wanted to finish the bloody game. Problem is near the end of the game, taking an elevator down to next level transition it would crash 100% of the time, same if I did Save and Exit.

I litteraly can't finish this shitty game, which has other issues such as: Blue fog/tint which ruins the atmosphere, nothing scary happening, locked at 60fps and boring too simple puzzles.

Only decent thing was the story is somewhat interesting and the level design is cool. But considering all the negatives: STAY CLEAR OF THIS GAME! DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!

story was pretty good

Great story and writing, but the gameplay and visuals are not as good as The Dark Descent. Still worth a playthrough!

This game is almost like a walking simulator, and a pretty slow one. I obviously didn't expect it to be on the same level as The Dark Descent, but this is just way worse than I had imagined. Resource management, inventory, sanity system have been removed completely, the monsters, at least to me, are not scary and you cannot interact with 90% of the world's items. You are only allowed to do so, if the items are required to progress the story. If you really want to play this game, I highly recommend that you do so when it's on sale, because 20 bucks for this is insane.

Scary

Life is but a pig's dream.

Surely was different than we had from The Dark Descent, but that experience was chilling and thrilling at the same time.
Of course there is no inventory than in the previous Amnesia game, the lantern had an unlimited energy, and there was only one ending.

Other than that, the game was okay. But I think that The Dark Descent is surely one of the best Amnesia games that I've ever played!

Still, A Machine For Pigs was still an experience. It's your choice to play that game anyway.

Under rated

While not as good as the original, the game's story is amazing and worth it.
The story hits really hard, specially today.

Better story, worse game.

Like The Chinese Room's other game Dear Esther, this game is a walking simulator. A very British and pretentious one at that. Virtually all notable features of the first Amnesia are absent here, like the sanity meter and lantern depletion. All that remains is the unique door opening and some very underutilized physics (I swear you can only pick up chairs and nothing else). It may sound like I hate this game but I don't! It story lowkey rules, although too many crucial aspects are hidden behind collectible notes. In many ways I think this is my largest criticism, and probably what turned most off, as the story without them is pretty barebones. Game is also poorly optimized, and janky at times. But all in all still totally worth your time.

I might even prefer it over the first one, but it is definitely the worst game

7/10

Many bugs and crashes !!!

This is honestly my favorite Amnesia game. TDD is classic, but I love how heavily story driven this game is. I wish you could interact with more, and the puzzles and maps are pretty simple, but the story is where this game really shines. I've replayed it several times both on my PC and on a console. The game IS somewhat short, but it was actually intended to be a DLC for the first game and ended up being too big so they released it as a full game instead.

The graphics are the best of any of the games. The story is the best, as well. I wish the gameplay was more involved, but it works, which is more than I can say for The Bunker. The gameplay is far more simplified than the other games; no fear mechanics, no inventory, no health management, and no tinderbox/lantern/fuel conservation (due to the availability of electric lighting in the game's setting). It would be nice if there was more you could do for puzzles and stuff, but I prefer this to how overly complicated The Bunker is (a tower of clunky game mechanics in a trenchcoat pretending to be a game). The game is also well made, and only has minimal bugs. I fell through the floor in one area one time at launch, and haven't had any other issues in the years since. I haven't experienced crashing issues like some other reviewers complained about.

Part of the whole experience in Amnesia is finding out what crappy things you did that led to where you are, and seeing how messy and complex your character was, and this game handles that really well. Rebirth stumbled on it, but they tried. The Bunker did not try or succeed.

This is a good enough game to recommend but it may be the weakest installment in the Amnesia series. It plays more like a "mod" for The Dark Descent than it does a standalone game. Nevertheless, it has some creepy vibes. It takes away its scariest elements but introduces instead a man who may (himself) be going insane.

Great game

This will give you Amnesia!
Just like the game says this game will make you not want to sleep at night, please ignore the play time. I remember when this game came out on disk and could not get enouph of it. You are essentially trying to escape this place with no weapon with monsters roaming the building with a bit of a story to it finding different pieces of the puzzle to plan your escape and to figure out why that you are there and to get out. This was before all of the intense scary First person games that are out now and I think that this was the founding of it. They most definitely hit the nail on how to make a great game. While not having to have to BEST graphics in the world to make a game great. This is something that you can go back to and keep playing in my opinion.

