Pigsaw is a bloody fever dream of a first person horror game that takes place in human abattoir. We’re witnessing a world where pigs have flipped roles with humans, and are farming them on a massive scale. You must use everything at your disposal and do whatever is necessary to stay alive and escape.
From the very start, you have a pretty grim outlook. You’re trapped in a cage with giant pigs patrolling all around you with their giant power saws. A moment later you’re dropped out of the cage and into a vat where a bunch of other humans get shoved in with you. The back wall closes in and pushes you to your doom, a group of savage pigs waiting with their saws.
Luckily, you manage to slip away while the others get butchered. There’s pigs around every corner though, and you just barely outrun them. You’re out of their reach for the moment as you find a vent shaft to hide in. From there it’s a long journey to escape and the pigs won’t let you leave so easily.
Getting Some Payback
Usually the best option is to kill whatever pigs are in your way, you definitely don’t want them discovering you . The first weapon you find lying around is a lead pipe. Good for sneaking up behind them for a smack to the head which deals extra damage. Once you find the shotgun, the game gets much easier.
It’s pretty difficult to fight the pigs head on with the pipe. Make sure to do some extra searching around for shotgun shells so you don’t have to use the pipe again.
‘He will choose who lives and who dies’
While I love the setting and concept, I thought many parts of Pigsaw were difficult and frustrating. You can get sent pretty far back if you die. If you die too much, it gets tiring to play the same part over and over again.
The pigs are fast and strong, they deal a lot of damage even if you’re careful. There’s also the parkour tower where you have to start over if you fall from high up as well.
Avoiding attention is difficult as well, they’re always in your way and are very good at seeing you from a distance. Even when crouched, or hiding behind something. The game description talked about stealth a lot, but there’s very little opportunity to actually sneak past any enemies.
Exploring the Pigsaw Facility
The massive buildings, open space, and backgrounds of Pigsaw were surreal to look at. It adds more to the darkness of this game, and makes you imagine the scale of their farming operations. How many human victims are there in here? Looking at it from the outside it’s calm, quiet, and a sight to behold.
It’s kind of difficult to get a good ending as well. You can save the humans trapped in the cages by opening the doors with some levers. However, the levers are not labeled at either station. The stone pillar about the chosen one from earlier showed the correct levers to pull. If you pick the wrong one, it kills everyone in the cages which I did accidentally both times. So I escaped by myself.
Pigsaw is a truly horrifying and gruesome experience where you always feel like there’s no hope. The humanity has been taken away from all of those around you too. None of the other humans you come across speak, or interact with you. They just mindlessness stumble around from the trauma, and don’t even wear any clothes. It’s a flip flop perspective of humans being the victims of farming.
