Amnesia: The Bunker sees Frictional’s horror series delve into the trenches of World War I. A new gameplay video shows what a scary place it can be.
Like some ghoulish, cunning creature, Frictional Games occasionally leaps out of the darkness with a new horror title, scares the hell out of us, then scuttles back off into the night. Which is appropriate, because that’s exactly what happens in the upcoming Amnesia: The Bunker.
Set in World War I, it follows the uncertain progress of Henri Clement – a soldier who’s unlucky even by the standards of most people involved in that bloody conflict. Left behind by his comrades, Clement soon finds himself alone in the game’s titular bunker, his every move shadowed by a hideous creature lurking in the shadows.
The bunker is a small and twisty maze of corridors and atriums, giving this latest Amnesia more of a sandbox feel than previous entries. Like 2021’s Amnesia: Rebirth, light is among your only allies in The Bunker – you can use your trusty torch and other light sources to keep the monster at bay, while clicking on lanterns saves your progress.
In one of the pithier explanations of a game mechanic we’ve seen in recent years, the new, 10-minute gameplay video above has a caption that reads, The f__ker hates light.” Poetry.
Again, Frictional has a real pedigree when it comes to horror, with a lineage that stretches back over 15 years to the Penumbra trilogy, beginning in 2007. Amnesia: The Dark Descent got its next series of survival shockers rolling in 2010, and since then, the Swedish studio has found new ways of keeping players on edge with experiences that emphasis suspense over action and cheap jump-scares.
With the new addition of guns and grenades in The Bunker, the latest Amnesia game leans a little more on the action side of the survival horror equation, but it at least makes sense given the Great War setting.
Amnesia: The Bunker is due to scare the living Tizer out of us on 23 May on PC, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
