The 16th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards Just announced its winners for this year. Check out our complete list of the winners and nominees below.
And the winners are.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Todd Howard (Director of Bethesda Game Studio)
Pioneer Award
Markus “Notch” Persson
Ambassador Award
Tracy Fullerton
Audience Award
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment)
Game of the Year
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red)- Winner
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Innovation Award
Her Story (Sam Barlow) - Winner
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo Ead Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
Splatoon (Nintendo Ead Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
Best Audio
Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games) - Winner
Star Wars Battlefront (Dice / Electronic Arts)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios...
And the winners are.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Todd Howard (Director of Bethesda Game Studio)
Pioneer Award
Markus “Notch” Persson
Ambassador Award
Tracy Fullerton
Audience Award
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment)
Game of the Year
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red)- Winner
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Innovation Award
Her Story (Sam Barlow) - Winner
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo Ead Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
Splatoon (Nintendo Ead Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
Best Audio
Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games) - Winner
Star Wars Battlefront (Dice / Electronic Arts)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios...
- 1/4/2017
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Jason The X)
- Cinelinx
Today, Frictional Games are known as masters of horror, but in 2006, they were a group of university students at work on their thesis. The project in question? A propitiatory game engine with advanced lighting, physics and bloom. To show off their tech, they bolted on a short playable demo and named it Penumbra. Beautiful but eerie, Penumbra showed promise and a full game was commissioned with a second episode to follow a year later. Then, in 2010, Frictional’s place in the contemporary consciousness was assured thanks to a Gothic horror title set in a haunted mansion in the classic style of Lovecraft. Its name was Amensia: The Dark Descent.
Today, Amnesia‘s influence is clear to see in games like Alien: Isolation, Outlast and Layers of Fear. The Amnesia Collection bundles The Dark Descent alongside its Dlc, Justine, and a sequel titled A Machine for Pigs, giving PS4 players exclusive...
Today, Amnesia‘s influence is clear to see in games like Alien: Isolation, Outlast and Layers of Fear. The Amnesia Collection bundles The Dark Descent alongside its Dlc, Justine, and a sequel titled A Machine for Pigs, giving PS4 players exclusive...
- 11/23/2016
- by Edward Love
- We Got This Covered
Amnesia and it's sequel, A Machine For Pigs, remain among the scariest video game titles out there and fans continually return to the franchise for more thrills and now they're coming out on the PS4 in one convenient bundle.
As a self-proclaimed weenie, the Amnesia games are things I've stayed away from. Hell, just watching others play was enough to get my heart racing. Seriously, the first Amnesia game was a defining moment in the horror-game genre (even though it's relatively modern) and many still consider it to be among the industry's best horror titles.
If you missed out on it, or simply want to enjoy the franchise again, you'll get your chance on the PS4 soon enough. Today, Frictional Games announced the Amnesia Collection is coming to PlayStation 4 on November 22, 2016, bringing together both games and the expansion for only 29.99. Hell, you'll have to pay more than that for new pants!
As a self-proclaimed weenie, the Amnesia games are things I've stayed away from. Hell, just watching others play was enough to get my heart racing. Seriously, the first Amnesia game was a defining moment in the horror-game genre (even though it's relatively modern) and many still consider it to be among the industry's best horror titles.
If you missed out on it, or simply want to enjoy the franchise again, you'll get your chance on the PS4 soon enough. Today, Frictional Games announced the Amnesia Collection is coming to PlayStation 4 on November 22, 2016, bringing together both games and the expansion for only 29.99. Hell, you'll have to pay more than that for new pants!
- 10/19/2016
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Jordan Maison)
- Cinelinx
Games come in many forms, and there are so many styles out there that there is enough to please everyone. With these different style of games though comes the ones where they are given names that sometimes stigmatise them, for often stupid reasons. One of these is the “Walking Simulator” like Dear Esther: Landmark Edition which is now available on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Dear Esther is about exploration and the telling of a story. The player makes their way around an isolated island being told of stories of the landscape, as well as the story of Esther. To say too much about what is revealed would be spoilers, and would ruin the experience, so I’ll say no more.
If I hear a game called a “Walking Simulator” it is easy to work out what will happen. The player won’t have a weapon, will likely not die,...
Dear Esther is about exploration and the telling of a story. The player makes their way around an isolated island being told of stories of the landscape, as well as the story of Esther. To say too much about what is revealed would be spoilers, and would ruin the experience, so I’ll say no more.
