Amnesia: The Bunker Reviews
Frictional should be commended for at least trying something a bit different when compared to their previous offerings. As the studio continued to evolve and iterate on their linear experiences, there is a hope that they will continue to learn and iterate on this idea of a semi-open world horror experience. Perhaps in a few years' time we will see Frictional create a title that again hits the highs of Soma but with the added freedom to explore and experiment in the game world. It would be nice to look back in a few years at The Bunker as being a steppingstone to something greater, but right now it's hard to see it as anything other than a short, "merely ok" game from a studio that has crafted much more compelling releases in the past.
Amnesia: The Bunker has all these little pieces that work well, but doesn’t fully deliver on its main hook. Fans of the series may be set up for a No Man’s Land of disappointment, where just a few tweaks here and there might make it a much more enjoyable experience. With it also launching on Xbox Game Pass, that might be the best place for it to gain an audience.
Amnesia: The Bunker is a well-designed, short sharp episode in the award-winning horror series. The setting is suitably tense, the new inventory management and puzzle-solving philosophy feeds into the suspense, along with the limited resources, and the multiple endings do add replayability. Short length and some interactivity issues aside, this is another memorable Amnesia game and one of the best to date.
While the classic Amnesia gameplay is available here in a lot of ways, it’s mixed with some underwhelming, poorly balanced monster gameplay that doesn’t work as well as it should.
Amnesia: The Bunker is a step down from Amnesia: Rebirth. New release from Frictional Games is visually boring, lacks atmosphere and can get on your nerves with constantly teleporting stalker enemy.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Amnesia: The Bunker is the series' lowest point, and doesn't give an indication for a hopeful future.
Frictional Games surprises with Amnesia: The Bunker, an experience based on its most acclaimed franchise that will test our nerves thanks to a tense and oppressive atmosphere. It is a game that takes full advantage of uncertainty and the handling of lighting, atmosphere and sound effects make it a terrifyingly satisfying experience.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Amnesia: The Bunker is a step in the right direction and a culmination of Frictional Games' entire journey. It is both a return to the past, as well as laying the foundation for what the future of the series could be.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
These moments rival those of the best stealth games, when the slightest noise can mean revealing your position to much more powerful foes. Frictional has made a name for itself by creating these moments out of elegant yet terrifying systems. The Bunker’s standout achievement, then, is creating a nonlinear sandbox where you’re constantly learning from your own bad habits. I’ve never been so conscious of how much noise everything makes around me in a digital space, cautiously entering rooms to avoid kicking an empty wine bottle or activating the flashlight intermittently when I knew the monster was near. As McKee described, it’s your mundane actions, in conjunction with the crude and hostile setting, that create a solid ceiling of sound — one that only grows thicker the longer you inhabit the bunker.
Amnesia: The Bunker is a compact, focused and refreshing horror game that brings new excitement to one of horror's modern classic game series.
