By Alec Meer on February 21st, 2012 at 1:21 pm.
Breaking news, if you were reading the internet a couple of days ago. Following a brief ARG, a tiny, hopeful squeak of detail has emerged for the next game from Amnesia devs Frictional. Frankly anything is more useful than ‘it might be set in China, possibly‘, but in this case we have a couple of pieces of creepy, bloody concept art and a possible title.
That title? ‘A Machine For Pigs.’ Which sounds ever so slightly like a change of direction for George R.R. Martin’s reader-mocking novels, but also appears to refer directly to the abbatoir-esque scenes in the concept art. But is that the real name, or just a codename? I’ve done some research into animal-slaughtering equipment and come up with some EXCITING ALTERNATIVES.
‘Top Abbattoir Products’, according to this equipment-flogging site (which also boasts that its ‘meat stimulator reduces meat hanging times by up to 50%!’ Ugh ugh ugh):
Loading Bay Lift Arm
Low Voltage Stimulators
Hoists Bleed & Transfer
Tripe Processing Machinery
Hock De-Hairing & Cleaning
Tripe Cleaning Machines
Quarter Dropper for Loadbay
Stunning Equipment Electric
Meat Bi-Rail & Rollers
Hide Strippers / Pullers
Pig De-Hairing Machines
Rollers, Bi-Rail, Tubular & Flat Bar
Gambrels
Trolleys & Carriers
I see only one explicit mention of pigs in there, and that’s for a de-hairing machine. Ugh ugh ugh. A pig de-hairing machine works like this – please note that while this video isn’t particularly gruesome, it does feature a dead animal.
So… Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh. But there we have it. The next Frictional game is definitely called ‘De-hairing Machine’, and will be a maudlin tale about preparing bacon. In China. Probably. I’ve got all the answers, me.
One thing that has been declared is that this is due in Fall 2012. ‘Fall’ is what dirty, unwashed colonials who foolishly shunned the loving and not at all greedy or unentitled arms of their mother nation call ‘Autumn.’
Oh yeah, here’s the other piece of concept art:
You can see full-size, uncropped versions of both this and the above by clicking on the lines in the last line of the decoded site here.
The results of the ARG, meanwhile, are being collected in this fan Wiki, which has dredged up multiple strong hints that Dear Esther devs Thechineseroom may be involved with the project. Also dredged up was this spine-troubling line:
“THE EVIL MAY HIDE THE GREATER EVIL. BUT THE EVIL ALSO HIDES THE GREATER GOOD. THIS WORLD IS A MACHINE. A MACHINE FOR PIGS. FIT ONLY FOR THE SLAUGHTERING OF PIGS.”
And the subsequent de-hairing of pigs, right?
21/02/2012 at 13:27 Bhazor says:
Hopefully this one will be scary all the way through instead of turning hilariously naff in the last third.
Most unintentionally funny anticlimax ever.
But I still think Pathologic holds the monopoly on scary videogame slaughterhouses.
21/02/2012 at 13:34 kastanok says:
If you’re referring to Amnesia, the last third included the torture chambers. The audio, and the implications suggested by the… implements absolutely did it for me, horror wise.
Then again, it did end with a dull, squibby boss fight…
21/02/2012 at 13:51 Outright Villainy says:
@ kastanok: I think he may be referring to the character that gets introduced near the end (not saying any more than that for spoiler’s sake), who lets face it, was ridiculous. And he never shut up.
Still, I agree, if someone says they played the choir without getting creeped out they’re lying.
21/02/2012 at 14:00 kastanok says:
Ah, yes, him. Slightly comical, even considering the circumstances.
21/02/2012 at 22:43 goatfeet says:
In Amnesia, comic relief is a mouthless corpse hanging over a pit of spikes
21/02/2012 at 23:17 Bhazor says:
The whole thing petered out to me. First couple of hours, dark, bewildering, trouser worryingly scary but as it went on and the levels became brighter and there was enough room to just run around monsters it became a lot less scary. When Chuckles popped up I giggled. It just lost appeal when it went from basic primal terror (fear of water, fear of pursuit, fear of the dark) and tried to do scares it wasn’t capable of (the torture machines are too clean and obvious, it felt more like a museum) producing.
The ending boss was just fucking hilarious.
