Amnesia The Bunker is a nice change of the usual format by Frictional horror games, the game takes its design clues from Alien Isolation by making the game and its levels designed in an all in one format with a stalker that roams the whole map.
Fans of atmospheric and tense horror games will feel right at home with Amnesia as Frictional style is still apparent through hide and seek mechanic, dizzy look at the monster visuals, use of darkness and light and story told through notes or audiologs.
The bunker however makes things interesting by adding light immersive sim elements where you can tackle the situation in more than a single way, which offers a decent replay value.
While i enjoyed my playthrough with the game i still think that The Dark Descent is the pinnacle of the series, mainly because in TDD i was more immersed in the lovecraftian nature of the gothic Prussian castle, i liked the story more and Daniel voice despite the criticism was good for me, i liked the physics based puzzles and the sound and music design.
In this game they added a nice spin so that you can defend yourself, some resource management and more focus on exploration, i liked all of those things but i think with the inclusion of them it had more weight on the game, so it kinda makes it harder to nail the experience.
I dont have many complaints about the game, i think the story was meh like whatever i didnt care for it, the gameplay was decent, i liked the atmosphere but it wasn't as impressive as TDD simply because the music wasn't hard hitting enough, in TDD the soundtrack played a huge part in scaring me, here it was barely there, the monster design is also less frightening, the lore and the nature of the bunker wasn't as scary either. I think it could've been less tedious with 1 or 2 more inventory slots too, and the finale was underwhelming.
Some extra notes on how i think the game can improve.
- The Stalker A.I and behavior pattern can be expanded and made smarter with more behavior patterns that can make how it moves and reacts more interesting, as of now its basic and too easy to maneuver.
- The music was forgettable, TDD OST is excellent and plays with your fears, here it was barely there and as a result the atmosphere suffered (still good)
- The inventory slots are too low, which can be challenging and encourages decision making, but because of the fuel and key items taking space it also makes things tedious with backtracking that was just more annoying due to one save spot this one is less important.
- The story wasn't engaging enough, perhaps its the voice overs, perhaps its the themes, perhaps this type of horror stories works better with lovecraftian themes since its unknown and creepy, but here i feel it was needed to make things more clear and create a coherent and tight timeline for me to follow.
Both SOMA and TDD have better stories so Frictional is capable.
- The threat on the player isn't very big, its just the rats and the stalker, perhaps some addition of monster type can make things better.
- There is a lack of puzzles, TDD managed to make interesting physics-based puzzles which makes the player think and sets up a nice change of tone and pace, here it was mostly explore or get the objective items and move on.
Overall, its a good horror game and a worthy play for fans of the series, but it has a lot more potential for the future.
Fans of atmospheric and tense horror games will feel right at home with Amnesia as Frictional style is still apparent through hide and seek mechanic, dizzy look at the monster visuals, use of darkness and light and story told through notes or audiologs.
The bunker however makes things interesting by adding light immersive sim elements where you can tackle the situation in more than a single way, which offers a decent replay value.
While i enjoyed my playthrough with the game i still think that The Dark Descent is the pinnacle of the series, mainly because in TDD i was more immersed in the lovecraftian nature of the gothic Prussian castle, i liked the story more and Daniel voice despite the criticism was good for me, i liked the physics based puzzles and the sound and music design.
In this game they added a nice spin so that you can defend yourself, some resource management and more focus on exploration, i liked all of those things but i think with the inclusion of them it had more weight on the game, so it kinda makes it harder to nail the experience.
I dont have many complaints about the game, i think the story was meh like whatever i didnt care for it, the gameplay was decent, i liked the atmosphere but it wasn't as impressive as TDD simply because the music wasn't hard hitting enough, in TDD the soundtrack played a huge part in scaring me, here it was barely there, the monster design is also less frightening, the lore and the nature of the bunker wasn't as scary either. I think it could've been less tedious with 1 or 2 more inventory slots too, and the finale was underwhelming.
Some extra notes on how i think the game can improve.
- The Stalker A.I and behavior pattern can be expanded and made smarter with more behavior patterns that can make how it moves and reacts more interesting, as of now its basic and too easy to maneuver.
- The music was forgettable, TDD OST is excellent and plays with your fears, here it was barely there and as a result the atmosphere suffered (still good)
- The inventory slots are too low, which can be challenging and encourages decision making, but because of the fuel and key items taking space it also makes things tedious with backtracking that was just more annoying due to one save spot this one is less important.
- The story wasn't engaging enough, perhaps its the voice overs, perhaps its the themes, perhaps this type of horror stories works better with lovecraftian themes since its unknown and creepy, but here i feel it was needed to make things more clear and create a coherent and tight timeline for me to follow.
Both SOMA and TDD have better stories so Frictional is capable.
- The threat on the player isn't very big, its just the rats and the stalker, perhaps some addition of monster type can make things better.
- There is a lack of puzzles, TDD managed to make interesting physics-based puzzles which makes the player think and sets up a nice change of tone and pace, here it was mostly explore or get the objective items and move on.
Overall, its a good horror game and a worthy play for fans of the series, but it has a lot more potential for the future.