70%PlayStation 4

Amnesia The Bunker
• Third time playing
• I love Frictional Games and Jens Nilsson. I’ve been following their games for 14 years now.
• For the love of god, I never wanted to end up with a different opinion from everyone else like I did with Amnesia Rebirth.
• Amnesia the Bunker is an experiment by Frictional Games to apply different gameplay mechanics to their typical horror fair.
• This takes the series from its linear, story driven roots into a more immersive sim direction.
• By all accounts, this experiment is a success, but there’s still a problem. Amnesia the Bunker is a major step forward in gameplay for Frictional, but that is all it is…
• I hate to be that kind of fan, but where are the lore drops?
• If you are a long-time fan of the Amnesia game and Frictional Games in general like I am, you might be wondering just how it this connected to the other games.
• It’s just barely connected if you really dig into it, but beyond surface details it doesn’t really matter
• This feels more like an inconsequential side story. It’s not to the degree as A Machine for Pigs, but you can’t get any more disconnected than that.
• Honestly, I feel like I’m indulging in my fandom for Frictional that I rarely get to compared to how others indulge in far more popular franchises. I hope you understand.
• Regardless, Amnesia the Bunker is a good horror game, but for me, it’s only like number four on in my top eight Frictional Games.

90%PC

Amnesia: The Bunker has the best gameplay of an Amnesia game to date, and it might be the most scary without many scripted moments. This game is not just more of the same for the series. Aside from the obvious (that your player character has a gun) here are some things I found refreshing in this game:

- There are multiple solutions to almost every problem, not just "find the key for this locked door."
- There are multiple directions you can go, and I think you can beat the game without even going to some areas.
- There's one monster hunting you through the whole game. This is refreshing in that you know what sorts of things attract it and how to get around it. It makes the game feel way less scripted, like you're never going to get cheaply jump-scared, and it is just more dynamic overall.

Neutral:
- My only issue with this game, and some people have the opposite problem, but this game doesn't provide anything new to the lore that you didn't already know from Rebirth or TDD. The main focus is on your escape from the bunker and the monster, and that is okay. I am just fascinated by the world of this franchise and would have loved to see even more of it explored. This one has more limited scope by its nature, but I think the horror might be stronger for it.

85%PC

Frictonal games my beloved <3 This Amnesia entry is once again very different from their first game in the series, The Dark Descent. It almost seems that Frictional is experimenting with their newer games and while Rebirth didn't hit as much for me, The Bunker sure does. Rebirth was riddled with story and while it was still well written imo, it was still trying to be too ambitious with it. Especially because the gameplay didn't compliment it well.
The Bunker is almost the complete opposite. The story is alright, I enjoyed it but by far the most interesting thing in this game is the environment and the stalker.
This game is way more focused on how to create an intriguing interaction with your environment, there are no more autosaves and managing your resources becomes vital. The stalker is terrifying, make one noise and you can hear how it skitters through the walls to try and find you. By interacting with your environment or by using certain items you can stagger the stalker, lure it away, make it angry, make it retreat, etc etc. All of this makes the world feel incredibly real. I remember having only one fuel can left and having to make the subsequent choice of using it to find more fuel in an unexplored area or risk using the only one I had for the objective. Or having no fire to scare away the rats, so instead having to use sound to make the stalker chase them away. Plus the fact that every movement is so slow, reloading your gun, charging your flashlight. It feels like every choice you make has to be a deliberate one. This game was also made to be replayable, New Game+ has a bajillion custom options, including the option to make the stalker even more unpredictable.
All in all a really well designed game that I'm sure I'm going to visit again.

(Rebirth's environments and connection to the lore were also way too overdone imo, in this game the connection to the lore is simple, with only a slight environment shift, creating much more room to enjoy the gameplay fully).

25%PC

Tried to do survival horror and it just doesn't feel like Amnesia. Did not capture me like Rebirth did, similar to Dark Decent in how boring the start is.

90%PC

really fun horror with interesting emergent gameplay; an easy recommendation to both horror and immersive sim fans

90%PlayStation 4

I will admit that early on I just about quit playing this game because of how intense and oppressive the atmosphere was. After a bit of getting used to and seeing the AI for the Beast wasn't some god level thing sensing my every move I was able to proceed and very much enjoyed my experience. I love all the games in the franchise but some, mainly Dark Descent, do not let up on their dread. There are so many good mechanics and tools available to you in Bunker that it just makes for a really good and varied experience.

