How to make Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs less scary

In this guide I'll give you some advice on how to survive this game.

How to play Amnesia: A Machine For Wigs

This guide will obviously contain some spoilers so read this only in case you find the game too scary to play. I will give some general advice on the game (you can read that part even if you haven't started the game yet) as well as shed some light on the monsters and their behavior. The sequel is very different from the first game so many familiar features are missing in it making the game much easier and shorter. However, there are a few things you should be wary of when embarking on this journey.

Different from the first game

Mechanics
You'll soon find out that there are no sanity nor health systems, no oil nor tinderboxes to worry about. The only thing you carry with you is the lantern with unlimited amount of oil in it. There's no inventory either so all the important objects must be carried manually - don't worry though, the distances are rather short. The darkness won't lower your sanity but some areas in this game are so black that you'll have a hard time seeing ahead even if your gamma settings are super high (which I do not recommend, for it ruins the experience).

The health regenerates on its own in less than a minute. Wrenches and Engineers can kill you in three hits but Tesla sometimes in two. When injured, your movements won't slow down too much so you can still try to make a run for it even if your screen is blood-red. The monsters are rather slow at reacting and aren't highly intelligent so they'll give up the chase quickly.

Also, somehow the doors in this game magically disappear locking you in a room where you need to do something and letting you out only after doing that specific task. So don't be surprised if something doesn't make any sense because I don't get it either! Maybe the game tries to guide you forward or it's just trying to be like Layers of fear.

Threats
On contrary to the first game, the threats are mostly limited to a certain room. That means when you enter a room, the monster will spawn, and after you leave the room, it will despawn. Whereas in the first game the monsters spawned after triggering a certain event or entering a certain location but went away just as quickly, the Manpigs appear without any intention of leaving. So the monsters will not leave the place even if you wait. There isn't much sneaking in AMFP but clearly more than in TDD where you could just crouch in a corner and wait for the monster to leave. So the whole game is more about finding your way out of one room with a monster rather than keeping you constantly in fear of a creature popping out randomly. Short and simple stealth sequences that last only a couple of minutes. And trust me - the Manpigs make so loud noises that you'll hear them long before you enter the danger zone. There's no music playing that indicates their presence so you'll have to listen to the sounds they make. The Manpigs' presence isn't as chilling as the Gatherers' in the first game and they will stick to their scripted routes.

Dying
The first game let you continue from the spot where you died and often generously removed the monster but AMFP will not do the same. It's like any other horror game; you die, you'll restart from the last save point. It should be noted that the "save points" I'm talking about here aren't the same as in the "Load Game" list. The game saves automatically at random points and when the chapter changes but won't throw you all the way back to the start of the chapter if you die. You will only be spawned back to the beginning of the area/room and forced to do the encounter again.

Monsters

Most of the monsters in this game have no special abilities whatsoever. They wander about in scripted paths and make some scary noises once in a while.

Wretch
This is the most common type of enemy that you'll encounter many times. Wretch is a quadruped pigman that lets out high-pitched shrieks and oinks but it can also walk on two legs. They are very dumb and won't notice you even if you crouch right in front of them in a shadowy corner.

Engineer
Engineer walks on two legs and emits low, guttural oinks. You'll meet this enemy type towards the end of the game (in the Streets and the Engine) but it's somewhat rare in comparison to the Wretch.

Failed Experiments
Those who have played TDD are probably familiar with the water monster. Failed Experiments are similar to Kaernk, electric monsters that lurk in the water. They are encountered only once in the Bilge when the catwalk collapses and you fall into the water.



Tesla
The last but definitely not least - Tesla, an enemy you'll encounter at the very end of the game. Tesla has many special abilities that makes it the most dangerous enemy of all. It can teleport randomly around the place and occasionally even blink out of the existence leaving blue bolts of electricity in its wake. Luckily, there are only two short encounters with it and neither of them require stealth. It can be hard to be sneaky because this piggy can appear right in front of you at any moment. So keep moving away from Tesla and try to fulfill your objective that is in the Silicon Coolant to restore the power by pulling the two switches on the opposite sides of the room. The second encounter only requires you to escape.

