Amnesia: The Bunker

About Amnesia: The Bunker

Amnesia: The Bunker is a first-person horror game made and published by Frictional Games, the studio behind Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA. It came out in June 2023 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox. You play Henri Clement, a French soldier who wakes up alone in a bunker on the Western Front. The other soldiers are gone or dead, the way out is blocked, and something is moving in the tunnels.

The bunker is a semi-open place you learn room by room. A generator in the central office powers the lights, and it burns fuel you have to find. While the lights are on, the bunker is safer and easier to read. When they go out, you are left with a dynamo flashlight that you crank by hand and that whirs loudly every time you use it. The Beast hunts by sound, so running, breaking doors, shooting and even charging your torch can bring it out of the walls.

You start with a revolver and one bullet, and supplies stay scarce. Locked storage boxes, tools, grenades, gas and scraps of cloth are scattered around, and you combine and use them to open new routes, set traps or buy yourself a few seconds. Many problems have more than one answer: a lock can be shot off, smashed with a brick or opened with a key you found. Item and enemy placements are randomised, so a second run is not the same as the first.

It differs from the earlier Amnesia games in giving you tools to fight back a little, but the Beast cannot be beaten, only driven off for a while. The fear comes from listening: the scratching behind a wall, the sound of the generator dying, footsteps that might be yours. The free Halloween update added a harder Shell Shock mode and a custom mode for later runs.

It suits players who like stealth horror and planning their moves, and who are happy to fail and learn a place. Players who want a story told mainly through cutscenes, or a game with real combat, may find it slow and punishing.

How to play Amnesia: The Bunker

1. Explore the bunker from the central office, reading notes and maps to learn the layout.
2. Find fuel and pour it into the generator to keep the lights on for longer.
3. Gather items such as bricks, cloth, grenades and keys, and combine or use them to open locked doors and boxes.
4. Move quietly and listen for the Beast; hide or throw something to distract it when it comes close.
5. Save at the safe room's lantern when you have the fuel, and work toward the way out of the bunker.

Tips

• Refuel the generator before you head into a long area; darkness makes everything harder.
• Crank the flashlight only when you need it, as the noise can draw the Beast.
• Keep your one bullet for when the Beast is right on you; a shot drives it off for a while.
• Bricks and bottles are useful for breaking locks and for throwing to lure the Beast away.
• Learn the map in the office; knowing where the safe routes are is worth more than any item.

Questions