Amnesia was bad enough, really. Take away any ability to fight back, make you some jibbering wreck in the corner of the room blowing bubbles through the spit that flecks your lips, and then throw in a bunch of monsters that look like they’re halfway between a Cthulian and a melted candle, and yeah, I’m going to get scared. But now there are sinister, squealing pigs? That’s a bit strong for me.
A Machine for Pigs, the collaboration between Frictional Games, makers of the original Amnesia, and thechineseroom, those behind Dear Esther, has a teaser trailer, and it’s a bit spooky.
It’s also quite revealing. While most of it is just flybys of environments, there is a lot of information in those flybys, showing outdoor environments, which Amnesia didn’t have all that much of, what with being in a labyrinthian castle, and a hell of a lot of street lamps. The claustrophobia was a lot of what made Amnesia so terrifying, so unless they’re going to be able to induce agoraphobia, it’s going to be difficult to create that same oppressive environment. Unless they make going outside less than advisable. Pigs are mostly found outside, after all. Mostly.
The blurb for the game talks of some guy in 1889 returning from a ‘disastrous’ trip to Mexico, only to wake up out of a fever a little bit discombobulated. And then the pigs start coming for him, presumably. What did he do to the pigs? Why do they want him dead? What happens in Mexico stays in Mexico, that’s what I’ve always been told. Porcine laws are a little more lax there.
There’s no solid release date for A Machine for Pigs, but it’s aiming to be released this Autumn, which isn’t all that far away.