Tips for survival

Light triggers the monsters
One of the few things that actually triggers the monsters in this game are the light from your lantern and the sound from your footsteps. I've noted that as long as you don't use your lantern and are crouching in a fairly dark corner, the monsters can't get you. But turn that lantern on for even a second and they'll be alerted to your presence. If you then lower your lantern and stop moving altogether, the Manpig might lose track of you (I told you they are dumb). Unfortunately, the only indicator of their presence apart from their oinks and occasional shuffling is your lantern that starts to flicker whenever a creature is nearby. It flickers even if there are no actual monsters in the vicinity making it harder to distinguish the real encounters from the jump scares.

Less encounters, more jump scares
Unlike the first Amnesia, this sequel has tons of jump scares and monster sightings that will make you think you are in danger even when you are not. I wish I had known this when I first played the game because most of the sightings were just there for scaring the player out of their wits. But when the pattern keeps repeating itself over and over again, the game will soon fall a bit flat. The actual encounters are honestly very infrequent (even less frequent than in TDD) and that's why immersing yourself in the game world and its narrative is even more important. You might hear their footsteps and oinks and your lantern might flicker but they are not actually there. So next time you see a Manpig running past a few meters ahead or you catch a glimpse of it strolling down a corridor, I can assure with 90 % certainty that it is a jump scare. Sometimes those precede the actual encounter and sometimes they don't.

Running might save your time
There are a few areas where running is even wiser than just sneaking around. The darkness makes it hard to see ahead and using the lantern draws the attention of the monsters so I suggest that you just go for it. The only encounter where you should avoid running is in the lower piston of the Factory because there are two pigmen roaming about and running away from one might lead you to bump into another. You'll know the chase starts when the pig lets out a high-pitched shriek and the terror meter begins to play in the background (it's a like mechanical steam whistle and much quieter than in TDD). If you want to shake off your pursuer, you'll have to run without your lantern because that will just be a floating beacon of your presence to them, and after putting some distance between you and the pig, find a hiding place.

Locations

Here are all the locations and whether or not they are safe as well as some tips:

Mansion 1 - Waking the Doll's House - safe
Mansion 2 - In Lily's Honour, a Banquet - safe
Cellar - Against the Rising Waters - safe
Alley - The Collar, The Neck, The Noose - safe
Church - Livestock and Bibles - dangerous (after going down to the basement and seeing the pig running away)
Factory - And so to The Stoking - dangerous (after the lights go out there will be a jump scare but after you descend to the lowest piston you'll have a real encounter with two Wretches)
Tunnels - In the Nest of Eggs - dangerous (a chase at the low temperature room and two short stealth sequences in the holding pens)
Sewers - This Leaking World - safe
Bilge - From Tide to Spine - dangerous (you'll fall from the higher catwalk and have to escape the Failed Experiments)
Reactor - The Children, Dancing - safe
Engine - Mandus, Saboteur - dangerous (after sabotaging the machine, two Engineers will spawn in the area but you can just make a run for the ladder)
Streets - Anything to Save Them - dangerous (only a chase sequence along the street at the end of the level)
Pigline - Farming the World - safe
Tesla 1 - The Veil Lifts, the Bride is Waiting - dangerous (when entering the Silicon Coolant area, Tesla will spawn)
Tesla 2 - Mandus Descending amongst The Spirits - dangerous (when being thrown back from the tower, Tesla will start a chase - just lure it with you lamp to the right side and take the path on your left)
Temple - Enoch, Edwin, Oswald and I - safe

Skippable encounters
The encounters in the holding pens of the Tunnels are both skippable. When you enter the holding pens (the room full of cages), go to the left side of the cage you see in front of you and you'll be walking out of the room before the monster even has enough time to spawn. Don't go to the right. The same goes for the pitch-black room that has a staircase leading down to a broken elevator. Run as fast as you can and the monster won't even spawn. You'll hear their noises and maybe even chase music but don't worry - they usually enter the room through a door and that takes some time. ;)

SIDE NOTE: There's a note in the lowest piston of the Factory and finding that note while two pigmen are around is surprisingly hard due to the confusing layout. I suggest that once you reach the passageway with red light, go near the edge as if you were going to drop down - I think this will fool the game as it thinks you've progressed and removes all the monsters in the area letting you investigate it in peace. At least it worked for me.