If I hear a game called a “Walking Simulator” it is easy to work out what will happen. The player won’t have a weapon, will likely not die,...
- 10/3/2016
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Originally announced earlier this year, publisher Curve Digital revealed today that Dear Esther: Landmark Edition will hit Xbox One and PlayStation 4 next month. The Chinese Room developed title will launch on September 20, and will carry a cost of $9.99.
Originally released commercially for the PC in 2012, Dear Esther was an early success in the genre of walking simulator. In the title, players have little in the way of actual activities to do or goals to accomplish. Instead, the main objective is to explore an island in the Hebrides, while listening to a man read letters to his deceased love. Despite the lack of activity, the game still has a score of 75% on Metacritic.
For the Landmark Edition of the title, The Chinese Room has added graphical and gameplay improvements. The studio is promising that these tweaks will “finesse the experience,” and will make this port the definitive version of Dear Esther.
Originally released commercially for the PC in 2012, Dear Esther was an early success in the genre of walking simulator. In the title, players have little in the way of actual activities to do or goals to accomplish. Instead, the main objective is to explore an island in the Hebrides, while listening to a man read letters to his deceased love. Despite the lack of activity, the game still has a score of 75% on Metacritic.
For the Landmark Edition of the title, The Chinese Room has added graphical and gameplay improvements. The studio is promising that these tweaks will “finesse the experience,” and will make this port the definitive version of Dear Esther.
- 8/25/2016
- by Eric Hall
- We Got This Covered
The Chinese Room announced their plans to bring Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture to PCs in a blog post at the beginning of this month. The news was well-met by eager players, but the developer’s announcement was initially missing a very crucial piece of information: its release date.
Well, as it turns out, that release date is actually rather close. In an updated post yesterday, the developers announced that Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture will be coming to PCs from April 14th – that’s tomorrow. The Steam store page is now live, and you can pre-order the game right here.
In the initial PC announcement, The Chinese Room confirmed that the following updates would come with this version of Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture:
Performance improvements, and various graphical options – the game will run at a great frame-rate, and potentially at a much higher resolution, on...
Well, as it turns out, that release date is actually rather close. In an updated post yesterday, the developers announced that Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture will be coming to PCs from April 14th – that’s tomorrow. The Steam store page is now live, and you can pre-order the game right here.
In the initial PC announcement, The Chinese Room confirmed that the following updates would come with this version of Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture:
Performance improvements, and various graphical options – the game will run at a great frame-rate, and potentially at a much higher resolution, on...
- 4/13/2016
- by Gareth Cartwright
- We Got This Covered
Dear Esther, the first-person, story-driven debut game from developer The Chinese Room, is coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later this year, a full two years after its original release on PC. Self-described as a spiritual prequel to its recent (and rather excellent) Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, The Chinese Room’s Dan Pinchbeck said the following of the announcement.
We’ve always known that Dear Esther would continue its story, and we’re delighted to be writing that story with Curve Digital. Dear Esther is a hugely important game to us, so it’s great to know it’s in very capable hands – we’re excited to see the reaction from PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players.
Curve Digital will be handling publishing duties this time around, rather than The Chinese Room self-publishing the title as they did on PC.
Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture fans will already...
We’ve always known that Dear Esther would continue its story, and we’re delighted to be writing that story with Curve Digital. Dear Esther is a hugely important game to us, so it’s great to know it’s in very capable hands – we’re excited to see the reaction from PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players.
Curve Digital will be handling publishing duties this time around, rather than The Chinese Room self-publishing the title as they did on PC.
Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture fans will already...
- 4/6/2016
- by Joe Pring
- We Got This Covered
Released last year on PS4, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture was a moderate critical success, so it’s great to hear that it’s now heading to PC. Developer The Chinese Room broke the news in the following Tweet: It’s been the… Continue Reading →
The post Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture Haunting PC Soon appeared first on Dread Central.
The post Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture Haunting PC Soon appeared first on Dread Central.
- 4/3/2016
- by David Gelmini
- DreadCentral.com
Though the writing had been scrawled on the decrepit wall for some time, developer The Chinese Room has officially confirmed that award-winning PS4 exclusive Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is bound for PC.
Word comes by way of the studio’s Twitter account, noting that the port will boast 4K support and run at a native 60 frames-per-second, if your rig is up to the task.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Creative Director Dan Pinchbeck conceded that a PC version of the apocalyptic exploration game was always on the cards.
