Amnesia: The Bunker

Short version is: If you are a fan of horror games, this game is an absolute must-play. There is nothing that comes close to the type ofShort version is: If you are a fan of horror games, this game is an absolute must-play. There is nothing that comes close to the type of experience you get on your first play-through, and for a game that’s only $25, it is very affordable and the quality of the game exceeds that price. The Bunker nails something in specific, and that is its atmosphere. Right from the start, you can feel that the environment you will traverse through is extremely tight and claustrophobic. The bunker itself is expansive, but everything will feel so dangerously close to you. It feels like you have nowhere to run or hide. The environment is also enhanced by some phenomenal use of lighting. This game is dark; really dark. A small source of light can give some form of reprieve, but realizing that your surrounding is completely pitch black really sells the fact that you are trapped in a bunker alone. Your obvious choice, then, would be to use the flashlight given to you. However, almost every tool at your disposal can be both beneficial and severe red herrings, demanding you to understand how and when to use your tools. The consequences can be severe if they’re used carelessly. It’s a game of not only escaping from the monster, but also about tracking your inventory and your own actions. It leads to this experience that is not only very scary, but also tense in the fact that many of the actions you do can have their pros and cons. You can definitely tell this game took some inspiration from the RE franchise (esp with inventory management and safe areas), but it implements some of its ideas to great effect to the Amnesia formula. The sound design is also really good. The droning music combined with the loud sounds that occur in the bunker are really well executed. The presentation and environment of the game in general is extremely oppressive. The bang of your weapon, the rolling sound of your flashlight, they all feel very organic. I played this game on my PS5 and it also ran great with little to no issues other than very few microstutters which only lasted a few milliseconds. This will surely get patched later. The game also looked good graphics-wise. They’re nothing that will blow your mind, but it absolutely fits with the type of environment they were aiming for. To put it simply, this is one of the best (and scariest) horror games I’ve ever played. The experience is carefully crafted and polished from start to finish, with a heart-pumping environment and monster. I hope it gets a native PS5 version soon because I can see this game really benefiting from haptic feedback. And while it might be a short game for some, I think it’s absolutely worth it nevertheless. If you’re tired of broken AAA releases, the polish this game has will be a relief to you. I hope we see more AA-quality games like this in the future. Not everything needs to be a huge $70 AAA experience or really small indie experience. The Bunker hits the middle point of both while bringing both sides’ best features into a single product. Frictional has done it again!… Expand