An old naked man yelling at you while you knock over a vase. LOVECRAFTIAN HORROR!!!!
22/02/2012 at 03:06 pasdcvbc says:
I thought the China bits only were pointing toward Dear Esther developer thechineseroom being involved. I didn’t think it was actually alluding to the game taking place in China. http://ho.io/3154
21/02/2012 at 13:28 Paxmayne says:
The concept sounds like a load of old Hogwash to me!
21/02/2012 at 13:30 Bhazor says:
Really? To me it sounds crackling,
21/02/2012 at 13:43 Blackcompany says:
So when it comes to horror and video games, pathologic is hogging the spotlight, eh?
21/02/2012 at 13:50 westyfield says:
Pathologic’s games never get boring. I could pig out on them for hours.
21/02/2012 at 13:57 Stuart Walton says:
I hope the voicework isn’t as hammy.
21/02/2012 at 13:59 The Tupper says:
Ham getting into this pun thread early.
Edit: DAMN you Stuart – you beat me to the bacon, you swine!
21/02/2012 at 14:02 Joc says:
You swines don’t relent, do you. Still, concept art for this has a lot of sty-le.
21/02/2012 at 14:02 julianbenson says:
You swines, you’re detracting from the solemnity of the setting.
Edit: Damn you Joc!
21/02/2012 at 14:10 Skabooga says:
It’s just a couple of pieces of concept art. Sow what?
21/02/2012 at 14:11 Dr. Evanzan says:
It sounds like an offal concept to me.
21/02/2012 at 14:15 Ian says:
We’ve made a right pig’s ear of this and no mistake.
21/02/2012 at 14:16 McDan says:
I do hope it’s not too unsowvery, I look forward to finding a bag of milky ways again with this game.
21/02/2012 at 15:06 Quizboy says:
I look forward to dehairing this my game of the year.
21/02/2012 at 15:58 Capt. Eduardo del Mango says:
I think the concept sounds fine, but with wander-around-with-a-flashlight horror games it’s all in the implementation – it might be great, it might be a bit of a boar.
21/02/2012 at 16:34 puppybeard says:
I rasher look forward to seeing a larger porcine of this concept.
21/02/2012 at 20:20 firetail says:
Ive got a strong itch for a new survival horror: its starting to need a good scratching
21/02/2012 at 21:24 jrodman says:
I wonder how the performance will be. On my old computer amnesia was quite a bit of a porker.
22/02/2012 at 21:05 anotherman7 says:
I can’t stand this premise. They should just scrapple it and try again.
21/02/2012 at 13:28 kastanok says:
I withdraw my previous statement.
THIS makes my day!
21/02/2012 at 13:32 kastanok says:
I actually whooped out-loud, Homer Simpson-like, when I read the possible connection with thechineseroom. This can only be improved by Valve throwing money at them.
21/02/2012 at 13:37 Anthile says:
Needs “Hammy! Nooo!” tag.
21/02/2012 at 13:47 Bhazor says:
Babe! Nooooo!
21/02/2012 at 13:54 The Tupper says:
Baaaaacon!
I’m hungry.
21/02/2012 at 13:41 airtekh says:
I absolutely loved Amnesia.
This is a day one purchase for me.
21/02/2012 at 14:02 Rinox says:
Second that. If I could preorder, I would.
21/02/2012 at 13:47 Richie Shoemaker says:
My wife is insisting I go vegan. After that video I am one step closer.
21/02/2012 at 13:51 westyfield says:
Awww, it’s having a bath, how cuuUUUAUUUAUAHHH WHAT THE HELL IS THAT MACHINE DOING AND WHAT IS THAT PINK MIST COMING OUT OF IT?
21/02/2012 at 14:03 kastanok says:
Well, it is dead. There are many good reasons to reduce or cut meat intake, but I don’t think a bit of de-hairing of the carcass is one of them.
21/02/2012 at 14:17 Orija says:
Heh, that was cute compared to what they show in Earthlings.
21/02/2012 at 16:30 db1331 says:
Let me guess, she only stopped putting meat in her mouth AFTER you got married, right?
21/02/2012 at 19:36 outoffeelinsobad says:
That video is actually the best of possible circumstances. In some cases, the pigs are not fully dead, and suffer through the process of being de-haired while simultaneously drowning. Please, take a moment to appreciate how that would feel.
