Amnesia: The Bunker

There are tons of interesting design ideas for horror games. Alien Isolation stands as one of my all-time favourites. It built on already established concepts and managed to captivate me with its incredibly accurately-rendered interpretation of the franchise. The xenomorph chasing you through the ship and reacting to you was awesome. The fact that it also learned from your actions gave the genre a big step forward as a whole. It was horror at its best. Alien Isolation seems from what I've played to have been a clear inspiration for Amnesia: The Bunker.

As the name suggests, this horror gem takes place during the First World War. Although the nations seem fictional, the uniforms are distinctly French and German. There is no mistaking that we are on the Western Front somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if Frictional Games was inspired by low budget horrors on the same theme as Trench 11, Bunker and the underrated Deathwatch. Even though you're alone here rather than in a group like the movies often show, I felt the same fear, desperation and stress that a group of characters would do. Our interactive media has an ability to put us in the shoes of the person we control. It is very noticeable in the horror genre. I personally think the trenches are well suited for psychological horror, thrillers and the like. Therefore, it is a bit of a shame that the genre as such, both film and game, does not use World War I as its backdrop very often.

When I wake up in the game, alone, near death, my first thought is to try to get a handle on where I am. I twist and turn some objects I find. When I get out of the infirmary, I begin to understand the extent of my problems. It is clearly visible that I'm in an abandoned bunker complex along the trenches. After that, you're pretty much on your own. It's your problem to survive; the developers will not help you. The intro and prologue offer good framing and presentation. They're not perfect and the war sequences feel a bit low-budget, but when the hand-holding section is over and the game really hands over the reins to you, the experience finds its niche. The first staggered steps out of a sickbed to wander the corridors of the bunker and find your starting items is evocative. You will quickly learn that you are not alone, so you grab a revolver and a loud bad light you start like an old boat engine. It's nothing new for Frictional Games. The idea is that even the items require some work from you. You need to open the barrel of the revolver with one button and reload cartridges in the different chambers with another. The studio is great at creating interactions with the world and its objects. It is also a master of interactions between you, environment and objects. You turn on your lamp, it illuminates the environment so you can see, the monster happens to be close, hears the sound and starts chasing you. It happens painlessly without intrusive user interfaces, warning lights, texts and arrows.

Just like before, you can pick up objects, rotate, look and move. It is required for you to find clues, codes and other things you need. It was quick and instinctive for me to feel comfortable with this. However, I was a little surprised by the direction. First, World War I is unusual. Then it's a little outside the developer's normal game design to create such an open world without loading sequences. In addition, the game is very free. You will quickly find a room in the bunker which is your security room. You can lock it and the monster won't get to you here. There is a saving feature here in the form of a lantern and a generator. You might be asking yourself why should I waste time in such a room. The whole setup involves you carrying out expeditions into the bunker from this room. You need to find items, codes, routes, fuel and also craft new items from within your little safe room.

I mentioned on an earlier occasion that there is a generator. It has replaced the insanity meter feature from Amnesia: The Dark Descent. You don't want the bunker's light bulbs to go out. The monster chasing you is not fond of the light. You will quickly realize that you need to plan how to proceed. You have to decide how many fuel tanks to fill the generator with and which ones to save in the bunker's chest. There is not an infinite supply of this precious liquid and the bunker is insanely dangerous to explore in the dark. Besides the monster, there are traps of various natures you can easily trip over if you're not looking. The lamp you have with you is weak, makes noise and attracts the monster. In the centre is you, the generator and you need to make expeditions to finally manage to escape. In the safe room there is also a map you can use, but once out there in the corridors, only the monster and your breaths keep you company.

Since Amnesia has been about light since the beginning, this is a bit of a perfect way to represent the storytelling and the world. I really love the layout and design choices. The only thing I would like to criticize a little is that you can lock your ability to progress if you don't have fuel. Some areas require light, and if you run out of fuel, you can't progress. I'm also not completely sold on the fact that you can't go above 60 frames per second. As I understand it, it has to do with their game engine and all interactions with objects in the world. Things break if you cross that line. I hope the developers look into this for the future. The graphics itself are good. They won't push the industry forward but they do the job. The art is great and it feels immersive. I am all the more impressed with the sound quality. It is always clear where the noises are coming from, they are qualitative and heighten the tensions. While it can't compete with high-budget titles visually, there's something else that impresses here. In order not to create repetition, there are aspects of the adventure that are generated randomly. Codes are never the same, items change places and so on. You can get some important items before others such as a gas mask. That means it all has replay value. Especially if you want to increase the difficulty.

Although we now know that the developers will release a customizable difficulty mode, it is missing in the game's current state. It's a shame because being able to customize the difficulty levels in horror games is something I like. However, the degrees of difficulty make concrete changes. The easiest mode offers more save points outside the bunker, giving you plenty of items and materials. The hardest mode limits this, setting more traps and making the monster more dangerous. I tried all the difficulty levels and my favourite from the beginning was normal, it's a decent difficulty mode. If there's one thing I take away from this, it's the fantastic atmosphere. It's a nasty horror game inspired by competitors like Alien Isolation and low-budget horror movies like Deathwatch from 2002. I can't help but applaud it as this is Frictional Games' best game ever. They draw the right lessons from previous works such as Penumbra, Soma and Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I, who love to see or take part in media with the First World War, get a little lyrical about such a good horror experience with this theme. It holds no hands resulting in creativity and increased fear. is good at making you feel very alone. The monster is merciless and you need to think about what you do and when you do things. The freedom and lack of arrows in every direction also means you need to be more driven to make it through the adventure. I miss a custom difficulty mode from the start, unfortunately you can lock your ability to progress if you're not careful with fuel (right now in isolated situations) and 2023 locking us to 60fps is a bit outdated. Otherwise, it's the best horror game of the year.