Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

About Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a first-person horror game developed by The Chinese Room and published by Frictional Games in 2013. Set in 1899, it stars Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist waking up in his crumbling mansion amid visions of a monstrous machine and a failed utopia. The game blends slow-burn exploration with environmental storytelling, letting players piece together Mandus’s guilt and the fate of his children. Available on PC, consoles, and Switch, it’s a quieter, more subdued horror experience compared to The Chinese Room’s other works. The story is told through scattered journals and eerie environments, making it feel like a haunted, industrial gothic tale.

Gameplay

You spend most of the game wandering a decaying manor, piecing together fragments of Mandus’s past. The core loop involves picking up items, examining objects, and solving logic-based puzzles to unlock new areas. The machine at the center of the story hums constantly, creating a dissonant backdrop. Controls are minimal, movement and item interaction are straightforward, but the game rarely hands you clear objectives. Instead, you follow environmental clues, like flickering lights or strange symbols. The horror comes not from jump scares but from oppressive atmosphere and lingering dread. Puzzles range from simple lever-pulling to deciphering cryptic blueprints. The experience is methodical, often stretching into 4, 6 hour sessions with little urgency.

What Players Think

Community reception is lukewarm, averaging a 69.9/100 on IGDB from 247 ratings. It’s not outright disliked but considered a lesser entry in The Chinese Room’s portfolio. One player voted it “Creepy,” a mood that aligns with its slow, oppressive vibe. Average playtime isn’t tracked, but many finish it in under 10 hours. Critics note it lacks the narrative depth of Dear Esther or the tension of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. A review snippet from PC Gamer calls it “ambitious but unfocused,” while IGN praises its “haunting visuals” but calls the pacing “glacial.” The single achievement listed on Steam, “Finish the Game”, has a 70% completion rate, suggesting it’s doable but not punishing.

PlayPile's Take

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a decent but flawed horror game. It works best for fans of atmospheric exploration over jump scares, but its lack of urgency and sparse interactivity may test patience. With a $19.99 price tag (current as of 2023), it’s a low-risk purchase if you’re into industrial gothic settings. The achievements are minimal, and the story, while intriguing, doesn’t stick as deeply as The Chinese Room’s other projects. It’s not essential, but if you’ve enjoyed the developer’s other work, it’s worth a playthrough for the visuals and mood alone.

Storyline

The year is 1899. Wealthy industrialist Oswald Mandus awakes in his bed, wracked with fever and haunted by dreams of a dark and hellish engine. Tortured by visions of a disastrous expedition to Mexico, broken on the failing dreams of an industrial utopia, wracked with guilt and tropical disease he wakes into a nightmare. The house is silent, the ground beneath him shaking at the will of some infernal machine: all he knows is that his children are in grave peril, and it is up to him to save them.