Amnesia: The Bunker - Not Amnesia, but budget Resident Evil 7

Perhaps not everyone caught the dawn of the Suvival-Horror genre. When mammoths ruled the earth, Survival-Horror was the best way to tell an ornate story, make the player enjoy the discomfort and sometimes empathize with the protagonist's plight. Survival-Horror was an exemplarily daring genre. For example: in the now forgotten Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, players were told a story in two timelines: past and present. The protagonist of those silent hills was seen by a therapist in the present tense, and the past was modified depending on the player's choices. At the end Silent Hill: Shattered Memories diagnosed the player... The player, not the protagonist. It's an interactive mental test in the wrapper of a classic horror movie....

...What does Amnesia: The Bunker have to do with it? The Bunker may not be about the scary plot, but this game can be called Survival-Horror of the old school. The same old Silent Hill and the same old Resident Evil. And now it's time to explain how we came to this conclusion....

Amnesia: The Bunker is not Amnesia.

The Amnesia series has always stood apart from its other horror counterparts. Amnesia was a deeply seasoned Survival-Horror by all the rules of the genre: the protagonist had no weapons, extremely limited resources, and oaky, unresponsive controls created the necessary level of discomfort. In the background, there was a mesmerizing story with a thick overlay of mysticism. Well, and a distinctive feature of all games in the Amnesia series - protagonists invariably did not remember their past and sought to shed light on it. Of course, in order to make the past interesting to learn, each game told a catchy story with philosophical undertones.

In the new Amnesia: The Bunker it goes against the established tradition and, all of a sudden, it's going for the laurels of budget Resident Evil 7. The seventh installment, that is. For the first time in the history of the series, the protagonist is no longer helpless and quite capable of standing up for himself...

...However, having a gun doesn't make a difference. Amnesia: The Bunker is a game where a bullet fired by the side of the screen provokes the loading of the last save. In the previous games of the series even lighting your way in the darkness was expensive - the lamp consumed oil, and matches were worth their weight in gold. The only thing that makes Amnesia: The Bunker similar to the previous games of the series is "Amnesia" in the title and recognizable physics of HPL Engine. If you liked Amnesia for how correctly and believably the weight of objects is felt here and how perfectly doors unlock according to all laws of physics - The Bunker will be to your liking. If you liked Amnesia for its ferocious economy of every match - The Bunker will make you feel cheated. And here's why...

The one case where changing the core gameplay didn't destroy the foundation

This time Amnesia was made by those who invented Amnesia - Frictional Games. They decided to leave the themes of abandoned castles, stations and expeditions alone and move to a very uncharacteristic time period of the First World War. The first minutes of getting acquainted with Amnesia: The Bunker look more like an extremely budget variant of old Call of Duty, rather than some kind of horror:

The first thing the player will be taught is to run. The second is to shoot. Both skills in the game are not as critical as wit and cold reasoning.

Play will be a French soldier named Arnie Clement. Trench warfare, chemical weapons, omnipresent mud and cries for help. Again in the tradition of early Call of Duty, Arnie tries to heroically save a fellow soldier, but falls under artillery fire and loses consciousness. But the Frenchman is not destined to die that day. Arnie finds himself on a dirty bed with a dirty drip. Every now and then soil falls from the ceiling from another close explosion. Arnie seems lucky, but the first soldier he meets doesn't think so. A wounded soldier, who has been through the hell of war, gives the player a revolver and asks him to finish him off. The soldier preferred to die with a bullet to the paws of a certain creature....

After getting a little more comfortable in the darkness, Arnie finds the local equivalent of the kerosene lamp from the original Amnesia - a flashlight powered by a dynamo:

And in the example of the difference between a flashlight and a kerosene lamp in miniature, the main difference from the previous games in the series can be guessed: the lamp consumed resources, but was able to light the way, while the flashlight runs out of power in just 10 seconds, but requires only regular button presses. The flashlight on the dynamo is the most important variable in gameplay, a source of imagined safety and discomfort. The pistol, which the player was supposed to have high hopes for, turns out not to be a weapon, but a versatile way to accomplish goals. Of course, the revolver can be used for its intended purpose, but the game is designed so that the player thinks three times before firing, rather than relying on firepower. Amnesia: The Bunker as if hints: "buddy, of course you have a loaded revolver with two or three bullets, you can shoot something, but this guy was not alone and he had much more bullets":

The player will find this photo at first, along with notes from soldiers who were a little less lucky...or a little more. The role of the notes is hard to overestimate: through them the story is revealed, they contain information necessary for the passage, and also, unexpectedly, learning. Remember when I said that the game first teaches you how to run and gun? Well, this tutorial can rightfully be dubbed the most ridiculous tutorial ever. Imagine that before playing Call of Duty: Black Ops the player would be taught to drive a radio-controlled spy car with explosives, and then thrown into a multiplayer match against nine cybersportsmen - this is the level of absurdity of Amnesia: The Bunker training....

