General Gaming Amnesia: The Bunker (semi open-world, sandbox horror survival title set in WWI bunker) - update: OpenCritic reviews posted

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

Quote

Amnesia: The Bunker will feature a new kind of horror survival adventure that incorporates emergent gameplay and sandbox elements into the mix," a press release reads. "Players will be in total control of their moment-to-moment decisions. Armed with a revolver gun and a noisy dynamo flashlight, players will walk the course of an ill-lighted WW1 bunker on the shoes of a French soldier troubled by his amnesia and hunted by an otherworldly creature.

 

Amnesia: The Bunker will test players' cleverness, courage, and ability to keep cool under pressure to make quick problem-solving decisions. There are multiple available solutions to each task, puzzle, and approach to the game's obstacles; it's up to you to decide your moves.
 

• Player choice - emergent gameplay in a sandbox horror survival experience
• Unscripted environment - objects, threats, and resources, change in every playthrough
• Adaptive horrid threats - an ever-present gruesome creature that stalks the player.  
• Tactile immersion - all-new levels of interaction with the world through puzzle-solving and tool handling
• Absorbing yet terrifying tale - experience hell on earth in a fictional appalling story
• Engrossing atmosphere and tension - enhanced lighting effects and carefully designed sound effects for a real horror experience. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brick]

Oh Hell yes. I still need to play the last one though.

[Bloodporne]

21 hours ago, Brick said:

Oh Hell yes. I still need to play the last one though.

You and every other person on the planet. Seemingly nobody played that damn game.

 

I really hope this majorly shakes up their formula because Hide N Seek gameplay is older than stale bread. Sadly the mention of an ever-present stalker enemy kind of tanks my interest in this but the screenshots sure look really nice 

[XxEvil AshxX]

If they ditch the resource management, I'll give it a shot. I realize that's like, the entire mechanic of the games, but I seriously don't get why you had to ration out your matches. There are literally open flames everywhere. And flammable objects. Too dark? Set something on fire, it's not your house.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Game Information

Game Title: Amnesia: The Bunker

 

Platforms:

• PC (Jun 6, 2023)
• Xbox Series X/S (Jun 6, 2023)
• Xbox One (Jun 6, 2023)
• PlayStation 4 (Jun 6, 2023)

 

Developer: Frictional Games

 

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 77 average - 76% recommended

 

Critic Reviews

PC Gamer - Ted Litchfield - 93 / 100

Amnesia: The Bunker is an essential horror game and an inspired next step for the series.

3DNews - Денис Щенников - Russian - 9 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker feels like returning to the roots for Frictional Games, with its strong emphasis on gameplay and cohesive mechanics.

GGRecon - Tarran Stockton - 4.5 / 5

Beyond just claiming the title of the best Amnesia game to date, it's also one of the best survival horror experiences of recent times, and a perfect entry to spearhead the franchise's future into a new direction.

Hey Poor Player - Jonathan Trussler - 4.5 / 5

Amnesia: The Bunker is purist survival horror at its best, with a thoughtful take on the genre and mind-shredding scares. Even the most hardened gamer will feel their pulse racing as they are stalked through the underground hell, feeling a desperation to see daylight. The challenge is not just mastering your environment but mastering your own fear of the evils that lurk in the darkness.

Wccftech - Ule Lopez - 9 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker has become one of the best horror games in an ever-changing landscape on par with titles like Resident Evil 7 and The Dark Descent. This game not only is a return to form for Frictional Games but it also paves the way forward thanks to its systems that encourage creative solutions to problems and an ever-changing nature that will keep players on the edge of their seats as they face off against the supernatural threat that's roaming the halls of the bomb shelter.

GameWatcher - Neil Bolt - 8.5 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker continues Frictional Games' smart evolution of the series with an intense survival horror/immersive sim cocktail that almost balances its ideas perfectly.

God is a Geek - Chris White - 8.5 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker is a heart stopping horror that constantly leaves you in fear, but it's all the better for it.

Attack of the Fanboy - J.R. Waugh - 4 / 5

The terror and isolation you feel here is a devious construct you must outsmart to escape to the surface and makes this feel like a true horror game in the best of ways.

Cultured Vultures - Jimmy Donnellan - 8 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker is one of the most terrifying horror games ever made, but those looking for Resident Evil 4 levels of length and replayability are going to be left seriously disappointed.

