BUNKER 73

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Go down into an abandoned bunker and photograph what still lives there.

Platforms: PC
Stores: itch.io
Price: Pay what you want
Rated: Rated 4.7 out of 5 by 132 players on itch.io; ranked 3rd overall and 1st for Horror in Scream Jam 2024
Length: about half an hour
Players: 1
Controls: WASD to move, mouse to look, left click to take a picture, R to discard a photo, E to interact, F to switch equipment, Left Shift to run
Made by: Neverstatic Games (Brage Kasa Hansen, Anders Brynildsen, Bjørn Husby, Ollie Hall)
Released: 2024

What frightens A family is said to have lived in the abandoned Bunker 73, and traces of them still linger. You go down alone with a camera and a ghost meter, track cold spots through dark rooms lit red, and photograph the spirits that only fully show when you catch them on film, while handbook pages hint at a 16-month test underground.

A first-person ghost-photography horror game made for Scream Jam 2024, where it ranked 1st for horror. Explore the abandoned Bunker 73 with a camera and a ghost meter, find the spirits of the family said to have lived there, and learn what happened underground. About half an hour, with several endings.

About BUNKER 73

BUNKER 73 is a short first-person horror game by Neverstatic Games, a team of four: Brage Kasa Hansen, Anders Brynildsen, Bjørn Husby and Ollie Hall. It was made in Unity for Scream Jam 2024, where it ranked 3rd overall and 1st for horror, and was later expanded into a 1.0 release with new rooms, new ghosts, documents to read and multiple endings. It is a free, pay-what-you-want download for Windows on itch.io, and the team says no generative AI was used.

The premise is simple: a family is said to have lived in the now abandoned Bunker 73, and traces of them still linger. You go in to find and photograph the spirits that haunt it. The rooms of the 1.0 release include a communications room, an infirmary, a supply closet and a mess hall, and the pages you find there, such as an employee handbook for a test meant to last 16 months underground, slowly tell you what went on.

Your tools are a camera and an EMF meter. The meter's lights react as you near a cold spot, and you raise the camera and take the shot; the team says a ghost only shows fully once you have photographed it. In a devlog the team recalls the idea taking shape when someone compared it to Iron Lung, and the level was planned scare by scare to lead you exactly where they wanted you to look.

Players on itch.io rate it 4.7 out of 5 from 132 ratings and keep coming back to its atmosphere and sound; one says it relies on atmosphere rather than jump scares, others that it had them shaking, and some replayed it to find all three endings. It suits players who like short, dark exploration with a camera in hand, in the line of ghost-photography games.

How to play BUNKER 73

Download BUNKER 73 from its itch.io page (free or pay what you want), unzip it and run it on Windows.
Walk with WASD and look with the mouse; adjust the brightness if it is too dark.
Watch the ghost meter and follow it to cold spots.
Take the picture with left click when the meter reacts, and discard a bad photo with R.
Read the documents you find, and explore every room to reach an ending.

Screenshots

BUNKER 73 screenshot: the ghost meter in hand in a dark living room, an old television glowing with static beside a low table

BUNKER 73 screenshot: a storeroom bathed in red light, shelves of labelled boxes, a small photo at the bottom of the frame

BUNKER 73 screenshot: a page from an employee handbook about a 16-month underground test, held up in a dim mess hall

BUNKER 73: a dark bunker hallway with closed doors, signs and a wall map

Tips

Play with headphones; players single out the sound design.
Press F to switch between the camera and the meter rather than fumbling in the dark.
Read the handbook pages and notes; they explain what happened in the bunker.
There are several endings, so play again if your first run ends early.