2010’s Amnesia: The Darkish Descent altered the horror style without end because the breakout recreation made in a specific hide-and-seek model. It is one which depends on a scarcity of fight, placing gamers in horrifying conditions they can not win, and demanding they run and conceal as a substitute. Via numerous imitators and even a couple of sequels, Frictional Video games has had its components repeated, however Amnesia: The Bunker isn’t the newest in that lineage. It performs fairly in a different way, although it nonetheless seems like a basic Amnesia recreation in important methods, and it is this mixture of outdated and new that helps make it the studio’s scariest recreation since The Darkish Descent.
Amnesia: The Bunker is, in some methods, the Amnesia chances are you’ll know already. You may play in first-person as a personality who’s affected by reminiscence loss and should piece collectively their very own historical past, in addition to that of the unnerving locale through which they inevitably discover themselves. In The Bunker, that character is Henri Clement, a French soldier throughout World Warfare I who loses consciousness whereas rescuing a fellow soldier from hurt’s manner, then awakens within the titular bunker seemingly all alone–though he’ll quickly want that had been actually the case.
Via scattered notes, the story of the labyrinthine bunker will come into focus. It is an entertaining, albeit detail-light, saga that appears to tie on to different video games in deep-cut ways in which some gamers will recognize. But it surely’s simply as simple to play it and never have any context for the story in any respect, or take it as a standalone horror story a few man trapped in a maze with a monster. It really works effectively sufficient in every case, however it does really feel like there’s much less narrative to unpack than previous video games within the collection.
Amnesia: The Bunker is far much less predictable than previous video games within the collection, and even consists of variable components that change throughout playthroughs. This provides it extra replayability than previous video games from Frictional, and it really works rather well in that manner. Essential objects corresponding to a wrench for creating shortcuts, a lighter to mild torches, and canine tags that reveal locker codes could be discovered in numerous spots with every new playthrough. Even locker codes change throughout playthroughs–sorry, information writers–meaning every participant who enters the bunker is really on their very own, making the sport more difficult in an age the place solutions are normally discovered on-line for these misplaced and scared.
The variable components are an thrilling new wrinkle, however they’re additionally solely an accompaniment to the sport’s centerpiece: its monster, which ceaselessly lurks all through the bunker largely unscripted. This makes each encounter a lot scarier, because it tends to remain hidden until you have tousled indirectly. On this manner, the monster is an enforcer to make sure you’re working at peak efficiency, and within the bunker meaning a number of various things are taking place: You may wish to maintain the generator operating, which gives lighting to the numerous corridors and wings you may unlock and discover. You may wish to maintain noise to a minimal, which suggests no sprinting by means of the halls, or no less than hiding quickly after doing so. It additionally means staying wholesome, as you share the darkish hallways with hungry rats who chew you and go away you bleeding, which the monster can hint again to you because it hunts.
I completely love these methods as a result of they work together so effectively collectively. With restricted stock house, the sport provides virtually a management-sim component to it, the place you may generally must make runs exterior the protected room simply to amass a couple of extra canisters of gasoline, even should you occur to know the place the subsequent vital quest merchandise is, corresponding to a key or a specific notice. At any time when the gasoline runs out, the lights go off, permitting the monster to roam freely, however with the lights on, the monster largely solely comes out while you’ve made an excessive amount of noise. You possibly can, in concept, beat the sport totally at the hours of darkness with nothing however your hand-cranked flashlight, however good luck to these attempting. It’s a ruthless, tireless, insatiable beast.
You may add new stock slots by discovering luggage across the bunker, however even at max capability, you will not have sufficient room to hold all the things you want, which calls for sacrifices. Do I take the watch that tells me how a lot time is left till the gasoline is exhausted, or do I take the therapeutic objects in case the rats show exhausting to evade? Do I throw an empty bottle to create a diversion, or do I convey it to the gasoline room to replenish for the generator again within the protected room? There is no second in a playthrough through which you will not be weighing choices corresponding to these, making each second a considerate train in survival. All assets are finite, so utilizing any of them should include good purpose or else you are damning your self to failure.
