We analyze Amnesia: The Bunker in its PS5 edition. A somewhat nondescript horror game, whose short duration does not allow you to explore the virtues it claims with the gameplay.
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He horror genre It is one of the most evolutionary in the video game sector. New formulas are always being sought to impress the player, scare him and generate that concern about what will be behind each corner. The release of PT changed the genre forever, with a multitude of proposals seeking something different or emulating what Hideo Kojima intended in the game that was finally cancelled. However, there are several sagas that still maintain the type over the years and one of them is Amnesia, which returns to the current scene with the arrival of Amnesia: The Bunkerafter delaying its initial date.
Frictional Games returns for this new installment with a different setting and that tries to reinvent itself so as not to follow the line of previous installments. For the last few days I have gone underground to analizar Amnesia: The Bunker and find out if this new formula has worked. The truth is that, as a preview, it is more a harrowing game how terrifying and stays Half way with most things he tries.
+ Pros
Good gameplay concept, although a little simple. Lovers of classic survival horror will love it. The sound design is heartbreaking. Causes real anguish in certain situations.
– Contras
Gets a bit repetitive as the hours go by. It exhausts its options very quickly and doesn’t exploit interesting mechanics. The light from the lantern is a soporific mechanic. Short duration.
Amnesia: The Bunker: price, release date, platforms and where to buy
Amnesia: The BunkerPlatformPS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PCRelease dateJune 6, 2023DeveloperFrictional GamesGenreTerrorLanguageVoices in English and texts in Spanish
Amnesia: The Bunker es the new installment of the Amnesia saga set in World War I. With its release the June 6, 2023is developed by the Frictional Games team, coming to consoles PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and also on PC. It is the new proposal of one of the most illustrious horror sagas of modern times and has a translation through texts into Spanish.
The First World War, seen through the prism of terror
One of the things that most impressed Amnesia: The Bunker in its presentation was its World War I setting, transferring his proposal a hundred years ago and contributing that warlike atmosphere more characteristic of another genre. At first it might seem like a interesting mixsince war terror is not one of the most explored aspects in video games, so it could be an indication of something fresh and renewed, which would provide a dose of fear and tension virtually unknown to date.
However, once you enter the universe of Amnesia: The Bunker you see that everything is clichés of other titles of terror that have already triumphed in the past and that has very few characteristics of its own and that make it something unique. It’s about a Frankenstein from Alien: Isolation, Outlast and from the Amnesia saga itself, with which the result at all times provides a familiar feeling and that practically does not impress in any of its bars. If you add to that what is a really short proposal, its mechanics do not finish exploding and remain in no man’s land. It’s entertaining, but it doesn’t get the desired impact.
A gameplay based on backtracking and hide-and-seek
We are facing a game with a very narrow and dark environment
The proposal of Amnesia: The Bunker is quite simple: you are locked in a WWI bunker and there’s a creature killing everyone who steps foot in that narrow place. Your mission is to escape from there as soon as possible, although for that you will have to go through it inch by inch to be able to get activate the mechanism that opens the front door. With this, you begin to discover that you are facing a video game in which the backtracking It is essential, since there are rooms to access to open new paths, retrace your steps, discover new access routes, activate more mechanisms and a long list of actions.
The inconvenient? that you constantly have to a bigard close on your heels to prevent you from escaping from there alive. Amnesia: The Bunker manages to provide those doses of permanent tension before the simple existence of the bug, since you don’t know when it might appear to try to make things difficult for you and give you a small heart attack. The artificial intelligence of the creature has its lights and shadows, since it is an ax for detect you with sounds as light as winding up the flashlight, one of the main tools, but then it’s really easy to distract him. At least, on the normal difficulty level.
The monster can appear at any time to try to catch you
Speaking of the flashlight, there is no doubt that it is an interesting mechanic and very well carried out given the setting, but it is frustrating to have to be winding it up every few seconds with a bicharraco on your heels and who is able to hear the sound. It is a mechanic that has already been used in a sublime way in other games, so the little range of action What he has here is quite frustrating and stressful, although I doubt that was part of the dev team’s plans to bring terror.
Where Amnesia does things well: The Bunker is in make you think about what to do with your resources. The presence of the beast is a constant nuisance and you must think about whether you want to use your precious bullets to distract and stun it or whether to dedicate them to other key actions in the game. It is true that it is not that it is the best game in the construction of puzzles, but some require that type of elements to be able to be solved with greater speed and success, so absolutely nothing can be wasted.
Anguish through flashes, although very well carried
Amnesia: The Bunker has very limited resources. use them well
The construction of the game drink straight from the most classic survival horror games, so if you like this type of proposal, maybe Amnesia: The Bunker will be able to dazzle you. However, the moments of real anguish happen through small flashes and perpetrated in situations that are quite predictable if you are used to horror games. The biggest tension I’ve found in the game is the absence of a map to be able to consult whenever you want, since there are only a few distributed in some of the rooms of the bunker, with which the orientation, on many occasions in the dark, causes a lot of tension.
However, where the game moves like a fish in water is in relation to the sound design. If you just want to hug the cushion while you play while squinting, there are sounds, screams and footsteps of the creature capable of freeze your blood while you are practically groping your way through the interior of the bunker. It is noticeable that the guys from Frictional Games know what they are doing in this aspect and have managed to generate a really scary atmosphere which, together with the sound, manage to provide those moments of maximum tension that are expected from a horror game to use.
There are moments of real tension in Amnesia: The Bunker
What I liked the most about Amnesia: The Bunker is that it gives the feeling that the creature does not have a unique behavior patternbut it reacts at all times to what you are doing during the game, which makes it a much more unpredictable and that it can surprise you at any time, when you least expect it and in a place where you did not think it could arise. This is really positive for providing those scares so characteristic of a horror game, for the ease of avoiding it it takes away that good feeling, so it doesn’t matter how many times it appears and how it does it, you will always be able to avoid it easily.
It does not dazzle at a graphic level, but it complies
There are moments in which the game lacks technical level, but it hides it due to the constant absence of light
It is time to finish this analysis talking about the technical aspect of Amnesia: The Bunker. It is not that it is the best game that can be seen in the present generation; not even in the past. is limited to comply with what is fair and necessarysomething that taking into account its narrow setting, means that something more could be asked of it, since there are no large environments that limit the exploitation of a higher graphic quality than the one presented by the Frictional Games team on this occasion.
yes you know play nice with lighting, something key in a game of this style and with such a gloomy setting inside the bunker, but certain textures are very neglected and it seems that not all the necessary effort has been put into it. However, it does hold quite solid both visually and in performanceso the experience is just enough to place you in a World War I bunker where things beyond all understanding are happening with dismembered humans, narrow corridors with flashing lights and a creature wanting to put a knife through its teeth saw.
Final Rating of Amnesia: The Bunker
One of the monster art pieces from Amnesia: The Bunker
In short, Amnesia: The Bunker is a passable game in the horror genre. It doesn’t invent the wheel, it borrows elements from other great games and mixes them in an unusual setting for this type of video game. It is not the greatest experience of fear of the history in video games, but it is an entertaining time if what you are looking for is tension and anguish before what happens inside the bunker. However, checking the good results of the other games in the saga, it leaves that bitter taste of not knowing how to reinvent yourself enough and not provide a good twist that forces you to change the dynamics during the game, one of the most impressive bases of its predecessor.
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