GameGrin - Alyssa Rochelle Payne - 8 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker is excellent, offering the dread and terror you'd expect along with engaging new mechanics. Some technical issues occasionally break the immersion, but Frictional's approach to frightening and challenging you still offers its best thrills.

GameSpot - Mark Delaney - 8 / 10

Frictional Games reinvigorates the series that made it famous with its scariest game in years.

GamesRadar+ - Hirun Cryer - 4 / 5

Amnesia: The Bunker is a bold new direction for the series, and it chiefly pays off with brilliant scares and disempowerment of the player. The bottlenecked level design can be frustrating though, as can the nature of do-overs with the beast hot on your heels.

GamingBolt - Ravi Sinha - 8 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker is Frictional's best entry in the series since The Dark Descent. Its environmental design and mechanics offer multiple solutions for problems, and its use of darkness leads to some genuine dread. Just don't go in expecting a very long experience.

Generación Xbox - Alejandro Serrador - Spanish - 80 / 100

And perhaps that is the greatest success of this game, beyond the monsters that terrify us so much, to understand what war really means. In understanding that, at a certain point, there is no longer a border between good and evil, but that everyone is part of evil and the true border is between those who can live with it and those who cannot.

IGN - Leana Hafer - 8 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker is a smaller, more self-contained episode in the groundbreaking horror franchise that shows Frictional still has some chilling, new tricks up their sleeves.

Merlin'in Kazanı - Selin Yoko - Turkish - 80 / 100

If you really like both exploration and survival-horror genre, Amnesia: The Bunker can satisfy you. As a horror lover, I found the game replayable with the high randomness factor.

Metro GameCentral - GameCentral - 8 / 10

The best Amnesia game since The Dark Descent and a welcome spiritual successor to Alien Isolation, that makes darkness more terrifying than any video game before it.

PSX Brasil - Bruno Ribeiro - Portuguese - 80 / 100

Even without revolutionary additions, Amnesia: The Bunker does not disappoint in the horror department. The darkness of the underground is really scary and fills you with anxiety, but, despite not being something necessarily negative, the new game in the franchise brings more of the same without being especially striking. For lovers of the genre, however, the experience is quite satisfying, and it will be even more when the technical issues are resolved.

SECTOR.sk - Timotej Kadlec - Slovak - 8 / 10

The Amnesia moves forward and does not stand still. Graphics and technical condition are definitely not among the tip of the iceberg, but the gameplay and atmosphere is excellent.

The Games Machine - Erica Mura - Italian - 8 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker manages to be a challenging and unsettling experience without falling into the easy temptation of jumpscares or holding the player's hand too much. Whether you memorized the previous chapters or decided to give the Amnesia saga a chance for the first time, this game proves to be a new success achieved by Frictional Games and a satisfying experience for all survival horror lovers.

Try Hard Guides - Erik Hodges - 8 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker is a thrilling horror game that makes fantastic use of its setting to keep players tense, scared, and desperate to keep the lights on.

Twinfinite - Gray Giron - 4 / 5

Amnesia: The Bunker felt like it was somehow different from its predecessors. The puzzle-heavy horror game and a hint of resource management give the anxiety of suddenly plunging into danger. I felt like the franchise made a different approach but in the end of the day it’s worth the adventure.

We Got This Covered - Peter Kohnke - 4 / 5

While 'Amnesia: The Bunker' is a brief, albeit very replayable experience, we’d wager that even the most grizzled survival horror veterans will be clenching their sphincters as they navigate Frictional Games' masterclass in terror. The overhauled gameplay loop is a welcome change, though 'The Bunker' does fall victim to the same shortcomings as its predecessors, which makes it feel somewhat dated in places.

Hobby Consolas - Daniel Quesada - Spanish - 78 / 100

The craftmen of Frictional Games show again how well they know the horror genre. This might not be the most ground breaking game, but it offers a noteworthy survival experience.

Spaziogames - Domenico Musicò - Italian - 7.7 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker introduces a brilliant gameplay with many new features for the series. It is a real survival horror with a great atmosphere and a superb concept. Too bad for the randomic encounters with the creature, often not well balanced.

New Game Network - Ben Thomas - 76 / 100

Amnesia: The Bunker has a fantastic dynamic involving light and power management, as you explore an atmospheric WW1 bunker and avoid a monster with a keen sense of hearing. Despite a lack of puzzles, a bland story, and a few monster quirks, it packs enough good horror to keep players on edge.