Options have a number of proper solutions, too, which rewards or punishes good or inconsiderate selections, respectively. For instance, a locked door could be damaged open with a thrown brick, shot with a gun, or opened with a key–if you occur to seek out it. Sure, Amnesia has a gun now, and should you’re anxious about it eradicating the sport’s finest components, do not be. The gun can’t kill the monster, and ammo is extraordinarily restricted. At finest, it could actually stun the monster for a second, providing you with an opportunity to flee round a nook or drag a barrel in entrance of a door to impede its pursuit. You may merely sluggish the creature, and doing so solely angers it.
Gallery
I used to be additionally shocked to see how effectively the setting works. In previews, I used to be anxious that the plain hallways would develop stale rapidly, however not solely does the sport diversify its setting in attention-grabbing methods, however even these unique photos of normal navy bunker corridors find yourself feeling attention-grabbing due to how shortcuts, hiding spots, and instruments are tucked away in every of them. With a centralized provide room filled with locked lockers, it is good to spend time looking for out mixtures that unlock them, however as all the time, these concerns burn gasoline and sure make noise, so it is all the time a threat. Each room feels very deliberately constructed and there is not any wasted house within the recreation.
All of those variable components mix to place extra management in Amnesia gamers’ palms than they’ve ever had earlier than, and that tension–where chances are you’ll dwell or die not due to a tricky scripted second, however since you created an issue for yourself–makes The Bunker the crew’s scariest recreation since 2010. Regardless of a powerful 12 months of horror video games thus far, I consider Amnesia: The Bunker is the scariest recreation of 2023. It really works extremely effectively in its quiet moments, like after I’d conceal underneath a mattress or in a closet, hoping the monster does not spot me, in addition to throughout chase sequences which had my coronary heart in my throat each single time.
That feeling of being chased is so unnerving, particularly in first-person by means of a pitch-black hallway as inhuman snarls shut in on you. So typically, I would just barely make it again to the protected room with sufficient time to slam the door and lock it behind me. It is intense, and every time I survived, I felt my physique loosen up as my coronary heart charge would slowly return to regular. I’ve lately anxious I have been desensitized to horror video games since I have been taking part in them for 25 years. Amnesia: The Bunker helped me discover these evasive thrills once more. It is terrifying, and I adore it.
The component that ties this all collectively is the sport’s unbelievable audio design. In such a lonesome and haunted house, Amnesia: The Bunker is the signature play-it-with-headphones expertise. Every footstep echoes in such a manner that feels betraying. Typically the monster could breathe on the opposite facet of a wall as you inch previous a gaggle of rats, hoping they do not chew you. Even cranking the flashlight reverberates by means of the turn-of-the-century partitions, which could be sufficient to provide your self away if the creature is shut by. It is all so atmospheric that even should you aren’t consuming its considerably mild story particulars, you may be pulled into its world all the identical.
Regardless of these quite a few thrills, it is value noting that they don’t seem to be all totally novel. The way in which through which the monster roams the ceiling and partitions round you, rising unscripted from crawlspaces with the pounce of a lion while you screw up, is corresponding to Alien: Isolation. It will make the sport, as totally different from previous Amnesia video games as it’s, a bit acquainted to horror aficionados. Nonetheless, I really feel as if the variable components constructed on prime of that mechanic, in addition to the dizzyingly haunting setting, do elevate The Bunker’s monster to one thing scarier than that specific xenomorph.
With causes to return to the sport after hitting the credit, Amnesia: The Bunker is the longest-lasting recreation within the collection thus far. And due to unbelievable environment, alternatives for participant creativity, and a listing metagame that makes every success or failure totally your personal, Amnesia: The Bunker is proof that Frictional has nonetheless received it. It is a crew that continues to refine the horror style, and although I’ve discovered every of their video games intriguing in numerous methods, they have not scared me the best way this one does in a very long time.