This page contains information relating to the marketing campaign for Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs before its release—which included some ARG elements—during release, and afterwards.
Viral marketing and ARG[]
Initially codenamed as "gameB", the announcement of A Machine for Pigs was preceded by a viral marketing and alternate reality game campaign that began when Frictional Games updated their website Next Frictional Game, which had prior been used to announce the first instalment, in early 2012. The website featured a heavily blurred image, the Amnesia logo and a caption reading "Something is emerging...".
The blurred image was hyperlinked to "Google Maps" with the search field set as "China". The website was later updated with a slightly less blurred image, and hyperlinked to Google Maps with the search field set as "Boreray". It was updated for a second time, with a non-blurred image (a piece of concept art), redirecting to Google Maps with the search field set as "502 2nd Avenue in Seattle". The three hyperlinks were hints towards The Chinese Room's involvement in the game (a previous game by The Chinese Room, Dear Esther, was set on a Hebridean island-like Boreray, and the address in Seattle pointed towards a restaurant named 'The Chinese Room').
Examination of the site's source code led fans to a webpage that resembled a computer console with usable commands and a countdown. After the expiration of the countdown, a message on the page read "A machine for pigs coming fall two thousand twelve." The game was formally announced via video game blog Joystiq.
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On June 14, 2012, the first teaser trailer was released on the frictionalgames YouTube channel. It showed various scenes from the game, from industrial settings to more studious rooms. In the final shot, the character wakes up to the sound of an enemy breaking down a door making pig-like grunts and squeals (From either a Wretch or an Engineer). An unseen creature enters the room, its shadow is cast against the back wall as Mandus hides under a set of stairs.
Also unveiled was the website for the game.
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On October 31, 2012, to coincide with Halloween, a second trailer was posted to the frictionalgames YouTube channel. A lot of new features were shown such as the updated lantern, the new voice for the main character and the trailer also shows a lot more scenery, and creepily, the pig slaughterhouse (Later known to be the Factory Tunnels), where Mandus is cornered by the new monster (Wretch) of the game. The monster is visible for a very short period of time and can be heard making bizarre pig/human vocalizations.
The same trailer ends with a short conversation between Mandus and Professor A, which hints to the game's story and to the machine's purpose. In this conversation, the currently unnamed professor says, "My dear Mister Mandus, I admire your vision, I really do, but there are surely not enough pigs in the whole of London to feed the appetite of such a machine," to which Mandus replies, "That all rather depends, Professor, on what one considers to be a pig." As the date of the game's release appears on the screen, a child's voice is heard whispering the word, "Daddy...".
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Letter from Mrs Stepwood.
On March 21, 2013, a new clue was given about the storyline. Whenever the page was loaded, a letter popped up displaying a picture of a street from the industrial times. It told of a message from Missus Tabitha Stepwood, who is implied to head an orphanage, sent to the main character, Oswald Mandus, thanking him for a generous gift of sausages for the starving orphans, and the creation of a programme which would most likely reform child labour. Nonetheless, the last line, which says "...They will, I assure you sir, make the most wonderful additions to your product line", could suggest that these children were being incorporated to The Machine in a way. The full letter reads:
- "A Letter of Heartfelt Thanks from Mrs Tabitha Stepwood
My dear Mr Mandus
I take this opportunity to write to you personally with my sincerest and most heartfelt thanks. Your generosity is an inspiration to us all. Last night I sat the head of the table and watched the orphans happily eating, for once, they will not go to sleep hungry. This morning, Alice knocked upon my door, and she had made for you this tussie-mussie of dried flowers, which I enclose.
Please tell the kind sir, she said, that these were the finest sausages a child ever ate. To see a starveling so rosy-cheeked and well-fattened, well, Sir, it is a miracle most profound. We are indeed in your debt, Mr Mandus, and I am delighted to say that I have spoken with the Governors and they agree that we can proceed with your programme for child labour reform without hesitation. I hope you will find our children full of promise. They will, I assure you sir, make the most wonderful additions to your product line."
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Mysterious poem.
As of April 10, 2013, the letter was replaced with a short poem accompanied by an image of a wealthy, yet foreboding house (Oswald's Mansion). What appears to be two children seen peering out of the third story window. The poem reads:
- "Thus ever when we stumble by
Wet grasses on the knee bent low
And place
Our flowers by thy grave
And weeping, grip the soil below
Andlift our children to the skies
And love for them, and conquer death
With candlelights and tables tipped
We call your spirit back to us
A footfall in the darkened halls
Our twins at play, a lover's laugh"
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By May 6, 2013, the previous poem (posted on April 10, 2013) was replaced with yet another poem. The accompanying artwork appears to be the layout of a basement level shaft within a factory's boiler room/area. A small silhouette of a person can be seen standing at the base of the staircase on the left side of the shaft. This teaser was removed on August 2, 2013.
The poem followed as such:
- "Thrupenny sixpence sparrows and doves
See all the angels a-weeping above
There's no more forgiving, there's no-one to save
For today darling Lily goes into her grave"
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On August 2, a cutaway picture of a laboratory building was posted. The laboratory looks to contain some sort of Van de Graaff generator, along with several figures in white coats working at lab benches. The following poem accompanied the picture:
- "A skin of a shroud, a stump of the bled
Old Lily is flyblown
Old Lily is dead
And dreams of the jungle
Will flood through her head
And light up her head"
August 5th[]
As of August 5, the poems have been removed, and the site now features the original backstory on Oswald Mandus, screenshots, and the two trailers.
August 16th[]
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs was given the launch date of September 10th, and became available for pre-order through Steam GOG Desura GameFly Gamer's Gate Mac Game Store and via the Humble Store on their webpage, at a 20% discount of the announced launch price of $20, making it $16 through these pre-order deals. The games full box art was posted to their Facebook page a day later.
August 24th[]
On the 24th of August, the game's developers began using third-party sources to generate hype, starting when a popular YouTuber uploaded a brief montage video of himself playing a review copy of the game given to him by the developers for the purpose of promoting the game. The scenes in this video include several images of Mandus' house, including a room with a player piano, one with several stuffed hunting trophies, and a chapel with a dead pig hanging on a crucifix, amongst other scenes.
The video also shows scenes in the basement of the building, where the machine is located, in which the player encounters an unseen man trapped in a tarp-covered slaughterhouse cage who speaks what sounds like Spanish, and the new monster, getting a better view of it than in the trailers, which reveals it to be a pig heavily deformed to look human (or vice versa, as some of the trailers and teasers have hinted), with scars all across its body, mostly nude aside from leather wrapped around its head and limbs, and with pieces of metal protruding out of wounds on its back.
Since then, a few other YouTubers were given early releases by the developers in order to help promote the game. All of these videos show the beginning of the game in actual gameplay showing the Mandus house and leading into the early levels of the basement.