What I'm left with is Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, a sequel to Frictional's The Dark Descent. That game, originally a free, Source-based mod which has now topped a million sales, has earned the Brighton studio a reputation for the miserable and macabre, so there's an odd sense of disconnection as the chirpy Pinchbeck draws the basement curtains on a sun-drenched July day and leaves me to play the opening section of his newest work.Ī Machine for Pigs slips easily from velveteen Victorian opulence to the bloody gears of the machinery beneath. They're frightening, in places, but largely they're unrelentingly desolate - not unlike the Chinese Room's first commercial release, Dear Esther. They're grim and bleak, full of blasted moors and foetid basements, dark rooms and invisible hazards.
They're not fun, as such, and I don't fully understand why I like them so much. We both know all three games in the series inside out, but GSC's Chernobyl shooters continue to fascinate us both. We're both deep into yet another playthrough when we speak, each running one of the myriad mods which have so extended the series' lifespan. It's a distinction which I ponder as I chat to The Chinese Room's co-founder and writer Dan Pinchbeck about a shared S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Horror games I've always oddly enjoyed - maybe because it's okay when I'm the hapless imbecile. It's the anticipation, the suspense, the frustration which follows watching a hapless imbecile stumbling blithely to their doom. I don't enjoy horror films either, but the buckets of blood and viscera have never been the problem. the ghost train, and I've always had an aversion to grown men dressed as goblins. Whilst it's obvious why we might revel in the throwaway power-fantasy of the super-soldier, action hero or steely-nerved racing driver, it's not so clear why we'd want to spend hours hunched in front of a flickering screen, experiencing genuinely uncomfortable feelings of fear, helplessness, claustrophobia or sadness. The way we enjoy games can be a curious thing to examine.
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