Oh, I’m sorry. I meant to say ME MAN ME WANT MEAT
21/02/2012 at 13:48 ArtyFishal says:
I hope this is the title. It’s fantastic!
21/02/2012 at 14:52 Shazbut says:
Agreed. I even think they should keep that title even if they have to twist the game slightly to fit it
21/02/2012 at 13:53 The Tupper says:
Mrs The Tupper wants to know where she can buy me one of those de-hairing machines for xmas. Stupid gal doesn’t realise that hairy shoulders are a hallmark of massive virility.
21/02/2012 at 13:58 kastanok says:
It’s not the Hair of Samson, Tupper.
21/02/2012 at 14:28 Sarlix says:
Mr T. Tupper – even as my nemesis, I take pity on you and your simian like body. It is indecent for a gentleman (even one such as yourself) to go about ladened with such vast sums of body hair.
May I suggest you take a lime bath, Sir
SS
21/02/2012 at 15:41 The Tupper says:
Mister Sarlix (and I use the nominative term only to demonstrate that, even under provocation of the most hunnish variety, a TRUE gentleman never forgoes civility):
Once again I find my eyes drawn to your tedious attempt at puerile mendacity under a cloak of sagacity. If it were not beneath my status I’d have young Hownslow, my manservant, run over to Hammerbrook’s the Oddmonger and purchase the contraption second to the left in his display case.
I find it unlikely that one of your calibre should be unfamiliar with the implement of which I speak, therefore my intention (should you persist in your flagrant attempt to incite my ill-humour) is clear.
Good day, Sir.
TT
21/02/2012 at 16:40 Sarlix says:
Mr.Tupper,
I am afraid you have only further revealed your simian like nature by resorting to such lowbrow threats, albeit cleverly worded ones. I suspect that you have made employment of someone much more learned than yourself to compose the above text. As I doubt to think that, you yourself, are able to pen such linguistic delights as ‘mendacity & sagacity’
I have just been conversing with my esteemed college Sir Crispin Bathwater of Oxbridge, over a glass of sherry. After hearing about your ‘ape like’ hair growth he made the splendid suggestion that you would make a fine exhibit in his Natural History Museum. Our monocles popped in laughter at the thought of a ‘Simia-simiae-Tupper’ plaque hanging in the halls of academia.
If you are so inclined I shall have my manservant Barryman send a box around for you in the morning.
Good Evening, Sir.
SS
21/02/2012 at 18:50 The Tupper says:
Mr Sarlix:
It may pleasure you to note that the size of my lexicological perspicacity is famed from the shores of the New World to the Celestial homelands in the Orient. Why, Mrs The Tupper was commending me on its formidable breadth whilst in our chambers only the other night!
As for your ‘esteemed’ colleague, it may intrigue you to discover that, as a teen, Sir Crispin was my very own fag whilst boarding at The Other Place – whereupon I gained his measure comprehensively.
Let us simply say that his nickname, “Crispy Bathwater”, was earned in whole.
Yours,
TT
21/02/2012 at 20:32 Sarlix says:
o.O
This..is..not..over.
/signed SS
22/02/2012 at 11:29 Shazbut says:
Well done, both. A most stimulating discourse
21/02/2012 at 14:08 Ignorant Texan says:
‘Fall’ is what dirty, unwashed colonials who foolishly shunned the loving and not at all greedy or unentitled arms of their mother nation call ‘Autumn.’
While I enjoy the feeble invective thrown our way by a gout, port and unearned privilege burdened citizen of an antediluvian ‘mother’ country, I do worry that perhaps you might be ill, Mr Meer? Seeing as you neglected to add ‘unkempt’, ‘uneducated’, ‘violent’, and ‘atavistic’ in your list of our failings.
Oh, and new stuff from Frictional? Yay!
21/02/2012 at 14:11 The Infamous Woodchuck says:
that chair looked evil
21/02/2012 at 14:23 Buttonbasher says:
I thought the China bits only were pointing toward Dear Esther developer thechineseroom being involved. I didn’t think it was actually alluding to the game taking place in China.
21/02/2012 at 15:13 Jackablade says:
I’d like to see them make the protagonist of their grim-dark horror game a pig. Not a mutant pig man or some anthropomorphised character. Just a regular pig trying to escape from a nightmarish abattoir.