I would most definitely wait for a sale for this game just for the fact that the shelf life on this has been for years now. Still a great game to grab.

Actually a beautiful story. I was nervous of what I was getting into due to the reviews, but I was blown away with how much I actually enjoyed it. This game most definently had the same feel as Dark Descent, which I really appreciated. The amnesia games always have the best stories I've seen in games, and this one did not dissapoint me.
Regardless of the gameplay changes that were made that made it slightly different from the others the game still had me hooked and wanting more. The puzzles were easier this game, at least for me. I didn't have to look up guides as much which I personally liked but I can imagine the game being easier may turn it off from others.
All of the Amnesia games have a sense of rectification in them, and this one hit that theme on the nail. I loved the story, and even if I felt I knew what was going on the longer I played the more I learned what was happening, even till the very end.
Anyways, all this to say I really enjoyed the game and I know for a fact the entirety of the Amnesia series is are some of the best games I've ever played <3 :D

honestly this felt like a dummed down version of TDD. Its not bad, but very different, and honestly doesnt really create the same sensation of dread. And in all honesty its quite short.

The game play is lacking but the story make up for it in lot's of way's

This story and setting has so much potential, but all of the charm from The Dark Descent is lost. Every non-progression related prop is glued to the ground, no health/sanity or light to manage, no inventory to store and combine items, all 'puzzles' are flip a switch or put X item inside of Y. The enemies spend more time running across your screen or away from you than being an actual threat, very easy to not die the entire game.

There are some amazing areas in this game though, it's a very different setting from the first game and you spend more time outside (something they talked about regretting not doing more in The Dark Descent). Hearing the small amount of voice acting in the last 10% of the game made me really wish they did more.

Overall definitely the worse Amnesia game in the collection, but nowhere is it terrible. Not really worth replaying.

It's not as good as the original Amnesia, but I look at this game kind of like a "haunted house" sim. There's only a few segments where you need to deal with enemies, outside of those you're in no real danger. But there's great atmosphere, and I've always enjoyed this game's style of environmental puzzle-solving. It's short too, which is good. With little real danger, this game could easily outstay its welcome.

Play it during Halloween for the spooks.

What the h*ll is this

It's too short, and too barebones

Did not get the same vibe as the first Amnesia. I did not finnish the game, as I ran out of steam on this.

FUN GOOD BUY

I̴̭͌͊ ̸̧͕̉̀Ȟ̷̱̀ͅÀ̵͚̥V̷̬͛E̸̳̮̽ ̵̨̭́T̶̰͈̚H̷̲̯͋Ë̷̲̖́ ̶̣̼̃B̸̙̦̔͌Ǫ̸͚̑D̷̋͜͝Y̶̧̖̔͝ ̸̬̎̋Ô̸̜̱͗F̶͔͋ ̵̧̙͒͝A̴͓͍̎̂ ̸̠̓̅P̵̗̑I̶̪͋G̸̹̈́́
oink oink..

A masterpiece in immersive storytelling.

Not as heavy on the "horror" gameplay elements as others in the genre. but where this game lacks in gameplay, it makes up for in it's storytelling.

An amazing game definitely well worth playing if you wish to experience a deep, dark, and twisted story.

It's better than the first game.

doesnt work??

I thought I would be disappointed in the game because of the presence of the passing plot itself, without any fuss. But still, the game has the ability to inflict damage on us, as well as the presence of enemies who can kill us. In general, I liked the game itself and the plot, but the ending is a little unclear. But I will not write because of this not recommend the game, since it is good in different areas, such as, for example, the atmosphere, which is tense in different ways.

Pigs should graze not meander. This shit made me meander.

Fumbled the bag.

gg

absolute dookie booty

I liked this game. It's a spooky puzzle game with body horror scares and worth a play through if you're into narrative games. Picture Bioshock but without combat and placed in a steampunk underground slaughterhouse.

But the survival horror elements in the first game are gone. This is much more of an experience that happens to you instead of you actively looting resources and managing your sanity/light sources. This lack of participation left me feeling disconnected... if I went into this without preconceived notions I think I would've enjoyed it even more but this game definitely has a fanbase and I can understand why.

Very good indirect sequel but its fairly short. Barely half of the first.