“We always wanted to get it onto PC as it’s kind of our home turf and we’ve got a lot of really passionate, supportive fans on PC. We kept making sure all the way through development that Sony knew that we could do it, and that we really wanted to do it. Around the time Rapture came...
Word comes by way of the studio’s Twitter account, noting that the port will boast 4K support and run at a native 60 frames-per-second, if your rig is up to the task.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Creative Director Dan Pinchbeck conceded that a PC version of the apocalyptic exploration game was always on the cards.
“We always wanted to get it onto PC as it’s kind of our home turf and we’ve got a lot of really passionate, supportive fans on PC. We kept making sure all the way through development that Sony knew that we could do it, and that we really wanted to do it. Around the time Rapture came...
- 4/1/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Ever heard of the ‘brain in a jar’ thought experiment? Imagine some mad professor (with frizzy white hair and spectacles the thickness of a Peter F Hamilton novel) has managed to harness a brain, place it within a jar and attach electrodes to it.
He then subjects the brain to a series of electrical stimuli, causing the neurons to fire.
In this scenario, the cackling professor creates a reality for this brain by stimulating certain parts of it such that the brain will truly believe that what’s being experienced and interpreted is reality. Thus, can you ever truly know for certain if the world in which you live in is not just some Matrix-esque simulation?
Now, if you haven’t wandered off to contemplate your own existence, let me introduce you to the world of Soma, the latest horror-fest from Swedish developers Frictional Games. However, before we go on,...
He then subjects the brain to a series of electrical stimuli, causing the neurons to fire.
In this scenario, the cackling professor creates a reality for this brain by stimulating certain parts of it such that the brain will truly believe that what’s being experienced and interpreted is reality. Thus, can you ever truly know for certain if the world in which you live in is not just some Matrix-esque simulation?
Now, if you haven’t wandered off to contemplate your own existence, let me introduce you to the world of Soma, the latest horror-fest from Swedish developers Frictional Games. However, before we go on,...
- 9/22/2015
- by Andrew Heaton
- We Got This Covered
Summertime is here, and you know what that means! Bikinis, cold drinks by the pool, catching waves, nervously applying suntan lotion to the back of the person you have a crush on, driving around in a convertible blasting your favourite rap tunes—and being bombarded with ultraviolet rays by a jealous sun from its fire palace 92,960,000 miles away!
So close the curtains, turn out the lights, and fire up your gaming system of choice for our 5 most hotly anticipated video games.
5. Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture The Chinese Room
This PS4 exclusive from Sony has been called a “spiritual successor” to the story-driven PC title Dear Esther. Unlike Dear Esther, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will allow for more player interaction, such as manipulating objects and opening doors. Finally, the game all the hot next-gen “door-opening” action PS4 gamers have been waiting for has arrived!
Set in the...
So close the curtains, turn out the lights, and fire up your gaming system of choice for our 5 most hotly anticipated video games.
5. Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture The Chinese Room
This PS4 exclusive from Sony has been called a “spiritual successor” to the story-driven PC title Dear Esther. Unlike Dear Esther, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will allow for more player interaction, such as manipulating objects and opening doors. Finally, the game all the hot next-gen “door-opening” action PS4 gamers have been waiting for has arrived!
Set in the...
- 8/24/2015
- by Dan Powell
- Obsessed with Film
The use of video games as a platform for artistic storytelling is a fairly recent phenomenon that has divided the community right down the middle. Games like Dear Esther and Gone Home are the shining examples of the genre, garnering equal amounts of acclaim and disdain for their simple, unchallenging gameplay and thought-provoking narratives. The Chinese Room, who created the former, can now add Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture to the genre, and once again, they’ve created a divisive title.
Although the phrase “walking simulator” has been disparagingly applied to artsy games before, Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture fully encapsulates the phrase, embracing it for better and for worse.
This is a title that has created an air of intrigue around itself, teasing us with hints of a story that would make anybody curious enough to give it a try. In the beginning, you’re dropped into...
Although the phrase “walking simulator” has been disparagingly applied to artsy games before, Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture fully encapsulates the phrase, embracing it for better and for worse.
This is a title that has created an air of intrigue around itself, teasing us with hints of a story that would make anybody curious enough to give it a try. In the beginning, you’re dropped into...
- 8/11/2015
- by Christian Law
- We Got This Covered
The Chinese Room has peeled back the curtain on the launch trailer for its upcoming first-person exploration title, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, which offers up a beautiful, yet eerily isolated vignette of the end of the world.
