Amnesia: The Bunker Gives You a Gun. You Still Fear the Next Door

Amnesia: The Bunker is one of those games that throws you straight into hell, points at the exit and tells you to figure it out.

We play as Henri Clément, a French soldier during the First World War. Together with his friend Augustin Lambert, he finds himself in a nightmare that very quickly stops resembling an ordinary war story.

In other words: classic Amnesia. Except this time, Frictional Games did something a little different.

Less story, more horror

The Bunker is not another Amnesia built around huge amounts of story, dialogue and successive plot developments. And yes, I am looking at you in particular, Amnesia: Rebirth.

Bunker is much simpler. You are trapped in a bunker. You have a generator. The generator needs fuel. When it runs, you have light. When it stops, darkness falls, and somewhere inside the walls something is moving that you definitely do not want to meet.

That is pretty much enough. The game does not keep explaining why you should be scared. It simply creates the conditions that make you scared on your own.

Of course, The Bunker has a story. Notes and the environment tell us about the soldiers, the bunker itself and Lambert. But it is much subtler. You can dig into it if you want, or do what some players will probably do: finish the game, then watch an hour-long YouTube video explaining everything they missed.

For me, this is exactly where Bunker gets it right.

Claustrophobia does half the work

One of the best things about The Bunker is the location itself. Almost the entire game takes place in one complex. You get a map at the start and have a rough idea of where to go, but a map is not much help when you are afraid to leave the safe room at all.

The Beast moves inside the walls and ceiling. You hear it above you. Sometimes you can hear that it is close, but you cannot be sure whether it will actually emerge. That uncertainty works much better than another monster jumping out of a cupboard.

After a few hours, you start to understand the rules. You become familiar with the bunker. You have a rough idea of what you can do and how to react. But that does not mean you stop being scared.

This might be one of The Bunker’s greatest strengths. The monster becomes more predictable over time, but never entirely safe.

You have a gun. It does not help much

Unlike in many earlier Amnesia games, Henri is not completely defenceless. We get a revolver, can find grenades and have a few other ways of dealing with danger. The problem is that ammunition is limited, and a gunshot makes noise too.

The weapon gives you a very interesting sense of security. You can defend yourself, but you never feel powerful.

Then there are the rats. They are not the main threat, but they can effectively block a route or force us to use resources we would rather save for later.

The Bunker keeps making you face small decisions:

• Is it really worth using a bullet?
• Should I start the generator now?
• Do I have enough fuel left?
• Should I keep going when I can hear something inside the wall?

That is how even an ordinary walk down a corridor can turn into a little expedition.

The plan is simple: get out

Our main goal is not to save the world or uncover an ancient mystery. We just want to get out of this damn bunker.

The exit is blocked and needs to be blasted open. The dynamite is in the arsenal, and carrying out the escape plan means searching other parts of the complex, including the prison and soldiers’ quarters, to find what we need to explore further.

It is a very simple goal, and that is exactly why it works. You know what you want from the start. The problem is getting there. Each new part of the bunker is another place you really do not want to enter, but you know you will never leave without doing it.

Small details make a huge difference

After drinking water from a mysterious source, Lambert gradually transforms into the Beast that later hunts Henri in the bunker. The game has plenty of little details you could easily miss on a first playthrough. One of my favourites is Lambert’s stuffed rabbit.

If we find it and use it during an encounter with the Beast, the monster can stop and take an interest in the toy. For a moment, something of the person he used to be breaks through.

It is a small detail, but things like this make the world feel like more than a collection of corridors built solely for the player. I do not remember many moments in earlier Amnesia games that connected gameplay mechanics and story quite so well.

One bunker instead of a hundred locations

I think this is why I like The Bunker so much. I love games that take one location and squeeze absolutely everything out of it, instead of teleporting the player to a completely new place every hour.

It lets the developers really think through the space. You start remembering corridors. You know where doors lead. You recognise distinctive rooms. A place that was completely unfamiliar gradually starts to feel like somewhere you know.

Yet you still do not feel safe there. This is where The Bunker reminds me why Frictional Games can be so good. They do not need the biggest maps, huge numbers of enemies or dozens of hours of content. They need a good idea, the right atmosphere and a place you start to truly hate after a few hours.

I want more games like this

Amnesia: The Bunker is not perfect, but for me it is one of the more interesting directions the series could have taken. It takes the foundations of The Dark Descent, sheds some of the narrative weight that bothered me in Rebirth, and builds a more open, systemic game around them.

The Beast, the generator, limited resources and one claustrophobic bunker are enough to create a horror game that does not need to shout in your face every five minutes that you should be scared.

I hope Frictional takes a similar direction again someday. Whether that means another Amnesia, something more experimental or another game along the lines of SOMA really does not matter.

Give me a good place, a good idea and a reason to be afraid of opening the next door.