Put simply, despite their many fundamental similarities, A Machine for Pigs and The Dark Descent are very different games. This newest entry in the series prioritises a looming sense of malice above explicit scares, and thus is presented in a much more low-key, experimental style.
In a departure from The Dark Descent, however, any overt gamification has been dropped: the sanity and health meter are a thing of the past, as are tinderboxes, laudanum and the entire concept of an inventory. To get the basics out of the way, in a similar vein to its predecessor, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a linear, first-person spook-‘em-up, with emphases on puzzle-solving, mashing the escape key, and feeling the jeebies. Things jump out and shout ‘boo’ on occasion, and the entire game is so heavily clouded in fog you’d be forgiven for checking your contrast and yet to call A Machine for Pigs a horror game would bring prominence to its scares, when its priorities clearly lie elsewhere. I suppose it’s telling that I’d even hesitate to call it a horror game. Whether anyone will care to follow, however, remains uncertain.Ī Machine for Pigs, like its predecessor, is a radical departure from the norm.
The Dark Descent’s sequel: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs has just been released, developed by Dear Esther creators thechineseroom and again, takes brave steps out into the horror landscape. Hopefully, our collective psyche can take another. It would be presumptuous to claim that Amnesia was revolutionary (especially in light of its oft-overlooked spiritual forerunners, Fatal Frame and Forbidden Siren), but there’s little doubt that it has burned a deep, dark hole into our collective psyche. Since its release, Frictional Games’ work on the game has been applauded for ripping control away from players, trading pray-and-spray for hide-and-seek and birthing a design ethos that’s now widely mirrored across the industry. Scores of videos have been uploaded documenting the game’s scares, and an equal number of words have followed in turn, trying to explain why said scores of videos have been uploaded. Even a quick glance at YouTube should prove that it succeeds, more than any other game, at spooking the masses. The Dark Descent in particular, has become a poster child for videogame horror. Just consider, for example, 2010’s Amnesia: The Dark Descent, or the recent Outlast: games that placed their bets on pacing and restraint and won, becoming bona fide horror sensations, seemingly overnight. I’ve written a lot about horror games in the last few years – and not without good reason. What was once solely the domain of Resident Evil and budget titles is now one of gaming’s more vibrant cultures repeatedly pushing the envelope when it comes to both systems and narrative.
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