Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Turns Your Imagination Against You

Cognimancer

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Jun 13, 2012
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Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Turns Your Imagination Against You



The developers behind the Amnesia sequel are armed with the scariest tool in horror - restraint.

I shouldn't have to waste time telling you how terrifying Amnesia: The Dark Descent was. The indie horror title was developed by Frictional Games, but that team has passed the torch to Dear Esther developer The Chinese Room for a sequel scare-fest. Dear Esther was creepy but not really scary in the way Amnesia was, so some have wondered if the new developer has what it takes to live up to the original. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for my underpants), it sounds like the new team knows exactly what it's doing.

Creative director Dan Pinchbeck says he learned several lessons from Dear Esther that he'll be applying to Machine for Pigs. "[We learned] to trust in stillness and emptiness as being really powerful design tools, to not panic and think that you have to fill every opportunity with stimulus," he says. "Horror is really all about anticipation, and inference, and for those to work, you have to create space and time. The core experience design is giving the player just enough to start generating their own fear, then backing off and letting them do the work. You have to understand that there is literally nothing you can show or do that is going to be more frightening than what the player can come up with in their own heads."

It's exciting to hear Pinchbeck preach the value of subtlety in a genre that's recently been replacing well-crafted horror with cheap jump scares. Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is coming for your sanity later this year.

Source: Edge [http://www.edge-online.com/features/the-chinese-rooms-dan-pinchbeck-its-scary-to-work-on-a-new-amnesia-game/]

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Tanakh

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Jul 8, 2011
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My imagination has always been against me, TYVM.

Seriously, I always picture worst case plausible scenarios for my endeavours. That said, I bought Amnesia at release and have yet to finish it because only play it at dark lonely nights and never for long.
 

Roxas1359

Burn, Burn it All!
Aug 8, 2009
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Turns my imagination against me...well that's not good for someone like me who has ADHD and a hyperactive imagination. XD

OT: I'm getting excited for this game, I mean I liked Amnesia and with how things are sounding this is gonna be even better than that.
 

Ghonzor

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Jul 29, 2009
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That was part of why the original Amnesia was so effectively scary. I kept expecting things to happen and it caused me to be very wary when entering any room or interacting with anything.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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inb4 "lol Amnesia wasn't scary I don't understand the concept of 'types of fear' or 'phobias' lol"

I finished Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and I kind of regret it. That said, I can't WAIT for the new one.
 

Mr.Pandah

Pandah Extremist
Jul 20, 2008
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Sounding exactly like how I want this game to turn out. Can't wait to hear of more on it and see some more of it. Also didn't know the original creators gave up the helm of this one to the dear esther creators.
 

Madara XIII

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Sep 23, 2010
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lacktheknack said:
inb4 "lol Amnesia wasn't scary I don't understand the concept of 'types of fear' or 'phobias' lol"

I finished Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and I kind of regret it. That said, I can't WAIT for the new one.
I remember when I first got Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
It was shortly after watching 666theheartless666 LPing it and watching Yahtzee's review of it.

I thought I could go in like a badass and clear the game easily... oh how wrong I was.
The moment it finished installing onto my computer it was 1AM at my house at night and it was entirely empty. I was equipped with headphones and wits.

30 minutes into the game, the ambiance fucked me over and left me unable to play that game anywhere in the dark.
So yeah. I hope this Sequel leaves me as terror stricken as the first game did.
 

Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
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Whelp, despite my misgivings about The Chinese Room, I can't deny that he's got the theory down.
 

Abomination

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Dec 17, 2012
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And people say that games aren't art. No other medium can inspire this type of feeling. Complete pants-shitting terror caused mostly by the atmosphere.

I always liked it when there were sounds that were very similar to enemies and got you freaking out when it really turned out to be nothing... and next time it was nothing... and the next time it was nothing... so you realize it's just playing tricks with you and then OH GOD IT'S SOMETHING RUN RUN RUN HIDE SHIT SHIT FUCK DID IT SEE ME?

Next time you hear it your arsehole instinctively clenches and your palms sweat.
 

piinyouri

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Mar 18, 2012
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Here's hoping this one affects me more than the The Dark Descent.

I was absolutely shocked by how little DD didn't frighten me.
 

Reaper195

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Jul 5, 2009
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Not only jump scares, but gore and blood. Developers (And also movie studios) seem to think jump scares and disgusting amounts of bloor and intenstines is scary. It's not. It's just gross.
 

Nouw

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Mar 18, 2009
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Hasn't this been the case with horror since like, forever? I think it's good they have this mindset but it seems like bit of a 'well-duh!' statement.
 

4RM3D

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Cognimancer said:
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Turns Your Imagination Against You
What if I have no imagination? I have seen people flip out while playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but I don't feel it. I have completed the game and I understood what the developers were trying to accomplish. But it failed to connect, for me. The game wasn't scary. Silent Hill 2 was much better.
 

RobfromtheGulag

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May 18, 2010
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Silent Hill, and I'm sure other quality horror games shared the lack of stimulus, allowing the player to create their own frightening anticipation.

I took forever and a day to beat Amnesia because it was so scary, but when I got to the really frightening part I had to finish it all in one night because I knew I couldn't handle getting back into it on another day. This may actually cost them a sale for MfP, as I may well be too frightened to buy it.
 

Whoracle

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Jan 7, 2008
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If there's one person I fully trust with this, it's Pinchbeck. I exchanged a few mails with him back in '10, after I read an article about him (may have been even here on the escapist). From those few mails it is pretty clear that the guy has a solid idea of how Horror works, as opposed to the AAA Industry.

But why is it always Dear Esther that is being talked about? That one was a foray into non-linear storytelling and atmosphere, not into horror. If you want to see how Pinchbeck does horror, give Korsakovia a spin. Source Mod, and free, as far as I know.
 

Piorn

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Dec 26, 2007
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I'm still in the storage part of amnesia, and haven't built up the courage to play on.
I really love horror games, I'm just so much of a coward that I stop playing them...
 

Infernal Lawyer

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Jan 28, 2013
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Nouw said:
Hasn't this been the case with good horror since like, forever? I think it's good they have this mindset but it seems like bit of a 'well-duh!' statement.
There, fixed it for ya.

Captcha: squeaky clean. Better than throwing blood and guts and shit everywhere at every opportunity, I guess...

Edit: Restraint? In the video game industry? Fuck that, let's just keep throwing money and manpower at the development until it vaguely resembles a game!