Amnesia: The Bunker Xbox Series X 7/10 “One Element Away From Being a Stone-Cold Classic” ⏱️@frictionalgames

Something Alanis Morissette might find ironic is - even though I’ve played every Amnesia game, I realised that I couldn’t remember a single thing about them, which isn’t because the games aren’t worth remembering, just my poor memory; so I set out and went through them all again to jog my ailing mind and I’m glad that I did as it really helped cement my opinion of this game in that I think it does so much so well, and one thing very poorly.

You play as French soldier Henri Clement during World War One, as you can imagine, the trenches are a horrific place to be and Henri is having a terrible time, he is shot at, he has mustard gas thrown at him, and to cap it all off he is struck by a mortar while carrying his friend to safety, luckily he survives the ordeal but wakes up in a mysterious bunker with amnesia. The place is mostly empty, and the exit has been sealed, so he must find a way to escape the dreaded bunker. 

Early on you find a flashlight, which is good as darkness is very rarely your friend, sadly it has to be charged with a pull cord - which is both time-consuming and loud  - which would be fine, except when I said the bunker was mostly empty, I meant there are very few people… but it does contain a monster who seems hell-bent on shortening your life span. And so, while you’re trying to find your way out you must deal with a very aggressive being and time is of the essence.

The thing I loved most about the game is your instinct is to be as quiet as possible and slink through the bunker at a slow pace, but early on you realise that’s a bad tactic and will only get you a one-way ticket to the grave.

As you search the bunker you find some fuel and a generator which, when combined gives you a set amount of time with lights, sadly it’s not a lot of time and that’s where you realise you desperately need to take advantage of the light. Instead of slow and steady, you need to move quickly and investigate fast, I died so often in the first hour as I was way too slow and would be caught with no light and would have to rev my trusty torch - which would soon bring the monster to me. Luckily, I had a gun! Sadly - it doesn’t have many bullets. Luckily, early on the monster doesn’t take many bullets! Sadly, very quickly he gets used to being shot in the face… so you know, a real rollercoaster of emotion.

Throughout Amnesia you can progress through different means, take a padlocked door -you can shoot it, hit it with a brick several times or, if you’re stupid like me throw - a grenade at it. It worked, but ‘you know who’ popped up and started a chase that by the end of - I was on fire, had no bullets, and had run straight into a dead end. The game gives you options and that’s always a good thing.

While searching the bunker you will come across certain items and documents that will lead you to finding your way out, some dog tags will give you locker codes to find items, documents point you to certain places, etc. The exploration is handled well, and the bunker is big enough to enjoy exploring but small enough so that you don’t feel overwhelmed. Save points are sparse, so every trip from them must be a calculated decision, as it may be a while till you find another - knowing where you’re headed is crucial.

Mechanically I have nothing but praise for the game, I think they have tried to move on from some of the things that fans didn’t like about previous entries, and for that I applaud them. I also love how the game is set at a brisk pace and can be finished in about four-to-five hours, I love it when horror games are concise and to the point, I also have nothing but praise for the sound design - it terrified me, I was more scared of the in-game sounds than I was of the monster!

The main issue is that the story is unbelievably bland, I was so disappointed, the narrative is insipid, it could be any other generic horror game. I get that they wanted to try something a bit different and strip it back, but from the company that gave us Soma, I was shocked at how dull it was.

I was so convinced that I must have missed something that I read two articles and watched three lore videos on YouTube, but nope - I had read most of the documents and what I had experienced was the entire tale.

I have issues with other amnesia games' narratives, but I was at least invested in them. It isn’t helped by the fact that the boss fight and the ending are a bit naff, which meant I was disappointed throughout but was hoping the end would turn it around - sadly it didn’t. 

SUMMARY

I may find Amnesia: The Bunkers’ story dull, but the great mechanics and amazing sound design really do make a great horror experience that I think many fans will enjoy.