85%PlayStation 5

The game is good but I lost my savefile, thats why it took me to complete the 100% so long. Apparently its a common issue on console ports, which is a sad downside to an otherwise masterpiece.

80%Xbox Series X/S

Отличная игра, толькотсюжета не хватило

80%PC

Amnesia: The Bunker é um ótimo jogo, reinventando mais uma vez a franquia amnésia com suas mecânicas únicas, desde a lanterna que você usa até o sistema de gasolina e blecautes. O jogo não é tão assustador mas um pouco agoniante com o espreitador literalmente te espreitando pelas paredes a todo o momento.
Mesmo tendo acesso a armas de fogo e outros arsenais de longe é o amnésia mais dificultoso dos demais, por conta do sistema dos ratos e do espreitador que estão constantemente em sinergia para acabar com o jogador.
Os únicos pontos negativos ao meu ver são:
*O sistema de salvamento do jogo é estranho, sempre que você passa por um dos saves pré-definidos no mapa o jogo trava constantemente e além disso como o saves são em áreas pré-determinadas o jogador constantemente tem que repetir tarefas caso morra.
*E a falta de elementos de historia e puzzles, claro que tem como sempre as notas contando os acontecimentos dentro do bunker, porém não há muita conexão aos outros jogos além do orbe, das ruinas e do mesmo universo. Parecendo meio desconexo.
Mesmo com esses pontos negativos Amnesia: The Bunker é um dos ótimos jogos da franquia e diferente dos outros jogos não acho tão necessário a jogatina dos jogos anteriores da franquia para jogar este jogo.

80%PlayStation 4

This game has an amazing concept but the execution is a little muddy. Something like RE1 + Alien Isolation with some innovative twists. Unlike prior entries that were mainly about story and running away, this is a full blown survival horror game with lots of puzzles, backtracking, and inventory management that asks you to make many no-win decisions

PRO
+ Hub - there is basically 1 save point in the entire game and it’s in the center on the map. The hub branches out into a handful of other areas. You constantly venture out to make progress but quickly come back and save so you don’t lose your progress
+ Lights out! You use fuel items to turn on the lights. This mostly keeps the monster at bay but you have a 10 minute time limit. This is a fantastic mechanic that constantly switches the game between panic and letting you breathe for a minute
+ No portable map. There are maps in the world but you can’t take them with you. Of course I just took a picture with my phone but I quickly found myself not needing it. Like the Souls genre, you’ll quickly memorize the layout and become a master of your surroundings. It is so satisfying to venture out with no lights or map and crawl to victory. This has a sense of mastering your environment like few games I’ve ever played

CON
- Stealth isn’t great and I think it’s the main problem here. Alien isolation was a clear influence here but there are nowhere near as many places to hide. Isolation was very organic and let you hide under basically any desk or table but there’s so little of that here. You are often forced into a confrontation with the monster when it shows up, which you will usually lose
- Defense items are unreliable for various reasons. Sometimes they make the monster go away and sometimes they do nothing and you die. Any time you need to blow something up or shoot a lock, you’re basically forced into a confrontation where you need to use a defense item. The molotovs are the best weapon but they require you to use fuel AND bring the lighter so that’s a tough pill to swallow
- Long run backs - each area is connected to the hub by a long tunnel. For one, these are cheaply masked load screens that the PS4 version always glitches out on (PS5 version please!). The bigger problem is that you’ve got a minute long run back to where you were every time you die or want to save. These make the game a slog at times. There’s a little bit of Souls 1-way doors but there are 3-5 blatant missed opportunities where you’re forced to go all the backwards through an area you just completed. I was saddened to learn that there are extra save points on easy mode at most of these choke points, which I would have loved on normal. These save points are a band-aid though and either way, they should have laid out the map more thoughtfully
- The traps seem especially cruel… you usually take damage AND the monster shows up. I usually chose to just reload rather than deal with hassle
- Trial and error - combine all the previous complaints with limited items and The Bunker can be a little bit of a slog. You’re often forced into a fight with the monster, your weapons aren’t very effective, and the punishment for death is very high, often 10+ mins of progress. This can make the game feel like an exercise of trial and error, where you die over and over and slowly figure out the best route, the best hiding spots, which rooms to scavenge or ignore, and the best items to bring with. It can take you out of the experience and it’s so tempting to just reload and bring a different item or take a different route. Apparently “load-scumming” is a term and it definitely applies to this game. It becomes more manageable as you learn the ropes but I’d be impressed if anyone beat this with under 20 deaths on their first try. The learning curve is quite brutal and it’s a short game so you’ve got very little time in the sweet spot with this game
- Why does the RE item box have a limit? You can still put more items on the ground next to it so I have to ask why they didn’t just make this infinite like RE

