Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs coming from Dear Esther dev

After a vague tease earlier this month, Frictional Games has taken the wraps off of the follow-up to Amnesia: The Dark Descent. But unlike the original, Frictional is only publishing the game. Development duties are being given to Dear Esther developer thechineseroom.

Joystiq reports that the sequel is titled Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. The game is set for PC like its predecessor, and the studios are hoping to release it before Halloween.

The plot involves Oswald Mandus, a rich industrialist who just came home from a trip to Mexico. His foray south of the border "ended in tragedy," and Mandus has been struck with a terrible fever that renders him unconscious. In his state, he dreams of an evil machine. When he wakes up, several months have passed, and the machine actually exists and has started running. Creepy, no?

Dan Pinchbeck, the writer of Dear Esther, notes that this isn't a direct sequel, since it doesn't involve the same characters or continue the same story. Instead, he says it's another story set in the same alternate-history universe.