Taking place in rural England, the studio’s indie experience has players explore a dinky village where the residents have suddenly vanished. Set in the 1980s – a time before instant communication was considered the norm – the idyllic Shropshire is cut off from the rest of the world for all intents and purposes, leaving you to piece together voice messages and wayward messages in order to find the reasoning behind the mass exodus.
What separates Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture from its genre contemporaries, though, is that here humanity has seemingly gone out on a whimper, rather than a bang. Couple this with the hair-raising orchestral score and you have one...
Taking place in rural England, the studio’s indie experience has players explore a dinky village where the residents have suddenly vanished. Set in the 1980s – a time before instant communication was considered the norm – the idyllic Shropshire is cut off from the rest of the world for all intents and purposes, leaving you to piece together voice messages and wayward messages in order to find the reasoning behind the mass exodus.
What separates Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture from its genre contemporaries, though, is that here humanity has seemingly gone out on a whimper, rather than a bang. Couple this with the hair-raising orchestral score and you have one...
- 8/3/2015
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
The Chinese Room — the studio behind Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs and the wonderful, haunting adventure Dear Esther — has offered an update on its latest title, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, which is now comfortably past the half-way point in development.
News comes by way of the studio’s blog, which detailed some of the work that’s going into perfecting the atmospheric feel of the story along with creating the game’s setting — 1980s England, in this case.
“There’s a lot of backwards and forwards during this process, especially on a game that’s not delivering its story in a linear, corridor fashion. There are six major areas in the game, each of them needing a distinct identity whilst hanging together as a coherent whole, and getting that right needs in-depth iterations between design, audio and art.”
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is, in essence, a...
News comes by way of the studio’s blog, which detailed some of the work that’s going into perfecting the atmospheric feel of the story along with creating the game’s setting — 1980s England, in this case.
“There’s a lot of backwards and forwards during this process, especially on a game that’s not delivering its story in a linear, corridor fashion. There are six major areas in the game, each of them needing a distinct identity whilst hanging together as a coherent whole, and getting that right needs in-depth iterations between design, audio and art.”
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is, in essence, a...
- 12/19/2014
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
The Chinese Room
Frictional Games
PC, Mac
Much like the first Amnesia title, A Machine for Pigs is engrossing from the very outset. While dropping you into a world with absolutely zero memory of how you got there has become something of a cliche for both gaming and storytelling purposes, the Amnesia series is proof positive that even the oldest of hats can be a fit for our cynical post-modern heads.
This time around, the plot centers around Oswald Magnus, the magnate of a butcher empire, who awakens in his mansion to find that his children are missing. With his memory fuzzy, he begins by exploring the vast estate, discovering hidden rooms and torture devices that he remembers nothing about. Soon, however, he comes across evidence of a vast conspiracy with himself at the center, a devious plan that involves turning humanity into an endless slaughterhouse.
The Chinese Room
Frictional Games
PC, Mac
Much like the first Amnesia title, A Machine for Pigs is engrossing from the very outset. While dropping you into a world with absolutely zero memory of how you got there has become something of a cliche for both gaming and storytelling purposes, the Amnesia series is proof positive that even the oldest of hats can be a fit for our cynical post-modern heads.
This time around, the plot centers around Oswald Magnus, the magnate of a butcher empire, who awakens in his mansion to find that his children are missing. With his memory fuzzy, he begins by exploring the vast estate, discovering hidden rooms and torture devices that he remembers nothing about. Soon, however, he comes across evidence of a vast conspiracy with himself at the center, a devious plan that involves turning humanity into an endless slaughterhouse.
- 12/4/2014
- by Mike Worby
- SoundOnSight
“Your only goal: to understand,” says the official page for PostMod Softworks’ The Old City: Leviathan – an indie first-person narrative that draws influence from the likes of The Chinese Room’s well received Dear Esther. In that respect, The Old City is another title in the slightly increasing list of games that are less “game-y” and more like interactive novellas. Different paths reveal different parts of the story until you (hopefully) piece it all together at the end.
Dropped into the underground of the Old City, you are left to wander the empty corridors, rooms and external setting of the now-empty metropolis. As you wander, pieces of the narrative are revealed in short monologues; Shakespearean, almost, in their form and delivery. It’s not certain who you are, what role you play or what significance you have to impart on this binary novella. All you can really say is that...
Dropped into the underground of the Old City, you are left to wander the empty corridors, rooms and external setting of the now-empty metropolis. As you wander, pieces of the narrative are revealed in short monologues; Shakespearean, almost, in their form and delivery. It’s not certain who you are, what role you play or what significance you have to impart on this binary novella. All you can really say is that...