Hopefully someday, someone will make a better version of this game. The bunker/generator concept are truly genius but the stealth mechanics simply aren’t as good as Alien Isolation and when combined with some level-design mistakes, the Bunker is more painful to get through than it should be. I definitely want to replay this game eventually though so it did enough right for me to recommend it. I’ll probably go for easy mode next time though.

100%PC

Certainly this is the most enjoyable Amnesia game ever made. The new mechanics are marvelous, they work remarkably well with the horror atmosphere. You have to accomplish, or acquire certain tasks/objects to be able to explore more of each area, i really liked this kind of chain-sequenced gameplay. I was thrilled, and very excited throughout the whole game, masterful work it is...

100%PC

Despite the short 3-5 hours runtime (maybe less) This game is so fun. The atmosphere is so good that it will have you on the edge of your seat while to navigate a bunker with a monster hiding in the walls, only to come out with the slight sound it hears (Unless the generator and the lights are on). Really fun for a short horror experience and must I say that it is a Must play.

80%Xbox Series X/S

the bunker as a singular setting was incredible with the varying pathways and items to use bringing in some immersive sim influence that freshened things up a ton. the notes scattered throughout the place helped make the narrative be as prevalent as one chooses without feeling intrusive like the flashbacks and other moments that removed control from earlier entries.

beyond this, the creature is a triumph from both a design (this is the first time a monster in a non-SOMA Frictional game that i've played actually holds up in terms of scare factor when you actually See it) and gameplay standpoint. the addition of combat and being able to defend yourself in addition to the aforementioned items/tools above completely changes the game. of course you can do the typical hide and seeking (though this didn't feel very effective half the time) but you can be much more proactive with your movements this go around.

i knew Frictional had it in them to serve this hard (thanks SOMA <3) but i Never would've guessed that it would've happened with attachment to the Amnesia series. absolutely wonderful.

i don't want to get too excited but i think whatever they do next could REALLY be something at this point.

50%PC

В целом неплохая игра, но геймплей мне не по душе. Игра строится по принципу набегов, как в Darkwood, мне как раз там такой тип игры и не зашел. Визуально выглядит как игра прошлого десятилетия, да и играется не слишком увлекательно + скримеры я не люблю, это слишком дешевый хоррор-прием

90%PC

On your first playthrough the game is insanely scary but as you progress the enemy AI becomes more predictable. Ending wasn't anything super good but the games immersive sim element is amazing, the replayability is there too with randomized things and the monster can become more unpredictable with their new feature. Overall 8.5/10 would recommend, no need to wait for sale the game is reasonably priced and worth it.

90%PC

Great atmosphere, good physics interactions and letting the player make some creative decisions along the way. The only bad side is the monster AI and the final boss fight with it, the fight is just not necessary in my opinion, just kills the mood.

100%PC

Probably the best Amnesia game yet, despite its shorter length and budget price tag. They took their signature physics-based gameplay to its logical conclusion, threw in the most tenacious foe this franchise has ever seen, gave the player more tools than they probably deserve, and put the big interconnected franchise story on the back burner. Just a completely fantastic horror game across the board. Not every experience needs to be as story- and lore-focused as The Dark Descent or Rebirth, sometimes you just need to have the pants scared off of you for a few hours while you figure out how to escape your terrible situation. It also helps that it takes place in a very unique setting for the horror genre. This game is worth playing over and over again due to the vast swath of custom difficulty settings and inherent randomization.

40%Xbox Series X/S

I didn't find the story gripping enough to put myself through the back and forth and back and forth of collecting items to solve puzzles in a fairly enclosed space. Just 20 minutes of running back and forth was enough to make me realise that this experience just wasn't for me. After looking up the plot and reveals, the story isn't worth the hassle.

