Huge pogs for Frictional Games, they've bloody done it again. Amnesia: The Bunker is basically like if Alien: Isolation made sweet love to Resident Evil and gave birth to a beautiful indie baby. It intros you with a short tutorial sequence and brief on the setting, then drops you into a dark, claustrophobic WW2 bunker and says: "Off you go. Escape." The catch is you aren't alone. This is actually the humble abode of a very big, very pissed off monster that wants nothing more than to block your progression to EVERY key objective and ruthlessly stalk you if you make any noise. Honestly, that elevator pitch is beautiful and, in the back of the my mind, I kinda expected Frictional to overcomplicate it. They're best at telling stories, after all, and this is a concept that relies more on the player creating their own stories through unique and memorable encounters with the main monster than it does a well-told narrative.
But no, they've absolute smashed this. While their storytelling is still here through numerous diary entries and visual narrative beats, the main crux is simply you versus a massive fuck off monster. And while I'd argue that Alien Isolation has a smarter AI (Bunker's monster kind of just blindly storms around rather than stalks you like the Alien) and Resident Evil had a much more intricately crafted hub of puzzles, the blend of both kind of covers each flaw. While solving puzzles isn't hard, the monster reacting to every sound makes the simplest activity much trickier, as you have to consider how much noise it'll make, where you can hide if the big friendly giant rolls out of his crib in the walls and whether the power (which is constantly draining as you explore) will deplete before you escape. Meanwhile, the puzzles put you in awkward situations, making the monster a much greater threat.
In fairness, the rate of activity for the monster is wildly inconsistent though. Sometimes, he can be a right asshole, just strutting around a key objective while you sit and wait for him to peace out so you can do the simplest task. Other times, you're like, uh, I guess bro's just on his phone or something cause I've thrown three grenades and he's just chilling out up there. But knowing that bastard is always around made for one of the most atmospheric and tense horror experiences I've had in a really long time. Frictional may not drop dozens of games, but when they do bring something out, they always deliver, and this is another example of a team that just gets the genre. It's not going to be for everyone; these games attract a certain breed of adrenaline-hungry masochist, which I'm disgusted to admit is me. But give it a go while its on Game Pass or just check out a walkthrough. You might shit yourself but honestly, after you get to know the big boy for a little while, he's super chill and cool... I promise.
But no, they've absolute smashed this. While their storytelling is still here through numerous diary entries and visual narrative beats, the main crux is simply you versus a massive fuck off monster. And while I'd argue that Alien Isolation has a smarter AI (Bunker's monster kind of just blindly storms around rather than stalks you like the Alien) and Resident Evil had a much more intricately crafted hub of puzzles, the blend of both kind of covers each flaw. While solving puzzles isn't hard, the monster reacting to every sound makes the simplest activity much trickier, as you have to consider how much noise it'll make, where you can hide if the big friendly giant rolls out of his crib in the walls and whether the power (which is constantly draining as you explore) will deplete before you escape. Meanwhile, the puzzles put you in awkward situations, making the monster a much greater threat.
In fairness, the rate of activity for the monster is wildly inconsistent though. Sometimes, he can be a right asshole, just strutting around a key objective while you sit and wait for him to peace out so you can do the simplest task. Other times, you're like, uh, I guess bro's just on his phone or something cause I've thrown three grenades and he's just chilling out up there. But knowing that bastard is always around made for one of the most atmospheric and tense horror experiences I've had in a really long time. Frictional may not drop dozens of games, but when they do bring something out, they always deliver, and this is another example of a team that just gets the genre. It's not going to be for everyone; these games attract a certain breed of adrenaline-hungry masochist, which I'm disgusted to admit is me. But give it a go while its on Game Pass or just check out a walkthrough. You might shit yourself but honestly, after you get to know the big boy for a little while, he's super chill and cool... I promise.