Amnesia: The Bunker review: The inventive horror series breaks new ground

The book is titled “In His Book” Vimy RidgeAlexander McKee, a British military historian and journalist, described the deafening sound that could be perceived as if it were a touch. “I felt that if I lifted a finger I should touch a solid ceiling of sound,” he wrote about experiencing a bombardment during the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917. As recollected by professor Santanu Das at The Guardian, Wilfred Owen, the poet behind “Dulce et Decorum Est,” echoes a similar experience after three weeks at the Somme in 1916: “I have not seen any dead. I have been worse. In the dank air, I have perceived it, and in the darkness, felt.”

The Bunker: AmnesiaFrictional Games’ latest horror game,, places you into the boots of an muddy French soldier in World War I. In keeping with the Amnesia series’ previous games, as well as Frictional’s PenumbraThe following are some examples of how to get started: Soma, you’re forced to survive cat-and-mouse chases in ensnaring spaces. This time, however, the structure isn’t linear. This labyrinthine bunker combines free-roaming with immersive-sim. As in the groundbreaking Alien: IsolationA creature will follow you on your journey. A single mistake in time, or even a wrong step can be enough to bring it into view.

The following are some of the ways to get in touch with us The BunkerThe sound can be both frightening and useful, warning you of impending danger even before you round a bend. You can hear growls and rumblings above your head and inside the walls, and in holes that only your predator can use — the better to ambush you. The first glimpse of the monster was only fleeting, just moments before I died.

Systemically, The Bunker It is built around a central safe room, and generator that act as the starting point and hub of roguelike adventures into the concrete complex’s bowels. It powers the majority of rooms after you turn on switches manually. The signature monster is kept at bay by the generator. The generator burns the fuel very quickly. While you search desperately for the fuel cans, an alarm clock displays how long your lights will remain on. Each tick of the needle adds to your anxiety.

Frictional Games

This is because some sections are spread out over large underground areas and they’re often infested with rats or tripwires. Since you can only reference the map in designated safe rooms, it’s crucial to gather as much information as possible during each trip, memorizing layouts or, if you’re lucky, finding dog tags and notes from soldiers that hint at your next destination. Over time, I quickly learned that abandoning these expeditions halfway through them wasn’t always the best option — even if the alternate meant proceeding in complete darkness. There are only so many fuel cans to find, and wasting them to revisit places repeatedly means you’ll need to travel farther to get more, potentially losing light much earlier on in the process.

The goal of the game is to clear out the structure and find the dynamite. But the gradual search takes time, and there’s minimal hand-holding past the tutorial. You’ll also have to decide what you want to take and leave behind due to your limited space. You can store essential items like the stopwatch in the safe room stash (if you’re OK not knowing You may also like: when the generator’s fuel will run out) in exchange for valuable crafting materials or progression-related tools.

You can buy pocket bags to add more items, but not enough for me to feel truly prepared. After you’re cornered by the creature a few times, you’ll think twice before stashing the wrench (which unscrews vent covers to access otherwise locked rooms) or the lighter (a quieter light source that can also ignite fires and power a torch) on future trips. Surviving The Bunker This means weighing the pros and cons of all items.

Frictional Games

Noise attracts monsters, so you have to wind the mechanical flashlight loudly to make it work. Due to their loud resounding, using grenades or pistols is more stressful. bangs. These risks can often be necessary. Shooting at a padlock, or cleaning up vermin in a corridor that is blocked by them, will create shortcuts to the inevitable retracement. Attacking the monster directly is only a temporary solution. The creature will flee for just a moment if you hurt it. Once it returns, it’ll act more aggressively, while also gaining resilience against subsequent attacks. One bullet is all it took to get rid of the monster during an encounter. Next, it simply did not respond to the shots, and my ammunition was exhausted.

They are moments that rival the stealthiest games. Even the slightest sound can reveal the location of your enemy. Frictional is known for creating such moments using elegant but terrifying systems. The Bunker’s standout achievement, then, is creating a nonlinear sandbox where you’re constantly learning from your own bad habits. I’ve never been so conscious of how much noise everything makes around me in a digital space, cautiously entering rooms to avoid kicking an empty wine bottle or activating the flashlight intermittently when I knew the monster was near. As McKee described, it’s your mundane actions, in conjunction with the crude and hostile setting, that create a solid ceiling of sound — one that only grows thicker the longer you inhabit the bunker.

The Bunker. The game was released June 6, on Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Xbox One and Xbox Series X were also available. Double Fine Productions gave us a download code to review the game on Series X. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. Vox Media can earn affiliate commissions, but this does not affect editorial content. Find out more about affiliate links. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.