- 12/3/2014
- by Andrew Heaton
- We Got This Covered
No one really knows how well a video game sequel is going to pan out, especially if the baton is passed to new developers. When The Chinese Room took creative control of Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs – the successor to Frictional Games’ horror masterpiece, Amnesia: The Dark Descent – the reputation of the franchise was put squarely in the young and independent team’s mitts. It often works well in many ways, as it gives new studios the chance to re-imagine an already popular world in their own vision.
Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey (currently selling as Dreamfall Chapters: Book One: Reborn) did a similar thing by handing control over to newcomers Red Thread Games. Except in this instance, Red Thread consists almost entirely of ex-employees from Funcom Productions, who worked on the game’s predecessors. Is that cheating a little? Well, maybe they just wanted to keep focusing on this...
Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey (currently selling as Dreamfall Chapters: Book One: Reborn) did a similar thing by handing control over to newcomers Red Thread Games. Except in this instance, Red Thread consists almost entirely of ex-employees from Funcom Productions, who worked on the game’s predecessors. Is that cheating a little? Well, maybe they just wanted to keep focusing on this...
- 11/3/2014
- by Andrew Heaton
- We Got This Covered
As time passes, I find myself becoming fonder of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Perhaps because it was a completely dreadful. And I mean dreadful in the best sense possible.
In a time when every trope has been used for the horror genre to the point that we know when, where, and how the monster will appear, a time when horror seems more like a grotesque comedy, The Dark Descent had a brutal suspense that used your imagination to put you into something terrifying.
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is a return to familiar territory. As in its predecessor, you wake up in a room with no idea what’s happened other than that you played a major role in the monstrosities that have run amok. It’s a dark descent into horror as you solve puzzles and steer clear of any monsters that come your way.
However, despite the similarities,...
In a time when every trope has been used for the horror genre to the point that we know when, where, and how the monster will appear, a time when horror seems more like a grotesque comedy, The Dark Descent had a brutal suspense that used your imagination to put you into something terrifying.
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is a return to familiar territory. As in its predecessor, you wake up in a room with no idea what’s happened other than that you played a major role in the monstrosities that have run amok. It’s a dark descent into horror as you solve puzzles and steer clear of any monsters that come your way.
However, despite the similarities,...
- 3/20/2014
- by Andrew Hudson
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
As time passes, I find myself becoming fonder of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Perhaps because it was a completely dreadful. And I mean dreadful in the best sense possible.
In a time when every trope has been used for the horror genre to the point that we know when, where, and how the monster will appear, a time when horror seems more like a grotesque comedy, The Dark Descent had a brutal suspense that used your imagination to put you into something terrifying.
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is a return to familiar territory. As in its predecessor, you wake up in a room with no idea what’s happened other than that you played a major role in the monstrosities that have run amok. It’s a dark descent into horror as you solve puzzles and steer clear of any monsters that come your way.
However, despite the similarities,...
In a time when every trope has been used for the horror genre to the point that we know when, where, and how the monster will appear, a time when horror seems more like a grotesque comedy, The Dark Descent had a brutal suspense that used your imagination to put you into something terrifying.
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is a return to familiar territory. As in its predecessor, you wake up in a room with no idea what’s happened other than that you played a major role in the monstrosities that have run amok. It’s a dark descent into horror as you solve puzzles and steer clear of any monsters that come your way.
However, despite the similarities,...
- 3/20/2014
- by Andrew Hudson
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
2013 was an interesting year for games, particularly in its delivery of solid, compelling narratives. While the landscape has been full of sequels and spiritual successors (not a new trend), there has been no lack of deep storylines to scratch the more intellectual itch of gamers everywhere.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
After terrifying PC gamers the world over with the harrowing Amnesia: The Dark Descent, developer Frictional games handed the reins of responsibility over to Dead Esther creators The Chinese Room, whose profoundly Victorian writing sensibilities lend a very different sort of horror to Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Scrubbing away the dank gothic dungeons of the predecessor for a brassy steampunk vibe and replacing the supernatural with the scientific, the underlying story is a slow burn that manages to work its way under the player’s skin and nest there for the duration. Not to say that the usual...
