tinyE: Ever play it? I love it but it's not everyone's cup of tea.
JCD-Bionicman: I thought it was stupid that you can't kill things in the newest game Amnesia, and I even think it reduces the horror element a bit, since managing all your ammo and stuff I believe adds more things you have to worry about and therefore stress about. Not to mention in Amnesia if you die, there is no penalty, and unless you're a child this will severely interfere with the atmosphere of the game if you're an adult like me. Enemies despawn and you respawn without a scratch. Absolutely stupid design decision.
Having at least the option of desperately bludgeoning some vaguely-animal adversary with a hammer certainly ramped up the tension. I never actually did it, but I knew the option was there. Annoyingly, I didn't know which order to play the trilogy when I bought them, so I accidentally spoiled Overture because I started up Black Plague first.
Really, Overture is the masterpiece. Black Plague falls apart towards the middle/end (what *was* that voice, Gilbert Gottfried?) and apparently Requiem was all lacklustre physics puzzles. To me, it was all about the atmosphere.
I 'unno, Amnesia isn't going to 'work' on everyone. The atmosphere certainly unsettled me and was very keeping with the gothic/Lovecraftian school of horror - the sound design is incredible - but I can admit there's not really much of a game under it. Hell even Penumbra only really had the one complicated puzzle at the end of Black Plague, far as I can recall, though I'm only about 40% sure of that.
Knowing that A Machine for Pigs is going to be made by the same team that made Dear Esther gives me some cause for cautious pessimism; but I suppose anything could happen at this point.