PlayStation Universe - Timothy Nunes - 7.5 / 10

This may not be the horror romp you're itching for, but Amnesia: The Bunker provides a fantastic map to explore with engaging gameplay to make it that much more enjoyable. It's too bad the game's stalker creature lacks the necessary delivery to generate authentic scares.

WayTooManyGames - Kyle Nicol - 7.5 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker is a mix of Alien: Isolation‘s singular persistent threat that follows you around, coupled with elements of the immersive simulator genre, resulting in a horror game with a unique flavour. It’s not the most revolutionary or polished experience stemming from the developers themselves, but Frictional have done what they do best. They have delivered, yet again, a true survival horror experience, but this time around, making a few bold changes I was glad with.

Gamefa - Mohammad Reza Nowroozi - Persian - 7.2 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the table of Horror genre. That being said, It's a pleasant 5 hours experience with world War II theme that could be a great choice for horror fans.

Push Square - Liam Croft - 7 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker sticks a little too close to what Frictional Games has been doing for over a decade now, but with a more free-form approach to gameplay, the team is back on the right track again. Coupled with an excellent setting, Amnesia: The Bunker represents a vast improvement over its predecessor. You'll still encounter the same stumbling blocks of old, but this horror experience comes recommended.

IGN Italy - Alessandra Borgonovo - Italian - 6.5 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker is a more guided experience than it claims, where ingenuity and improvisation are replaced by tedious resource management.

Dexerto - Olly Smith - 3 / 5

Amnesia: The Bunker has all these little pieces that work well, but doesn’t fully deliver on its main hook. Fans of the series may be set up for a No Man’s Land of disappointment, where just a few tweaks here and there might make it a much more enjoyable experience. With it also launching on Xbox Game Pass, that might be the best place for it to gain an audience.

Expansive - Tom Hynes - 3 / 5

Amnesia: The Bunker is a well-designed, short sharp episode in the award-winning horror series. The setting is suitably tense, the new inventory management and puzzle-solving philosophy feeds into the suspense, along with the limited resources, and the multiple endings do add replayability. Short length and some interactivity issues aside, this is another memorable Amnesia game and one of the best to date.

Shacknews - Lucas White - 6 / 10

There are lots of ideas in Amnesia: The Bunker that are truly intriguing. I love the World War 1 setting as a backdrop for a horror story, especially the way it intersects with technology of the era. But the way gameplay elements are introduced as friction meant to induce tension simply feel overtuned. I often felt like I was fighting the game just to get around, which was frustrating in a software kind of way rather than an atmospheric enhancement. I wasn’t scared because I was too busy squinting or yanking on the flashlight’s pull cord just so I could pull on doors and latches. No amount of spooky ambiance in the background could bring me back into the experience.

Total Gaming Network - Shawn Zipay - 3 / 5

Frictional should be commended for at least trying something a bit different when compared to their previous offerings. As the studio continued to evolve and iterate on their linear experiences, there is a hope that they will continue to learn and iterate on this idea of a semi-open world horror experience. Perhaps in a few years' time we will see Frictional create a title that again hits the highs of Soma but with the added freedom to explore and experiment in the game world. It would be nice to look back in a few years at The Bunker as being a steppingstone to something greater, but right now it's hard to see it as anything other than a short, "merely ok" game from a studio that has crafted much more compelling releases in the past.

CGMagazine - Andrew Farrell - 5.5 / 10

While the classic Amnesia gameplay is available here in a lot of ways, it’s mixed with some underwhelming, poorly balanced monster gameplay that doesn’t work as well as it should.

GameMAG - Russian - 5 / 10

Amnesia: The Bunker is a step down from Amnesia: Rebirth. New release from Frictional Games is visually boring, lacks atmosphere and can get on your nerves with constantly teleporting stalker enemy.

Eurogamer - Vikki Blake - Recommended

Amnesia: The Bunker corrects the missteps of its predecessors and adds in a sense of invention, creating a truly unsettling adventure.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Alice Bell - Unscored

Amnesia: The Bunker is a compact, focused and refreshing horror game that brings new excitement to one of horror's modern classic game series.

[Xbob42]

I'm happy to check it out!

[gamer.tv]

I’ve not really played any of this genre of horror, despite having a few of them available via PS+. Maybe at 33 I’m now brave enough? 

[XxEvil AshxX]

Can't wait to waste my last match to light a candle, then leave it sitting on the table cuz the game won't let me pick it up.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Updated the OpenCritic reviews post.

[jinx8402]

Didn't realize this was coming on gamepass. Might need to check this out.