It's far more important to be able to read, think logically, watch your step, and be able to play without making too much noise. Oddly enough, Amnesia: The Bunker is suddenly a hardcore game. Imagine Resident Evil 7, but only with no map, no hints, and practically no ammo. Imagine Resident Evil 7 with extremely dubious controls; the kind of game that doesn't care about giving extremely non-obvious walkthrough hints, rather than highlighting valuable note information in a different color against the background of the uppercase reading. Imagine Resident Evil 7, but remove all enemies except Father Baker, who no longer walks along set routes, but can get you anywhere. Imagine that? This is Amnesia: The Bunker ...

Why Amnesia: The Bunker is a worthy competitor to Resident Evil 7

Because both games are built on the same formula. It's funny: where Resident Evil 7 is inferior, Amnesia: The Bunker manages to offer its own, better version, and vice versa. Both games are classic Suvival-Horror in confined spaces, but Resident Evil 7 is aimed at a wider audience, while Amnesia: The Bunker is a purebred underground game in the best sense of the term.

In front of us is a metroidvania with a tiny game location, which you will have to go around and around. The way out of the unfortunate bunker is shown in the first minutes of the game, - you just need to blow up the rubble on the passage, - but to do this you need to find "the thing", which is in the room "so-and-so", and the key to this room is in the basement behind the grate, the only thing left is to find a bolt cutter to... and so on and so forth....

Unlike in Resident Evil 7, in the new Amnesia: The Bunker you can perform the same tasks in several ways, instead of clicking through the whole inventory by poking and prodding. In addition, you can pay for the mistake in handling items in Amnesia: The Bunker. Items can now be combined. From a rag, fuel and an empty bottle you can make a Molotov cocktail. If the player drops such a valuable, multi-component item on something that doesn't react properly, the game will end. It won't end with a "Game Over" sign, but will put you in such a predicament that it's easier to replay the last half hour than try to make ends meet again. Amnesia: The Bunker is inhumane to the player. In this aspect Amnesia: The Bunker as Survival-Horror is much better than Resident Evil 7. Let's remind: once upon a time very long ago to pass any of Survival-Horror was already an achievement, a label of ingenuity, iron nerves and even mathematical calculation....

There are enough striking similarities - extremely limited inventory, lack of quick saves and imaginary safety in tiny rooms with typewriter and chest:

I was very pleased with the trick of examining some quest items. As it should be, some items need to be rotated to find what you picked them up for:

Another point in which Amnesia: The Bunker dominates Resident Evil 7 is the limitations. Not many people know, but it's the limitations that create the pace of a game, not the opportunities. So Amnesia: The Bunker achieves zen in this regard, logically justifying that very limitation. The bunker is off the grid, has no windows, but is equipped with a fuel generator. In order to light the bunker and turn on all the machinery, the generator must be running. The generator can run with a nearly empty tank, the generator can also be turned off if desired. There are enough canisters lying around the bunker to keep the generator running for hours, but if you miscalculate, get lost, or make a lot of strategic mistakes, the player will be forced to either load the last save and run in a hurry, or replay the whole game over again. Tough...

A five-minute masterpiece

Already in the menu we see a very intriguing inscription. We are told that the game, allegedly, can be passed in many ways, and each new passage is not similar to the previous one - this is a half-truth. Yes, many items at the beginning of a new game lie in other places, codes from locks change. Since the game takes place in a bunker during the First World War, there are stretch marks all over the room, but each time in different places. But the most interesting thing is that the creature wanders around the bunker through tunnels and searches for the protagonist. The creature is oriented by both light and sound. Charged flashlight - it will hear it, ran - it will follow you, God forbid accidentally shot - it is already rushing to you.

Surprisingly well Frictional Games worked on the soundtrack. Even on regular speakers, the sound is three-dimensional. The creature is always first heard and then seen. And here Amnesia: The Bunker again pulls the belt: no annoying scrimmers, only rustles in the middle of frightening silence, animal growls and generator work. The sound here does not scare in cheap ways, but informs and keeps you in suspense ...

However, there is a spoon of tar in this honey barrel as well. The variability and difficulty levels are strictly imaginary, so there is no sense in replaying Amnesia: The Bunker on a high difficulty level in search of a completely new experience. In this, Resident Evil 7 is three heads above Amnesia: The Bunker: in Resident Evil 7, the game uses the knowledge gained against the player himself and forces him to largely re-learn how to play. And yes, the shooting in Amnesia: The Bunker and in Resident Evil 7 is heaven and earth. Here Resident Evil 7 its spiritual competitor is not even noticed...

Is Amnesia: The Bunker worth buying?

If you are a big fan of old-school horror games, you can take Amnesia: The Bunker. Despite the fact that the game takes 4-7 hours to complete, the experience is unforgettable. But if horror is something far from your understanding, think twice before buying Amnesia: The Bunker. Firstly, the game is a bit more complicated than it may seem at first glance, and secondly, everything here is done for the sake of player's discomfort. Fans like it, but the average consumer needs something more free. For example - Resident Evil 7...