Also the XBOX Controls are terrible.

90%PC

One of the best horror games I've played.

80%PC

Ok, para no volver esto largo, si te gusta el survival y el miedo, este juego cumple, la historia es interesante cumple, no te va a dejar queriendo una continuación, pero cumple, divertido, para jugar más de una vez y de duración aceptable!

60%Xbox Series X/S

6/10

85%PC

I haven't been this dialed into a horror game (or a game in general, really) in a super long time. Has its faults but the immersion factor hit big time for me. The epitome of a lights off, headphones on type game

60%Xbox Series X/S

Technically "complete" on June 10, but platinum achievement bugged and was patched on September 4

90%PC

Pros:
This is the pinnacle of the survival horror game genre. EVERY single choice you make has some sort of consequence and can be the factor between whether you survive or don't. The game is difficult and to combat that you need to have a plan and think quick on your feet to complete objectives. The setting is unmatched, a dark, dreary, and hopeless time during the Great War, trapped in a bunker with a creature you can't beat. If you have an itch from Alien Isolation, this will scratch that itch. Almost all of the scares in the game are unscripted, due to the brilliant game design from the devs.

Cons:
The final bossfight... I really cannot tell you how I feel about it. There is only one way to beat it which serves as an antithesis to the rest of the game. There's no creative thinking, just the one way. Felt like a rushed way to end it. Left a sour taste in my mouth after such an awesome game.

Play this game if you're a fan of a challenge and a good horror game.

50%PC

Sadly, did not care for it. SOMA was one of the best horror stories in video games. This game barely had any story and was just a series of being progress gated over and over again, having to trapse around a small environment finding the specific tool needed to overcome the block, until the next one right after. Felt like it was just padded and more frustrating than anything else. A big step back for Frictional.

70%PC

Far better than Rebirth. Has good mechanics and at least innovates in some aspects.

90%PC

Great game. Normally I'm not a fan of Alien isolation type games, where there's an immortal monster chasing you, but this game was pretty good, even though a few deaths felt rigged. Good graphics, cool survival mechanics with the generator, but also a lot of inventory management, which was a bit annoying. The game itself does not overstay its welcome as it is pretty short at around 5-6 hours, and gets much shorter on subsequent runs since you know what to generally do. I recommend this game to any spooky games fans.

85%PC

Oooooh he scary!

55%PC

I don't recommend it

90%PC

https://youtu.be/GyrEFjdkLnc

80%PC

Excellent return to form for frictional after their last title, Rebirth, felt like it got away from itself a bit. The Bunker is a great self-contained creature feature, super tense, open ended, with some randomization on replay. Makes it feel like one of the strongest entries in the series.

80%Xbox Series X/S

One of the best new, fresh, takes on the survival-horror genre. In 10 years, I believe this will be 1 of those games that has to be listed in every "Hidden Gem" list. Survival-Horror is possibly my favorite genre, and constantly hear complaints from people who wish they could experience games that relied more on survival than action.. which is a shame when you don't hear much buzz after games like Tormented Souls or this one is released.

After struggling to find the lightning in the bottle again that The Dark Descent brought and how it helped revitalize a struggling genre, I actually believe what they did here was just as impressive and revolutionary. They took the walking-sim, slow-burn survival horror gameplay that has been used throughout the last decade - from indie devs (Outlast for example) all the way to auteurs like Kojima in PT, and even gave the biggest franchises in the genre the shot in the arm it needed to reinvent the franchise (RE 7) - and gave the player just enough agency to give them multiple options on how to deal w different obstacles to overcome as well as weapons/tooks which adds a variety to the gameplay. For those RE fans who love the safe rooms, this game basically treats a similar style safe room as the hub, and you are given free reign to explore whichever sections of the bunker you wish.

The game reminded me a bit like Alien: Isolation but with more management gameplay. It's a bit like Mr. X's constant pursuit, but to combat him (and to be able to navigate the titular bunker to find things you need to survive/progress, you need to keep the generator going. This means you are constantly trying to find gas, and calculating if you should use that gas to keep the lights on, or to create a molotov? Should you turn the generator on to make that run to the lockers (which would use precious gas), or do you chance it and save gas and make it there in the dark (where the monster is much more aggressive)?

