When comparing Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs vs Dying Light, the Slant community recommends Dying Light for most people. In the question“What are the best games on Linux?” Dying Light is ranked 66th while Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is ranked 129th. The most important reason people chose Dying Light is:
The main protagonist is capable of scaling buildings, jumping over obstacles and vaulting over zombies with ease making traversing the open world city a lot more enjoyable.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Very tense gameplay
Sneaking through dark levels and avoiding the prowling entities that lurk within creates some truly terrifying moments. There is no combat in this game, so fighting back isn't an option. As a result, carefully avoiding monsters, hiding from them, or even running away if the opportunity presents itself creates some very tense gameplay where you'll always be on a high alert. You never know when you're going to round a corner or open a door and come face to face with a monstrosity.
Pro Fantastic level design
Often times featuring strange architecture, flickering lights, twisting and turning passages, and dark hallways, the overall level design is fantastic. Although most levels are rather linear, the attention to detail is immense. The Victorian-era mansion looks its part, the workshops and factories look like bustling industrial centers, and the more surreal areas really inspire a sense of wonder with their strange machinery. A lot of care went into molding a terrifying, yet realistic environment and the visually appealing levels are easily one of the game's biggest high points.
Pro Scary sound design creates a true horror atmosphere
The audio design is excellent and scary, featuring plenty of disembodied voices, footsteps in dark hallways, and things scratching or pounding on doors. Hearing things thud and bump in the dark when you're trying to sneak around unseen creates a lot of scares, especially when you hear something right next to you scurry past. The consistent use of strange noises and ambient sound is brilliant, used in all the right places, and creates a truly frightening atmosphere.
Pro Mysterious and engaging story
The game opens with the protagonist Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist, waking up in his mansion after a long sickness. Awoken by the voices of his two children calling out for him, Mandus sets out to find them. As the story begins, we quickly learn that he was in Mexico where a great tragedy struck and this is when he first fell ill.
The story then progresses from there, often veering into strange and surreal themes where you may question what is real and what is not. It is told in such a way that information is slowly reaveled over time through monologues, memories, and in-game notes. The story is great at teasing its biggest mysteries and conveying a strong desire to push forward and learn more.
Pro Fluid parkour movement
The main protagonist is capable of scaling buildings, jumping over obstacles and vaulting over zombies with ease making traversing the open world city a lot more enjoyable.
Pro Expansive weapon-crafting system
There are blueprints found throughout the gameworld that can be used to modify existing weapons in a wide variety of ways by adding various elements to them and creating weapons such as enemy seeking grenades, exploding throwing stars, and makeshift bats with nails through them.
Pro Satisfying combat
The combat is impactful, visceral and offers a great deal of variety in terms of available weapons and different enemy types. It presents a reasonable amount of challenge that is rewarding to overcome and offers multiple ways of emerging victorious in each encounter.
Pro Enjoyable co-operative multiplayer
Dying light features up to four player LAN and online co-op.
Pro Rewarding side-missions
There's a wide variety of side-quests and a large chunk of them are multi-part adventures with great storytelling.
Cons
Con Very linear
The first few levels are nice and somewhat open, as they allow for a little exploration, but then things start to feel extremely linear. The latter levels are extremely linear point A to point B affairs. There is a bit of sidetracking at times if you're going for all the collectibles, but there's rarely ever any need to stray off the path the game sets out for you.
Con There never seems like there's any urgency
The original Amnesia had an insanity system where you couldn't be in the dark too long, and had you scavenging for tinderboxes and lantern oil to stay sane. There was always the constant urgency of finding a light source. A Machine for Pigs completely removed this mechanic and, as a result, much of the tension of the original game is gone. You can take your time and casually stroll through dark areas without a care in the world.
Con No inventory results in easy and cumbersome puzzles
There is no inventory system at all, so whenever you need to use an object to complete a puzzle, you must manually carry it around the level and use it where needed. Not only is this highly inconvenient, but due to this limitation, puzzles are often extremely easy as they only involve one object. For the rare puzzle that involves several items, you will need to carry them one by one.
Con The last hour of the game drags on
The ending of the game is repetitive and filled with story padding.
Con Poor VR UI
Things such as subtitles, instructions, menus, prompts, etc are hard to see clearly.
Con VR has a downgraded visual experience
VR version of the game is low fidelity and introduces visual glitches that the standard version doesn't have.
Con Poor plot and characters
The story is nothing new with many elements that are too familiar at this point. A Reluctant hero and a cold government agent mixed with a plot that can bee seen from miles away points to a lack of imagination while trying to create a game for the masses.
Con Poor multithreading
Sadly Dying Light does not do multi-threading very well which results in low framerates. For a modern game that is to be played on consoles with 8 cores or PCs that also have multiple cores, to not take advantage of proper multi-threading is pretty mind boggling. Really it just comes down to laziness, something that is not new to Techland and their poorly optimized ports.
Con Enabling VR support isn't straightforward
Enabling VR support requires editing config files. Instructions can be found here.
Con VR may cause motion sickness
In addition to some minor persistence issues, there are some sensory information mismatch issues created by the in-game characters movements and players stationary position that can easily induce nausea. The issue is a lot more prominent during cut-scenes that take the control away from the player completely.