Amnesia: The Dark Descentremains a highly memorable horror title years after launch. It was a tense, atmospheric, and sometimes psychological first-person survival-horror game that puts players in the shoes off someone who can only run and hide from nightmare-inducing monsters. What keeps theAmnesiafranchise relevant is the sense of dread and fear derived from a defenseless protagonist. Frictional Games has continued its success in two follow-upAmnesiatitles –A Machine For PigsandRebirth.Fast-forward to 2022, and Frictional Games is coming out with a fourth title in the series,Amnesia: The Bunker, and the new entry looks to evolve theAmnesiaformula.
One exciting aspect of theAmnesiaseries is thatAmnesia: The Dark Descenttakes place in 1839, whileAmnesia: A Machine For Pigstakes place within the same universe in 1899. The same applies toAmnesia: Rebirth, that takes place in 1937; none of theAmnesiagames have reoccurring characters or settings. In an interesting turn of events,Amnesia: The Bunkertakes place around 20 years before the events ofAmnesia: Rebirth, the first time Frictional Games hasn’t chosen a time period for its newest game that comes after the previous entry. Even with gameplay set further in the past, a semi-open world and a unique sandbox-style to its horror will setAmnesia: The Bunkerahead of its predecessors in other ways.
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Amnesia: The Bunker’s evolutionshows itself in how the player explores an underground bunker in World War One, France. The bunker will have open and explorable elements that may tie into itself with sprawling side routes and shortcuts. The player will feel the ramifications of this new kind of level design from Frictional Games through another new element: an omnipresent monster that will respond to the player’s actions. Even as players protect themselves and look for resources, they’ll have to bear an evolving threat in mind.
Another new wayFrictional Games is reshaping its survival horrorgames is in how players now have access to a revolver, and maybe even more than that through crafting. It’s reported the player will start with only one bullet; however,The Bunkerhas a crafting system which could let players make more ammo. The announcement trailer shows that the player owns a pocket watch and can check it at their leisure. It is possible such an item could have uses beyond just checking how much time has passed. Even simple frag grenades will make their entrance with the hopes their explosions provide physics-based gameplay interaction.
Henri Clement Carries the Amnesia Theme
In typical fashion forFrictional Games' horror design,Amnesia: The Bunkerputs players in the shoes of a French soldier who will unsurprisingly suffer from amnesia. This is coupled with a World War One bunker where the items found within change every playthrough, which may add a sense of replayability and an urge for multiple playthroughs, especially with the unscripted horror events. A lot of this is a first in theAmnesiaseries, so at the very least, it promises to be unique.Amnesia: The Bunkercould be the horror title that tops evenAmnesia: The Dark Descentwith how players engage with the new gameplay mechanisms.
This newAmnesiatitle from Frictional Games certainly looks like it hopes to introduce a new generation to some of the tensest and most frightening horror games around. Time will tell if it can live up toAmnesia: The Dark Descentwith the help of its open-world elements.
Amnesia: The Bunkeris launching March 2023 for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