If you enjoy classic survival-horror, this is a must-play. I also appreciate that while it is short, it doesn't overstay it's welcome.

40%PC

Not gonna lie, The Bunker has awesome concept. But it gets old in like twenty minutes (even faster if you played demo), monster is really not scary (more like annoying, when you have to wait three minutes to him to leave), so it's really more like Machine for Pigs or Rebirth - walking simulator without horror. Maybe it's just me (because 92% positive reviews on Steam speak for itself), but this 4 hours experience (Hard diff.) was very bad.

P.S.: I don't wanna see that flashlight ever again.

80%Xbox Series X/S

a great horror game, i was freaked out almost the whole time playing it, stressfull, and horrifying, the best horror game i played since resident evil 7

80%PlayStation 4

Great atmosphere
Great game mechanics
Nice animations
Poor story-telling

70%PC

good as a normal game but not good as a real amnesia game

50%PC

The monster, the darkness, far more irritating than scary. This pales in comparison to Dark Descent and Alien: Isolation.

85%PlayStation 4

It's a very nice game! It brings a lot of new items and mechanics, wich make you use your imagination to make progress and move foward on the game.
The save point brings an extra challenge for those who are use to automatic save and the fact of the game have randomized codes gives you a replay factor much nicer. The only aspect of the game that I not like that much is the monster who appers literally everywhere, but I understand that this is part of the proposal of the game.

80%PC

As someone who hated Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Amnesia: The Bunker fixes a lot of the issues I had with The Dark Descent, but still falls into many of the recurring issues that plague modern horror games. The tutorial area of the game helps establish the world and teaches a lot of the mechanics of the game, but doesn't really set a good horror mood. Once the game actually starts there still seems to be a lot of tooltips that pop up on the screen and it does it a little too often. One point the game really tries to make to the player is how there are many different ways to get through areas and solve puzzles. This is the most intriguing part of the game, but do the games promises hold up in actual gameplay. When you first start exploring the bunker, I was in constant fear of the monster attacking me, which is always the part of horror games I enjoy the most, where there is constant fear of the unknown knowing how the AI of the monster works. Once you see the monster and discover how it works and how to counter it, the fear begins to go away. For most of the game I just tried to avoid the monster and would just hide when it would eventually come out. It wasn't until I realized I had way too many grenades and molotovs that I just would attack it head first. The game created a way to counter the monster and it removes a lot of the fear. Now in terms of the game allowing you to solve problems in many ways, I believe it does a good enough job. A lot of times you can blow up and explosive barrel to open a path, but that will summon the monster. Or maybe you lure him out on purpose and hide so the monster can create a path for you. Maybe in order to deal with rats you burn them or make a torch or what I usually did was jump over them and take 2 hits of damage. Overally the game is designed so that exploration and discovery are rewarding and allows a lot of options. The game reminds me a lot of Alien Isolation, but with major improvents in it being so much shorter in a good way and the monster isn't as triviallized by the end of the game. (The flamethrower in Alien Isolation is the worst thing they could have introduced in the game). Amnesia: The Bunker has a couple of clunky controls and aiming life saving grenades would often go over the monsters head and get me killed. One of my favorite horror games of modern times. 8/10

80%PC

Gran juego de terror y sigilo (en este caso literalmente). En ese sentido me ha recordado a "The Outlast", siempre escapando y con esa angustia constante. Al menos en este juego tienes una zona segura al que volver. Me ha gustado mucho.

60%PC

Disappointing. The entire game felt like filler. Barely any story, the monster was frustrating to deal with and the puzzles were basic. Not scary at all either.

80%PC

This is probably the scariest game I have ever played in my entire life. The feeling of helplessness doesn't go away until the very end of the game, and I always felt like I was close to death. Even now, sitting here writing this review, I am still tense, filled with an uneasy feeling. The monster in this game is terrifying, because it kills you in one hit, so your always anxious about if you should waste a bullet, or risk hiding in the dark and letting it get close to you. The "open world" of sorts in this game is also great, which is dark and scary and has an interesting setting. The story here however isn't as great. I think I must've missed some sort of closing letter, because the story kinda just stopped in my playthrough, having nothing really get resolved. Besides that however, this is the scariest amnesia game, and maybe even the best. This is a fantastic game, and I would definitely recommend that you play it.

