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Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Is In The Very Capable Hands Of Dear Esther Dev
The Dark Descent is widely considered to be one of the most terrifying games of all time. Its powerful blend of pants-shittingly terrifying moments and a dense, foreboding atmosphere made it the most successful of Frictional Games’ arsenal of horror titles, both critically and commercially. With its upcoming sequel, dubbed A Machine For Pigs, Frictional didn’t have the manpower to get it done. That’s when they turned to indie horror developer thechineseroom — the team that gave us the deeply emotional Dear Esther — to make sure its sequel would live up to the astronomically high bar set by its predecessor.
In an interview with Gamasutra, thechineseroom’s Dan Pinchbeck discussed the game and what his team is doing to live up to fans’ expectations. Head past the break for more! Pinchbeck’s team plans on investing quite a bit into the visuals department, “With this new game, we want to create a world that is so rich and dramatic and beautiful that the player is constantly torn between wanting to go around the corner to see what’s there and not wanting to go around the corner because they’re frightened of what’s there,” Pinchbeck told Gamasutra.
“The thing is, if we don’t frighten people as much as the original, then we’ve failed,”, he continued. “But now we have to frighten people that know what to expect. The big design challenge is: How do we protect the things that make Amnesia great, and how do we evolve everything else to make a really fresh experience?”
In case you’re still not convinced that he and his team want to make this a thoroughly terrifying experience, when discussing the game’s world, Pinchbeck said he wants it to feel like “something has burrowed into your head and is just scratching its nails at you. But you’re so hooked. Inside, you’re peeling away like bodies from a pile and you just can’t stop yourself,”
I can’t wait.
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is expected to release by Halloween this year, for the PC, Mac, and Linux. With thechineseroom working on the Amnesia sequel, this leaves Frictional Games open to work on their unannounced horror game for consoles.
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In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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