Speaking to BeefJack at the Develop Conference today, creative director Dan Pinchbeck explained how the new setting in A Machine for Pigs allows for a “richer” world, and how much of the story will be conveyed through the environment, rather than through dialogue.

“I’m obsessed with the environmental storytelling thing. So my marker is: I know we’re getting it right in terms of level design and art if I’m actually going, ‘I’m kind of reluctant to put a script into this’,” said Pinchbeck, “The environment, I think, is much richer than in The Dark Descent,” he added. “It communicates a lot of the story that way. The actual voiceover content is much more psychological, it’s much more about the state of mind, and it still is about that core personality fragmentation: who are you, and what’s your relation to this character, and what is their history?”

A Machine for Pigs will feature some radically different environments to its predecessor, swapping out tight, claustrophobic corridors for larger open spaces and outdoor areas.

A Machine for Pigs was originally set for a Halloween release, but it’s now officially been pushed back to 2013. We have more times to prepare ourselves.