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
After terrifying PC gamers the world over with the harrowing Amnesia: The Dark Descent, developer Frictional games handed the reins of responsibility over to Dead Esther creators The Chinese Room, whose profoundly Victorian writing sensibilities lend a very different sort of horror to Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Scrubbing away the dank gothic dungeons of the predecessor for a brassy steampunk vibe and replacing the supernatural with the scientific, the underlying story is a slow burn that manages to work its way under the player’s skin and nest there for the duration. Not to say that the usual...
- 12/18/2013
- by Carl Lyon
- FEARnet
As I begin this review, my heart is pained. Not because Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is bad or anything, I was just playing it and I startled so badly I think I had a mini heart attack. If you are looking for another terrifying, if a tad short, jaunt, this game is for you. If the abundance of distance noises, suspenseful music, bone chilling laughter of children, and the squeals of pigs are too much for you, do yourself a favor and stay far Far away from this game.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is an “indirect sequel” (think Final Fantasy sequels) to The Dark Descent, which was released in late 2010 and quickly became well known as one of the best horrifying, yet entertaining, experiences video games had to offer. Considering the success of the first game, it is no surprise a sequel was released. What is interesting is...
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is an “indirect sequel” (think Final Fantasy sequels) to The Dark Descent, which was released in late 2010 and quickly became well known as one of the best horrifying, yet entertaining, experiences video games had to offer. Considering the success of the first game, it is no surprise a sequel was released. What is interesting is...
- 9/18/2013
- by Christian Mills
- GeekTyrant
Fear takes on many forms. The most common we see in video games is that direct sense of your own mortality being threatened. Forcing you to embrace the moment where you’re staring down your assailant and you have to fight for your life. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs forgoes that and instead ops for a more “traditional” tale of horror where you’ll find yourself paranoid of what’s lurking behind every closed door and a tension so thick you could choke on it. It’s not what I expected going in, but it succeeds in creating a haunting environment that had me begging for more by the end. I’d say that’s most definitely a success.
A Machine for Pigs has you take the role of Oswald Mandus, a deprived industrialist, who awakes alone in his house being summoned by his two sons. Nothing is explicitly stated,...
A Machine for Pigs has you take the role of Oswald Mandus, a deprived industrialist, who awakes alone in his house being summoned by his two sons. Nothing is explicitly stated,...
- 9/17/2013
- by Chaz Neeler
- We Got This Covered
Frictional Games’ Amnesia: The Dark Descent was a genuine phenomenon when it was released, tightening the unique control scheme of their underrated Penumbra series while offering a terrifying blend of gothic and Lovecraftian horror that soiled underpants and filled YouTube with ridiculous “Let’s Play” videos of players mewling in fear at the game’s monstrous moments.
Its sequel, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, has switched developers to Dear Esther’s The Chinese Room, and the game’s tone has seen a massive shift as a result. The writing is dramatically different, and the horror is different as well…but is it as scary as its predecessor?
Set in 1899, 60 years after the first Amnesia, the environments and the tone take on a very different style. Steampunky fixtures and electric lights have replaced the stone walls and sputtering torches, and the supernatural elements have been replaced by some truly grotesque scientific...
Its sequel, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, has switched developers to Dear Esther’s The Chinese Room, and the game’s tone has seen a massive shift as a result. The writing is dramatically different, and the horror is different as well…but is it as scary as its predecessor?
Set in 1899, 60 years after the first Amnesia, the environments and the tone take on a very different style. Steampunky fixtures and electric lights have replaced the stone walls and sputtering torches, and the supernatural elements have been replaced by some truly grotesque scientific...
- 9/16/2013
- by Carl Lyon
- FEARnet
Indie developer The Chinese Room has been a busy bunch, first making me weep with Dear Esther, then probably making me wet myself with Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. At Sony’s Gamescom event, they announced that the next game up their sleeve is the mysterious Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
It looks like The Chinese Room is going back to the Dear Esther vibe, with the game world filled with equal parts beauty and desolation. There’s a definite whiff of the apocalypse, with the ground littered with dead birds and ominous warnings being broadcast over the radio. Color me intrigued!
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will be exclusively released on the Playstation 4. Check out the trailer below, courtesy of Joystiq.
It looks like The Chinese Room is going back to the Dear Esther vibe, with the game world filled with equal parts beauty and desolation. There’s a definite whiff of the apocalypse, with the ground littered with dead birds and ominous warnings being broadcast over the radio. Color me intrigued!
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will be exclusively released on the Playstation 4. Check out the trailer below, courtesy of Joystiq.
