Frictional Games announcedAmnesia: The Bunker, the latest entryin a horror seriesthat owes its success to some of YouTube’s earliest viral horror game videos.Amnesia: The Bunkerdoesn’t want to just be yet another survival-horror game, though, as the developers are teasing that it will be a “semi open-world” adventure sandbox where players can interact with a lot of stuff in the environment and influence the events of the game.
Taking a cue from immersive sims,Frictional GameswantsAmnesia: The Bunkerto emphasize player choice as they explore a World War I bunker as an amnesiac French soldier, solving puzzles and dodging an evil creature. Players start with only a pistol with just one bullet and a dynamo flashlight. Their experience will unravel uniquely from there.Amnesia: The Bunkerwon’t have many scripted set pieces and will instead react to the player’s decisions as they solve puzzles and take on the creature. For fans of games likePrey, it looks likeAmnesia: The Bunkerwants to elicit a similar feeling.
Unfortunately, the reveal trailer forAmnesia: The Bunkerdoesn’t show those systems in action yet, simply teasing us with a creepy trek through the bunker. Still, taking this approach to the next Amnesia game should create some interesting emergent gameplay moments and give the game enough variation to make it just as fun to watch people play asAmnesia: The Dark Descentwas on YouTube in 2010. In fact, Frictional Games says there are multiple solutions to every puzzle and that “objects, threats, and resources change in every playthrough,” so there will be quite a bit of randomization that will makeAmnesia: The Bunkereven more interesting to watch.
Amnesia: The Bunkerwill be released for PC, PS4, and Xbox Series X/S in March 2023. When asked about a potential PS5 version, a PR representative for Fractional Games told Digital Trends that “the game is being released natively for PS4 and Xbox Series X/S — compatible with Xbox One and PS5. It seems strange, but that’s how it is.”
