Amnesia: The Dark Descent altered how horror video games were seen. Amnesia: Rebirth from 2020 appeared to bring the plot seeds it started 13 years prior to a spine-chilling and dramatic ultimate flowering. Therefore, it will be difficult for Amnesia: The Bunker, a shorter and more standalone chapter, to reignite my interest in this terrifying series.
This adds to the tension because leaving the primary safe room requires using up your meager resources and presumably also tests your resolve.
Amnesia: The Bunker Is Interesting
The Bunker takes an interesting page out of Alien: Isolation’s book and features a single, constant threat called the Stalker that exists behind the brick walls as well as above the ceiling of your concrete prison, unlike most enemies in other Amnesia games that are scripted to patrol a specific area in a specific way. Running, pulling the trigger on a hand-cranked flashlight, firing off a weapon, or any other loud noise will attract it.
We assume the part of a French soldier who is injured in combat and awakens to discover the exits damaged and practically all of his comrades-in-arms murdered by something lurking in the darkness in this World War I bunker in 1916. The whole bunker, which feels wider than it seems on paper, is accessible to explore from a rather early point in the game, which is the first and greatest departure from the standard Amnesia formula.
Its slightly unexpected behavior turns up the dread and provides some much-needed dynamism. And you’ll be able to tell when you’ve caught its attention by scraping and growling, which employ clever use of sound to amplify your worry.
