demagogue on 11/9/2013 at 05:43

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Uh ... yes, exploration & interaction are the bread & butter of the genre; so what are you actually doing the whole game when they're skimped on? I see how you read it the opposite way though, sorry.

mothra on 12/9/2013 at 15:52

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I don't find the writing "too long and winded". Each note is just a few paragraphs, the audio logs just a few sentences and the "complicated" prose is adding to the atmosphere of detached "lunatics/madmen" I got out of it. I missed the sanity meter, interactivity though and find it is the thing that makes the game a lesser "sequel" to Amnesia:TDD. But I did love the atmosphere and dread the game creates. And by dread I don't mean shacky camera and high-pitched background noise. And yeah, I did not pick up any phone either. But there is no need for the game to aknowledge that, the phone conversations are just an additional layer of exposition you do not really need in a linear game. It is an OK game with some nice "non-jump" scares but it did not reach TDD's level of terror for me. The soundtrack is phenomenal.

reizak on 15/9/2013 at 15:01

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You may be onto something. I think Vampire the Masquerade: Dear Esther might actually work; bet they could do brooding melodramatic goth like no one else.

Edit: actually, Remedy might give them run for their money.

Gryzemuis on 24/9/2013 at 12:44

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Coincidentally I finished the game last night too.
I didn't like it much.

The graphics of TDD were maybe not top-notch either. But I loved the atmosphere in that game. The graphics helped there set the mood. Here they didn't. I also wasn't impressed by the artwork. The house in the first level didn't feel alive. And I didn't care much about all the rooms with machines. How many machines do you need anyway, for the purpose as explained in the story ?

I didn't like the sound. Too much noise most of the time. I find silence much more creepy. You could hear grunts through the walls all the time. But they didn't mean a thing. When I play a game, and I hear something, I want something to be there. Even if I don't see it, or avoid it, or am lucky. But in this game, half-way through, you knew that when you heard stuff, it didn't mean a thing. Nobody there.

I didn't care for the protagonist (Mandus). I actually felt I hardly understood who the characters in the story were. E.g. who was "the professor" ?

During the last 4 chapters (out of 16), I finally got grabbed by the story. However, when the game was over, I wasn't sure I actually liked the story. Too many plotholes and inconsistencies. I search for, and read all notes. And still I missed some stuff. Maybe because I'm not a native english speaker. Maybe because the story wasn't told optimally.

BTW, what's up with notes scattered through levels, telling a story ? System Shock 2 did it, and did it well. Maybe because that was the first game where I saw it used as a game mechanic ? But in MachineForPigs it doesn't make sense. Notes scattered everywhere, and by coincidence I pick them up in the correct order that forms a story ? A story told by notes, voices in my head, phone calls and gramophone recordings, all in the correct order ? It started to irritate me after a while.

And then the story. Too many plotholes.
I hope you realized that Mandus's full name is Oswald Mandus ? I only realized that after I finished the game. I did realize that Mandus played 2 parts (his good side and his evil side). But I thought that Oswald was yet another person. But he's not. But then, who was the body in the "iron lung" at the end ? I can understand his mind being split. But his body split too ?
Who was the professor ? Just a conspirator who became a victim ?
So Mandus protected his kids against the gruesome future of the 20th century. But he then resurrected them ? Why resurrect after you kill someone ?
The bodies of the 2 kids were part of the machine at the end. What was their purpose ? Two bright glowing thingies. Were their souls being used for energy or something ? Dark magic ? There was no mentioning of dark magic. (Well, there was mentioning of the Maya sacrificing humans. And hearts).
Who's heart did we see at the end ? Mandus's own heart ? How did he live then ? And didn't the last scene suggest his heart got cut out again ?
Why was there a mexican temple under London ? WTF ? Did he move the whole temple ? Was it his imagination ? Did he build his own new temple ?
What was the timeline ? Mandus had been to mexico a few months before the game starts. Did he build his machine, and the temple underneath, after he came back from mexico ? Or did he start before ? It should take years to dig those rooms, build the machine, build that temple.

What exactly was the horrible thing he did ?
Resurrect dead humans ?
Merge humans and pigs into pigmen ?
Murder innocent poor kids ?
Murder the rich ?
Cannibalism ?
Make others (unknowingly) cannibals too ?
Kill his 2 kids ?
Resurrect his 2 kids ?
Use his 2 kids as part of the machine ?

I can understand why he killed his kids. I can't understand why he resurrected them. I can understand why he wants to kill the decadent rich. I don't understand why he kills poor orphan kids at the same time. I don't understand why the cannibalism. Too emphasise how decadent the rich were ? The pigmen were created only because pigs are more trustworthy, and don't complain as much as human workers ? Seems like an aweful lot of work to compensate for your failing HR department.

I didn't mind finishing the game. Took me only a few hours. (I spent at least 8 hours on the game, maybe more. How can people play this in 3 hours ? Don't they read the notes or something ? Don't they don't look around at all ? Don't they stand still, and think, and try to understand what's going on ? Do they keep the run-button pressed at all times ?)
In the end, I can not recommend this game to others.
The Dark Descent was a much better game.

henke on 1/11/2013 at 07:36

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First, where I stand on the changes from The Dark Descent:
No sanity system - good.
No inventory - I used my lamp quite sparsely in TDD and by the end of it I had like 20 oil flasks in my inventory, which felt a bit silly. I used my lamp sparsely in this one too, mostly out of wanting to stay undetected by the beasties, so not having an inventory didn't really change how the game was played for me.
Less interactivity - Not being able to pick up and look at (as much) stuff has no impact on the gameplay, but I still missed it.

I'm a bit ambivalent about the puzzles. On the one hand they made sense, within the gameworld, and you always felt like there was a good reason to be doing what you were doing. For instance at one point you're flipping on switches to start the machine and all of the switches but #3 light up, so you have to creep deeper into the machine to find out what's wrong at point #3. It's scary, and it drives the action forward in a way that makes sense. I love that. On the other hand it's easy. None of the puzzles require deep thought.

The monsterdesigns are... alright. Honestly, if your game manages to set the right tone and make you feel vulnerable, it doesn't matter much what the monsters look like. You just need to know that they're out there, and if they can find you, they can kill you. My favourite monster was one you come across a description of halfway through the game, a creature that is stuck teleporting back and forth between dimensions endlessly. This constant repetition has driven the creature to violent insanity. That's a great concept for a monster right there. However, when you finally run into it late in the game, the design was a bit underwhelming.

Is it scary? Yes. God yes. It's not the scariest game I've played since TDD, that would probably be Cry of Fear. But Cry of Fear was scary in the same way as getting punched in the face is scary, and then sitting there flinching every time something moves, anticipating the next punch. I didn't finish CoF. Both TDD and AMFP on the other hand manage to be scary in an enjoyable way. Your desire to find out what's going to happen next always edges out your fear of going on.

Overall, great game. Fans of TDD should pick it up. Fans of TDD and Dear Esther should defenitely pick it up. It stays true to Amnesia, while at the same time delivering some really great, unexpected scenes in the 3rd act. The sounddesign and Jessica Curry's soundtrack are great as well. :)