Amnesia AMfP does not have a lot of the elements TDD had, including the sanity mechanic which is something that was really integral to TDD. With the loss of the sanity mechanic darkness is no longer a threat which means there is a lack of candles to be lit/tinderboxes to install in torches, and the lantern does not need to be refueled. In my opinion the biggest drawback from the loss of the sanity mechanic though is that you are able to look at the enemies in this game with no repercussions whereas in TDD you of course lost sanity doing so, being that you can now watch the movements of the enemy the chases are much easier to work through and as such are trivialized.

If you are going into this expecting more of the same from TDD you will be disappointed, with that said the game is well done and I enjoyed the industrial theme this game had.

Nice!

Not as bad alot of people say but not THAT good either

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a narrative-driven horror game developed by The Chinese Room and published by Frictional Games in 2013. The game takes place in 1899. You are an industrialist named Oswald Mandus who wakes up in his lavish mansion in a state of confusion. A series of clues then leads him on a journey deep into the bowels of a large underground factory to find his children.

The art design of the game is similar to Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The environments are dark and foreboding, but not without a sense of ruined Gothic splendor as well. Perhaps one criticism I have in this area is that you spend a lot of the game in glum industrial locations which tend to be a bit maze-like and similar to one another, making it easy to get lost.

The visuals in general are extremely dark and it's difficult to see anything in the game world without a lantern. Thankfully you get one near the beginning and it can be used infinitely without having to worry about batteries or such.

Many other mechanics have been streamlined for this game besides the simplified light system. There's no inventory or a sanity meter, and the game world is not nearly as interactive as you'd expect from something associated with Frictional Games. Some set pieces feature enemies, but the survival-horror gameplay felt extremely lightweight and underdeveloped to me, especially as I'd just finished Amnesia: The Bunker before picking this game up.

Being psychological horror, the story likes to mess with your expectations. The game world itself often insinuates there is danger afoot even when there probably isn't. Perhaps I've gotten better at seeing through the illusions of video game tension building, because quite often I could reliably call out what were obvious fake-outs, like a monster appearing but then conveniently vanishing past a dark corner before anything bad happens. The game repeats a lot of the same tricks from Amnesia: The Dark Descent, although arguably in clumsier ways, without a similar feeling of mounting tension as you enter deeper into the darkness or that sweet catharsis which occurs when you finally get past the hellish obstacles on your path and can breathe a sigh of relief. This is not to say that the game isn't tense at all, but I never got quite as immersed in it as I did with Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

The sound design and music are some of the game's high points, at least. There's a varied supply of cold, mechanical drones and hums to keep you on edge, plus some more climactic orchestral tracks for when the occasion calls for it. The voice acting is solid as well.

The story is another high point, although I don't think it's told as well as it could have. As mentioned, the main character is in a very confused state of mind and you have to piece together what's going on through non-chronological bits of diaries and ghostly flashbacks. This is similar to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, although the lore writing is generally more flowery, rife with occasionally quite ham-fisted symbolism and rhetorical excess. I don't know if the writer is trying to invoke a fancy Victorian writing style, but it makes getting through the diary entries something of a slog. And keep in mind that there are a LOT of these entries - it's where the majority of the game's story lies.

Sometimes the developers also place you in slow walking sections with a voice-over playing in the background. It emphasizes the most important story beats, but when used too much it creates tedious slowdown and in some sense pulls the player away from the game world. Every second you are locked into a non-interactive sequence is a second that could've been spent with more organic ways to engage with the game world.

I also felt some story beats were a bit mishandled and ineffective, but... I digress to avoid spoilers, plus the review is getting way too long already.

I must admit that Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs genuinely started testing my patience towards the end. The final straw was the game crashing in the penultimate level, forcing me to replay a pretty lengthy section before I could finally see the ending. All in all, my final play time was under 6 hours. Although it's not a long game, that didn't stop me from wishing that it was even shorter. I don't enjoy giving such a negative verdict, but I think the game is a true mixed bag and hard to justify purchasing unless it's on sale.

It's really not that terrible. A lot of people hold The Chinese Room in low regard because of their "walking simulators." Obviously, it's not Dark Descent, but then again, Frictional isn't going to make the same game twice. Machine For Pigs, while not as frightening as Dark Descent, tells a great, gloomy story and has an excellent atmosphere.