Three years ago Amnesia: The Dark Descent took everyone by surprise. When all big budget games decided to ditch the “slow paced” genres and bank everything into the “cinematic” and explosive, a tiny studio called Frictional Games did everything differently and finally got the recognition they’ve deserved ever since Penumbra. After a slow start and very niche horror success it exploded in popularity due to the rise of the “scare cam” let’s players, who loved to scream like children on camera and pretend to be very scared. What once was a niche evolution of horror adventure for a smaller audience became a well known huge hit, something to play on a bet, “the scariest game of all time”.
It’s not surprising then, that after a while a counter reaction followed. “The game isn’t even scary”, “why is it so popular”, “this is so lame and overhyped” and etc. It’s in this climate the “sequel”(not actually a sequel and from a different developer) Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs got released. The game has been just released and already there are thousands of people disappointed in it without even trying it and being shocked that Pigs isn’t The Dark Descent 2 (which will never happen and wouldn’t have happened). Which is especially funny, since in many ways A Machine for Pigs is exactly the kind of game Frictional wanted to do in a while.
