It’s roaming restlessly at midnight, slender halls attempting to search out the final residing soul within the underground bunker it hasn’t already disemboweled or decapitated. It’s riddled with fangs, fueled by malice, warped by eldritch sorcery, and it — what it is — has carried out extra injury to your squad than the German troopers simply above you which are not the primary risk. Those German troopers, like all human, are predictable, however this factor isn’t human, and that unpredictability permeates all through Amnesia: The Bunker, turning it into some of the tightly paced and annoying survival horror video games within the style.
Loads of The Bunker’s pressure is derived from its spontaneity and the way expertly designed it’s to maintain gamers in a continuing state of unease. The creature is that this design ethic in bodily type because it’s a malevolent and unkillable antagonist that relentlessly pursues the participant; a typical trope seen in lots of the greatest video games within the style. But in contrast to well-known examples like Resident Evil 2’s Mr. X or the regenerator in Dead Space, The Bunker’s beast is ever-present and never relegated to scripted “stalking sections.”
It’s virtually all the time creeping round its elaborate tunnel system, stomping in regards to the barracks, and attempting to smell out the participant — actually if they’re wounded. Its barbaric snarls and thunderous footsteps are haunting reminders of the looming risk that double as eerie methods to maintain free tabs on it. There are valuable, all-too-brief respites the place it’s occupied in some far off space, however having to duck, cover, and thoroughly tiptoe round is all the time chilling due to the way it will get gamers to lean ahead and keep engaged. It’s not even any much less scary due to the added defensive choices since they take talent, luck, and a sizeable period of time to make use of successfully.
By being principally unscripted, The Bunker is asking gamers to all the time be able to adapt to the sudden and frantically keep away from a grisly dying at a second’s discover. It’s not like Resident Evil the place the canine jumps by way of the identical window and even previous Amnesia video games the place the monsters solely patrol sure sections. This good method of unshackling the scares from scripting means virtually each second is uniquely spooky not solely within the first playthrough, however for future runs, as effectively. It’s extra about studying the mechanics and being immersed on this planet over taking consolation in rote memorization, which is the place a whole lot of horror video games lose not less than a little bit of their luster.
Future runs will all the time be slightly completely different in different methods, too, since locker mixtures, traps, and a few merchandise areas are procedurally generated. Even the ultimate encounter has a number of layouts. Similarly to how a capricious creature retains The Bunker continually thrilling, shifting the objects round ensures there’s all the time some layer of thriller that not even a information or prior information can fully erase. Key objects are nonetheless stored in the identical locations, nonetheless, which barely undercuts the in any other case considerate randomization.
In many different methods, although, The Bunker, regardless of being a labyrinth of claustrophobic corridors, can also be way more open than its friends to the purpose the place it borders on being an immersive sim. Unlike the earlier Amnesia video games that had been mechanically stripped down, this fourth entry offers gamers a small handful of instruments that work together with one another and the world in several methods. When mixed with Frictional Games’ signature physics engine, The Bunker offers gamers a handful of the way to resolve issues. Wooden doorways may be unlocked or blown open. Rats may be distracted, burned, or shooed away with a makeshift torch. Not each door or goal may be cracked in quite a few methods and that retains it from being really open, however there’s nonetheless sufficient variation.
These selections additionally drive gamers to all the time weigh dangers and rewards, one thing that’s most clearly represented within the loud flashlight gamers need to crank to activate. Blowing up a door or killing rats with a grenade cuts out on crawling round, but the deafening noise will appeal to the beast. Leaving traps untouched is harmful, however can be strategically used towards the monster. Special, resource-heavy rooms that gamers need to loudly open with a view to plunder are the epitome of this sort of astute design since they’re alluring mouse traps with a candy, candy chunk of cheese mendacity in the midst of the catch. The Bunker is a difficult expertise with only a few computerized checkpoints, so packing the sport with all these choices makes it as participating as it’s tense. Every alternative carries a lot weight and have to be deliberated accordingly, which is ideal for survival horror.
Frictional goes out of its method to inform gamers that almost all plans they consider whereas making these selections will most likely work and that freeform basis is liberating, particularly because it depends on widespread sense. Combining a bottle with a rag, some gasoline, and a lighter to make a Molotov cocktail doesn’t should be spelled out. A rickety picket door ought to crumble after a shotgun blast (and it does). Objectives are equally organically carried out and don’t require annoying beacons, obtrusive HUD parts, or lunar logic. Players aren’t led by the nostril and need to assume and analyze the sport world with a view to progress, a refreshing philosophy that’s a direct byproduct of how tightly designed The Bunker is and the way it’s constructed round submerging the participant in its world.
The all-encompassing immersion is what makes the technical shortcomings much more obtrusive. The Bunker has jarring load screens that kick in when transitioning to a brand new part. It locks the entire recreation up for just a few seconds and infrequently turns off the participant’s flashlight because it boots within the subsequent space. It’s unclear why these segues are so turbulent because the recreation is neither massive nor a graphical showpiece, and it’s puzzling each single time. Occasional crashes are additionally stunning and elicit an inexpensive type of worry this recreation doesn’t want. The Bunker isn’t a glitchy mess, however these hiccups are much more apparent when all the things else round them has been meticulously crafted to suck the participant in.
Amnesia: The Bunker Review: The ultimate verdict
Not even an intermittent crash or clunky load display screen can reduce what Amnesia: The Bunker does so effectively. The intimate world, splendidly interwoven mechanics, and semi-random nature make The Bunker a nerve-racking expertise that’s a pure evolution of its landmark first entry. On a floor degree, it’s nonetheless about creeping by way of a dimly lit hellhole and evading unspeakable horrors, however Frictional has spent the final decade advancing that system to create the very best model of it thus far.
Crushing environment shrouded in thriller and darkness
Open design, clear guidelines, and lack of handholding let gamers give gamers freedom in how they remedy issues
Terrifying creature design
Randomized objects, traps, codes, and unpredictable monster A.I. make it extremely replayable and persistently scary
Jarring load occasions, occasional crashes, and slight body fee dips are obtrusive
Disclaimer: This Amnesia: The Bunker evaluation is predicated on a PS4 copy offered by the writer. Reviewed on model 1.41.