- 8/21/2013
- by Carl Lyon
- FEARnet
Sony's Gamescom press conference unleashed a calvacade of indie games onto the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Ps Vita (and sometimes all three, thanks to the Cross-Buy system). We covered a lot of them earlier today, but even more news is trickling out of Cologne: "Everbody's Gone to the Rapture," "Resogun," and "Helldivers" are all coming to Sony platforms as well.
We first covered "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture" when The Chinese Room -- the English devs behind "Dear Esther" and "Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs" -- started staffing up for a next-gen console game with "a major publisher." That publisher is Sony Santa Monica, apparently.
In "Rapture," you'll play as a scientist exploring an first-person, open-world environment that's just been hit by the apocalypse. Like "Dear Esther," "Rapture" will put a heavy focus on exploration, environmental storytelling, and strong narrative pacing. As the trailer puts it, "this story begins with the end of the world.
We first covered "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture" when The Chinese Room -- the English devs behind "Dear Esther" and "Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs" -- started staffing up for a next-gen console game with "a major publisher." That publisher is Sony Santa Monica, apparently.
In "Rapture," you'll play as a scientist exploring an first-person, open-world environment that's just been hit by the apocalypse. Like "Dear Esther," "Rapture" will put a heavy focus on exploration, environmental storytelling, and strong narrative pacing. As the trailer puts it, "this story begins with the end of the world.
- 8/21/2013
- by Joseph Leray
- MTV Multiplayer
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Frictional Games and The Chinese Room’s long-awaited follow-up to the sanity-shredding Amnesia: The Dark Descent, has finally penned in a release date having been left to cure for a few months longer than its originally planned release last Halloween.
The new release date is now September 10th 2013, giving you plenty of time to buy new, unsullied underthings before the inevitable deluge of horror that Halloween brings. Interestingly enough, according to Joystiq, this is not The Chinese Room’s only project: they are also working with an unnamed publisher to bring a title to next-gen consoles for a Summer 2015 release.
The new release date is now September 10th 2013, giving you plenty of time to buy new, unsullied underthings before the inevitable deluge of horror that Halloween brings. Interestingly enough, according to Joystiq, this is not The Chinese Room’s only project: they are also working with an unnamed publisher to bring a title to next-gen consoles for a Summer 2015 release.
- 8/20/2013
- by Carl Lyon
- FEARnet
A recent delay notwithstanding, news from thechineseroom on "Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs" has been scant, and you'll not hear me complaining. It's not so much that I've forgotten about "Amnesia" as that I've tried my best to repress the memory of its existence: a swine crucifixion just plain gives me the willies.
Today, developers in The Chinese Room have been kind cruel enough to announce a release date and pre-order sale for "A Machine for Pigs": the porcine horror will be available on Mac, Linux, and PC on September 10, on a brace of digital distributors.
Steam, Good Old Games, the Humble Store, Gamefly, GamersGate, Desura, and the Mac Game store will all be carrying the game on your operating system of choice.
To give you a slightly less opaque idea of what's going on in that trailer, here's the game's cringe-inducing synopsis:
The year is 1899.
Wealthy industrialist Oswald...
Today, developers in The Chinese Room have been kind cruel enough to announce a release date and pre-order sale for "A Machine for Pigs": the porcine horror will be available on Mac, Linux, and PC on September 10, on a brace of digital distributors.
Steam, Good Old Games, the Humble Store, Gamefly, GamersGate, Desura, and the Mac Game store will all be carrying the game on your operating system of choice.
To give you a slightly less opaque idea of what's going on in that trailer, here's the game's cringe-inducing synopsis:
The year is 1899.
Wealthy industrialist Oswald...
- 8/20/2013
- by Joseph Leray
- MTV Multiplayer
The full-bore frights of Frictional Games' Amnesia: The Dark Descent would seem like a very tough act to follow. However, Frictional Games have teamed up with Dear Esther developers The Chinese Room for a very different take on the defenseless survival classic, the oddly titled Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Am I the only one that thinks it sounds like an early 90's industrial album? Anyways, check out the first teaser after the break. Despite the now-clichéd use of low-frequency brass to trumpet the segue between each scene (oh Hans Zimmer, what have you wrought?), there's a very cool thematic shift between The Dark Descent and A Machine for Pigs, namely the new Victorian steampunk vibe and a...
- 6/21/2012
- FEARnet
By Jeffrey Matulef
Frictional Games have released the first trailer for Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, their sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent (i.e. the scariest game I've ever played).