100%PC

Excellent!

20%PC

"Amnesia: The Bunker is a first-person horror game set in a WW1 bunker. A relentless, AI-driven monster stalks you. Survival depends on finding tools, crafting items..."

So reads the Steam blurb for Amnesia: The Bunker, and besides the perennial tumour that is 'crafting' you'll notice the monster is described as 'AI-driven.' I hate to inform Frictional Games of this, but ALL enemies in ALL video games are AI-driven. This marketing vomit was done solely because of the current fascination with AI. During one of my later bouts of taking a break from this game simply out of boredom, I went on YouTube to confirm a theory I had: this game wasn't developed for you, the player. It was developed for xQc, and Gab Smolders, and Gmanlives (whose endorsement appears on the Steam page), and all manner of piddling content creators who'll tell you this game is 'SO SCARY.'

In fact, a lot of them had played through and uploaded footage of the full game before it was even released. So why play it yourself? Because there is a massive circlejerk between streamer culture and indie horror games where you're supposed to buy it because your favourite parasocial fixation 'raised awareness' about it. Because the developers are just like you, they watch Twitch and don't read books and are part of the club.

Games like this frustrate me in how perfunctory they are, how cold and uninspired their thought process is. You can isolate each neurotransmission the devs had. "Survival horror -> limited inventory, unintuitive equipment, crafting, blank slate protagonist, jumpscares (gotta keep the YouTubers happy), and scatter a bunch of notes lifted wholesale from r/TwoSentenceHorror around so the player can fool themselves into thinking they're uncovering some kind of scary plot." Don't fuck with me. There is no plot. It's bitterly disappointing that this game could take a setting as unique as a World War I horror story and render it so mundane. All you need to know is that you're trapped in a bunker with a hairless gorilla and have to run around doing errands. There's a cutscene at the start and a cutscene at the end, but both are meaningless.

And for me, this just isn't enough. A horror story can't hold up on raw scares alone, no matter how loudly Markiplier screams when scary thing happens. Good horror stories always have something more - hell, just go back to the first game in the Amnesia series. Dark Descent is a great game, built not just on dread but also on mystery and intrigue. The Bunker is built on jack shit. I longed to see a loading screen just so that I could know I'd progressed in some way, but none were forthcoming. Having a central hub was a mistake. It highlights how small the scope of this game is.

Puzzles consist of finding codes on the back of dog tags. That's the whole sentence.

Our friend the AI-driven monster isn't scary either, so the horror factor is dead in the water. He feels weightless and pre-programmed, with each encounter just feeling you're fulfilling the conditions to drive him away, such as firing X number of bullets. He doesn't react to grenades or explosions or bricks, he reacts to boxes being ticked.

God forbid you want an experience just for yourself. I miss when games were art and not 'content.' Funnily enough, the first Amnesia, which on its own stands as a classic, was a hugely popular Let's Play title when streamer culture was in its infancy. It helped create this monster - horror games designed for YouTubers, not players.

Amnesia: The Bunker is just the culmination of this philosophy. It has as much story as Five Nights at Freddy's and as much gameplay as Granny. I must impress upon you - this game is going to get a lot of positive meme reviews and YouTube traction, but if you play games for anything more than being a monkey with a fidget cube, this isn't worth the time. At the end of it, as is typical of Let's Play bait, you're no better off. There's nothing to derive from it. You haven't experienced a thrilling, cathartic journey like the best horror games provide. You've pissed away 3 hours of your life on a nothing game made by a cynical, creatively bankrupt developer whose output is now indistinguishable from its sea of imitators. You should've just watched jacksepticeye play through it, like Frictional Games intended.

80%PC

I can't say Amnesia is still a groundbreaking horror franchise like it was at the beginning. The larger story it was building has already been played out with Rebirth. But Amnesia: The Bunker proves that smaller, anthology-style episodes within its universe can still bring the tension and the scares. And Frictional's bag of tricks is far from exhausted when it comes to getting our hearts pounding and making us carefully consider how to use the limited tools available to us. It's not an unmissable experience, but as an Amnesia fan, it definitely sated my appetite for some gut-churning horror and moody, bleak storytelling.