Fictional Games made their mark on the gaming world with Amnesia: The Dark Descent which became a massive hit thanks in part due to the neverending trove of youtube videos featuring obnoxious overreactions. When the game finally came to console I will admit I was disappointed in how the hype that was built up to it fell flat on its face as I felt the game was more tense than scary with only one good jumpscare in it. I’ll admit I never got around to playing the sequels (A Machine for Pigs, and Rebirth) so I can’t 100% say how they faired against the first game, but Amnesia: The Bunker, definitely outranks the first! I have to give a big thanks to Fictional Games for the reviewing opportunity!
Amnesia: The Bunker follows Henri, a French soldier fighting in the First World War. After being injured on the battlefield, Henri wakes up in a bunker where he’s one of the few left behind and learns quickly that there’s something wrong with the bunker as a large beast stalks in the darkness.
Now onto the game itself! Amnesia: The Bunker‘s controls will take time to get used to with a controller as there’s a lot you can do that involves interacting with the environment so I would suggest playing on a lower difficulty first to allow yourself time to learn the button layouts. I’ll admit during the start of the game with the tutorial, some things were left out that were kind of important, like how to open doors. I had to go to the options menu and look at the control layout to see how to open doors.
The sound design of Amnesia: The Bunker is insane! Wearing headphones is a must for this as it really makes you paranoid with all the sounds around you, even when the monster moves around behind the walls, especially when you make noise (the monster is sensitive to sound). I really like how realistic it is when you fire your weapon and you lose some of your hearing for a little bit with a ringing in your ear (if you know you know).
When it comes to the game’s light engine, holy crap dude. The lighting really sets the mood (not in a good way if you know what I mean), you want light when you can but when you need to use your flashlight (which you need to pull a string to charge it up) it makes a lot of noise that depending on where you are the monster may hear it and come looking.
Gameplay in Amnesia: The Bunker is pretty straightforward. You have to explore stealthily (as possible) in this semi-open world as you will be doing a lot of backtracking when it comes to finishing objectives. If you draw too much attention to yourself, the monster will come for you so you’ll need to hide, but if you have no choice but to try to defend yourself, you can with your pistol, grenades, or luring the beast into boobytraps your fallen comrades have set up in the bunker. You can also craft improvised weapons OR healing items but you only have enough space in your bag which can be upgraded if you find other bags in the bunker.
For added tension, if you want the lights to stay on in the bunker, you’ll have to collect cans of fuel, which can be used for crafting Molotovs or be placed on the ground to shoot, or you use them to refill the generator, which adds to the tension as if you chose to carry the pocket watch with you, it will help count down how much fuel is left in the generator.
Overall, compared to the first Amnesia game, Amnesia: The Bunker takes tension and fear to another level! I have not experienced any jumpscares BUT I have been spooked by sounds within the game, especially the “Oh shit” moments when I thought I attracted the monster to my location. The fact that there are other threats in Amnesia: The Bunker besides the monster also adds to the tension and growing fear. Fictional Games have come a long way with bringing the scares!
On my scale of 1-10, Sound and lighting help build the tension and terror, the graphics are nice on the eyes, the voice acting is decent, the way the game makes going back and forth not feel repetitive, and rewarding exploration with a hint of danger makes Amnesia: The Bunker a 10!
Amnesia: The Bunker is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Series X/S