This time out the indie studio is collaborating with Dear Esther developer, The Chinese Room. Dear Esther scribe Dan Pinchbeck is on board, as is composer, Jessica Curry. Though a sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, A Machine for Pigs will star a completely different cast and be set 60 years after the events in the last game. Little is known about A Machine for Pigs' plot, but according to the newly erected official site it concerns a "wealthy industrialist" haunted by visions of an ominous machine. Something tells me there's something sinister afoot and it's not simply a trip to the hot dog factory. Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is expected this year before Halloween on PC. [Source: Frictional Games via Beefjack]. Related Posts:Video...
- 6/15/2012
- by MTV Video Games
- MTV Multiplayer
In my years of reviewing games for FEARnet, I've experienced a pretty broad spectrum of emotions. Dead Space gave me gut-churning terror, Splatterhouse evoked psychotic smiles through its unabashed repulsiveness, and Corpse Party put me in a mood of severe discomfort. Dear Esther gave me a feeling that I've never felt before: sorrow. I initially passed over Dear Esther as a peculiar novelty, a non-game that promised a thin veneer of interactivity over a florid narrative. However, after the reveal that Esther developer The Chinese Room, including writer Dan Pinchbeck, would be lending a hand in the upcoming Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, I decided to give it a proper look. What I found was unique,...
- 3/1/2012
- FEARnet
The Chinese Room's moody first-person exploration game goes for atmosphere, scenery in this trailer.
More than anything else, this narrated trailer left me feeling on the outside looking in: indie developer The Chinese Room has obviously created a series of gorgeous vistas that evoke melancholy and a desire to explore (as the camera scrolls down a path, I want it to go left, or maybe right). At the same time, I want to know what it's all about and what the "challenge" in the experience is, which, from the description below is obviously not the point in this game which is taking the broader view of "play" in terms of exploring, bending, and breaking the rules of your game space.
Here's how The Chinese Room describe Dear Esther:
“A deserted island… a lost man… memories of a fatal crash… a book written by a dying explorer.”
Dear Esther is a ghost story,...
More than anything else, this narrated trailer left me feeling on the outside looking in: indie developer The Chinese Room has obviously created a series of gorgeous vistas that evoke melancholy and a desire to explore (as the camera scrolls down a path, I want it to go left, or maybe right). At the same time, I want to know what it's all about and what the "challenge" in the experience is, which, from the description below is obviously not the point in this game which is taking the broader view of "play" in terms of exploring, bending, and breaking the rules of your game space.
Here's how The Chinese Room describe Dear Esther:
“A deserted island… a lost man… memories of a fatal crash… a book written by a dying explorer.”
Dear Esther is a ghost story,...
- 1/18/2012
- by Charles Webb
- MTV Multiplayer
The best and brightest of the indie game development scene get narrowed down heading to the March awards.
The Igf has posted the list of finalists for their indie-centric awards, and among the nominees a couple of titles pop out with some regularity: the much-anticipated 2D/3D platformer Fez garnered two nominations while the The Chinese Room-developed "first-person ghost story" Dear Esther earned four nominations. The finalists were chosen from a record 570 submissions to this year's competition, so give it up for the select few who were able to make it to the short list.
Here's the full list of nominees:
Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
Dear Esther
Fez
Frozen Synapse
Johann Sebastian Joust
Spelunky
Excellence In Visual Art
Botanicula
Dear Esther
Lume
Mirage
Wonderputt
Technical Excellence
Antichamber
Fez
Prom Week
Realm of the Mad God
Spelunky
Excellence In Design:
Atom Zombie Smasher
English Country Tune
Frozen Synapse
Gunpoint
Spelunky...
The Igf has posted the list of finalists for their indie-centric awards, and among the nominees a couple of titles pop out with some regularity: the much-anticipated 2D/3D platformer Fez garnered two nominations while the The Chinese Room-developed "first-person ghost story" Dear Esther earned four nominations. The finalists were chosen from a record 570 submissions to this year's competition, so give it up for the select few who were able to make it to the short list.
Here's the full list of nominees:
Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
Dear Esther
Fez
Frozen Synapse
Johann Sebastian Joust
Spelunky
Excellence In Visual Art
Botanicula
Dear Esther
Lume
Mirage
Wonderputt
Technical Excellence
Antichamber
Fez
Prom Week
Realm of the Mad God
Spelunky
Excellence In Design:
Atom Zombie Smasher
English Country Tune
Frozen Synapse
Gunpoint
Spelunky...
- 1/13/2012
- by Charles Webb
- MTV Multiplayer
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