21/02/2012 at 20:27 Navagon says:
Now that definitely sounds like the kind of game we could expect from a Chinese Room / Frictional collaboration.
22/02/2012 at 12:41 Voon says:
That, I want to see. And play
But, it looks to me like it’s set in an abbattoir, which slaughters more than just pigs.
21/02/2012 at 15:40 yutt says:
A Machine For Pigs is my favorite NIN album.
21/02/2012 at 16:08 Craig Stern says:
Um, are those members of the KKK in that last picture?
21/02/2012 at 16:39 puppybeard says:
Nah, I think it’s two blood dots on the glass, over a smudge (hanging carcass?) on the far side.
21/02/2012 at 18:38 rustybroomhandle says:
The infamous Krazy Killer Kumquats? Yeah, they get around.
21/02/2012 at 18:52 Craig Stern says:
Oh, okay. That makes sense. I was starting to suspect that this would be a game in which you try to elude the Klan after they take over your Chinese meat-packing facility.
21/02/2012 at 17:11 Cryptoshrimp says:
“…THIS WORLD IS A MACHINE. A MACHINE FOR PIGS. FIT ONLY FOR THE SLAUGHTERING OF PIGS.”
This line reminds me ever so slightly of The Machine Stops. Am I the only one?
Also, pretty good idea to base a game about, I’d say. Loved Amnesia more for its story than scary-factor, though, so I hope they keep that up.
21/02/2012 at 17:44 Gap Gen says:
I guess as far as horror goes, the industrialised storage of conscious beings and their conversion into little pieces is pretty good material, especially given how widespread it is in reality. After all, Psychonauts’ Meat Circus seems to have tramatised more people than most other videogame levels.
21/02/2012 at 18:04 TheGroovyMule says:
Well… it could be scary if you’re playing as the pig
21/02/2012 at 19:20 Heinrich says:
Am I the only one just getting some weird “Sorry for not letting people link directly to us” text whenever I try to open these images?
Also, more Amnesia? Yes, please.
21/02/2012 at 19:38 CoffeeScamp says:
TheChineseRoom were also responsible for Korsakovia, which was all about a madman who thinks the world is ending..
If these guys are teaming up with Frictional.. I think it’s going to be as horrible as it’s sounding :)
22/02/2012 at 00:07 dethtoll says:
Interesting choice of words.
22/02/2012 at 04:23 kastanok says:
A man who cannot remember anything, nor form new memories, who thought that clawing out his own eyes, wrapping his hands in copper and shoving them in a TV would be the sensible thing to do in light of reality as he saw it.
Yeah.
21/02/2012 at 20:31 Navagon says:
All I know for sure is that I’m very interested in this one.
21/02/2012 at 22:50 Qwartz says:
A Machine for Pigs anagrams to “a chafing promise”, which is… worrisome. :P
22/02/2012 at 00:06 dethtoll says:
Man, I hope that chineseroom thing is just a red herring.
I could honestly be interested in this, provided they don’t just pull more Lovecraftian bullshit out of their asses yet again.
22/02/2012 at 04:26 kastanok says:
I’m surprised not to see Pathologic mentioned already in relation to these concept images. I’m getting shivers just thinking of the exterior of the abbatoir, of the hanging sacks of rotting meat swinging from the broken-down pulley ropes, of the tales of black milk and…
You know what, it’s too damned late in the night to dwell on such things.
22/02/2012 at 08:20 Davie says:
Interestingly, this is the first time I’ve read the alt text on an article image and gone “HAHAHA–oh god.” You creeped me right out, Mr. Meer. Well done.
22/02/2012 at 08:42 Nyobshtayn says:
Deary me. That thar does not look like a pig…
*shudders*
22/02/2012 at 08:47 Thermal Ions says:
I’m betting on a story about a mass murderer / secret alien invasion which uses a pig abattoir to process the local population for pleasure / food. You have to infiltrate the facility armed with nothing more than your wits, a half empty box of matches, a ticket stub from the local cinema and a ball of pocket fluff, subsequently saving your loved ones/random strangers, and exposing the operation.
22/02/2012 at 10:14 Dilapinated says:
Sounds like the first hour of Prey.