Amnesia: The Darkish Descent modified the face of horror video games 13 years in the past, and 2020’s Amnesia: Rebirth appeared to deliver the story seeds it planted to a bone-chilling and climactic ultimate bloom. So Amnesia: The Bunker, a smaller and extra self-contained chapter, has its work lower out for it in getting me enthusiastic about this scary franchise once more. And whereas lots of the basics of its stealth and exploration have stayed the identical as they have been once I awoke as Daniel greater than a decade in the past, this gloomy, open-ended cat-and-mouse thriller proves you possibly can train an previous hellbeast some new methods.
Set in a dim, doomed World Warfare I bunker in 1916, we tackle the function of a French soldier who’s wounded in battle, and wakes to seek out the exits destroyed and almost all of his comrades-in-arms slaughtered by one thing lurking in the dead of night. The primary and largest shake-up to the standard Amnesia routine is that the whole bunker, which feels greater than it seems to be on paper, is on the market to discover from pretty early on. Much like Metroid or Resident Evil, you may have to trace down a small arsenal of instruments to entry sure areas and progress the story, however you are given little or no route by way of the place to go subsequent. This helps to construct pressure, as a result of each expedition out of the lamp-lit central protected room is a drain in your very restricted sources, and possibly your resolve, too.
Whereas most enemies in different Amnesia video games are scripted to patrol a particular space in a particular method, The Bunker takes a refreshing web page out of Alien: Isolation’s e book and encompasses a single, ever-present risk known as the Stalker that lives behind the partitions and above the ceiling of your concrete jail. It is interested in noise, which may be something from working, to firing off a weapon, to utilizing your hand-cranked flashlight. The truth that its conduct is considerably unpredictable dials up the dread and provides some much-needed dynamism. And you may know if you’ve gotten its consideration by scraping and growling that use efficient sound design to additional gasoline your paranoia.
Shoot to Thrill
Amnesia made a reputation for itself as a horror sport with no weapons, so it appeared odd to me at first that The Bunker palms you a pistol and even generally grenades. However the joke was actually on me as these can, at finest, make the Stalker go away you alone for a couple of minutes. Munitions are situationally helpful, however finally find yourself making the foe even scarier. In spite of everything, what’s worse? A monster you possibly can’t struggle in any respect, or one you have seen can take a bullet to the face and merely get a bit aggravated?
The place this beastie didn’t impress me, although, was its AI. The alien in Isolation would slowly study extra about you the extra occasions you encountered it, particularly if you happen to had a go-to technique like hiding in lockers. The Stalker, sadly, does not appear almost as savvy. On the default issue, in nearly all instances, I might merely crouch below a desk and it might by no means discover me even when I used to be virtually respiration on its ankles. Figuring that out deflates a great little bit of the strain The Bunker labored so onerous to construct. Fortunately, it has one other, intelligent method of creating you sweat even if you happen to’re an knowledgeable at hiding.
See, the entire bunker is powered by a central generator that guzzles down gasoline like a thirsty elephant, and there are solely so many refills accessible on the entire map. You possibly can discover with out the lights on, nevertheless it’s… effectively, it is very unhealthy. The Stalker is free to roam the halls within the darkness, whereas it might usually keep in its tunnels till it detects you. Worse, your solely reusable supply of sunshine is that silly flashlight that makes a bunch of noise and alerts it to your place.
What this implies is each journey out into the far corners of the bunker comes with a way of urgency and function, embodied by a pocket watch you possibly can sync as much as the quantity of remaining gasoline to know the way a lot time you might have earlier than lights out. In the event you select to cover each time the Stalker is round, you may be burning a valuable useful resource, as it may generally take a minute or two for it to cease patrolling and return into the tunnels. That is undoubtedly The Bunker’s best new trick for making me really feel the best way the primary Amnesia did yet again.
Warfare Tales
The story is a comparatively easy one, particularly in comparison with the interdimensional cosmic nightmare that was Rebirth. A timeline of occasions slowly comes into focus as you discover notes written by the varied enlisted males and officers who as soon as known as this field a house away from residence. There’s a pretty intelligent twist towards the top that managed to subvert my expectations as an Amnesia veteran. Whereas the previous video games have largely been about remembering and coming to phrases along with your character’s sins, that is merely a prelude to what The Bunker really has in retailer.
There are definitely some little peeks into the bigger Amnesia universe, however I discovered it refreshing how a lot smaller and extra self-contained this story is. In the event you did play Rebirth, you may be rewarded by understanding the context behind a number of the weirder stuff that exhibits up. And if you happen to did not, you may get to be shocked and perplexed by these moments in a method I wasn’t. Then it’s best to in all probability go play Rebirth so you possibly can perceive what is definitely happening.
I discovered the ending itself extraordinarily predictable although. If you consider what you are doing all through The Bunker for even a second, I think about most individuals will concentrate on what “escape” would really imply the entire time. However it’s nonetheless efficient, reminding us that we, as people, can create horrors far worse than any author’s most unearthly imaginings. And figuring out the place it is going definitely does not spoil the journey.
As a ultimate little twist, lots of stuff in The Bunker, together with the monster’s conduct, locker codes, and the situation of some key objects, are semi-randomized on each playthrough. That is supposed to maintain issues attention-grabbing if you happen to determine to replay it. I did not really feel like there have been particularly compelling causes to take action, nevertheless it’s good to know if I ever get the itch that I will not simply be speedrunning by means of the identical route once more. A primary playthrough ran me about eight hours by Steam’s rely, however solely round 5 by the in-game clock, which little question has one thing to do with what number of occasions I tabbed out to have a look at humorous animal movies to get my stress below management.
There’s additionally one irritating little technical challenge: When transitioning between areas, the display screen hangs because it hundreds in, generally for up to a few seconds and even when put in on a quick SSD. Contemplating these areas aren’t very large, and developer Frictional’s video games do not precisely appear to be Crysis, this appears poorly justified.
I am unable to say Amnesia remains to be a groundbreaking horror franchise prefer it was originally. The bigger story it was constructing has already been performed out with Rebirth. However Amnesia: The Bunker proves that smaller, anthology-style episodes inside its universe can nonetheless deliver the strain and the scares. And Frictional’s bag of methods is much from exhausted relating to getting our hearts pounding and making us fastidiously think about how you can use the restricted instruments accessible to us. It isn’t an unmissable expertise, however as an Amnesia fan, it undoubtedly sated my urge for food for some gut-churning horror and moody, bleak storytelling.
