2.5/5 ★ – Endless_backlog's review of Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.

A Machine for Pigs gets a lot of stick as a follow up game to the Dark descent because it removes a lot of what made survival horror fans love the first. It completely ditches the sanity bar so there is no punishment for hiding in the dark or looking at monsters. It also replaces the oil lantern for one that requires no supplies so you never have to worry about running out of light and being trapped in the dark, which is what made the first so fear inducing. In terms of the world itself there’s more variety as the first game stayed within the confines of the castle. This time round you will explore similar underground complexes but also venture out into the streets of industrial London, 1899. I really like the settings here but the developers really didn’t make an effort to make it interactive. There are an abundance of doors that are permanently locked so just there for decoration, whereas in the first game you had so much to explore/get side tracked by. As far as the monsters here, I actually really liked the design and their origin story, although the AI used for them is really easy to evade so not nearly as intimidating as the Gatherers from the first. There is also no inventory system at all. Where you would scavenge tinder boxes to survive previously, you will now be opening drawers and cupboards to find.. nothing. As theres nowhere to store items this also strips down the complexity of the puzzles. Before, you would find items you didn’t know what use they had, using them on their own or combining them with other pieces at a later point to solve a puzzle. Because there’s no storage, all puzzle solution are in arms reach of itself, including finding gears that are missing from a machine which are literally sitting right beside it. What saves the game to an extent is the story. I found the reason behind everything to be more interesting than the first instalment and thought the final act was really well done. I think it’s fair to say it’s a step down in effort and execution from the first. Of course, the gameplay is similar, but if this was released without being an Amnesia game it wouldn’t have drawn the same criticism that it’s had.