The Bunker is the most nerve-wracking Amnesia game yet

theverge.com:

Frictional’s Amnesia games are fueled by guilt, and Amnesia: The Bunker — the latest installment, released today — is no exception. The Bunker has all the hallmarks of the beloved horror series: a nigh-invincible monster that stalks the player, a clunky interface that forces you to grapple with items physically, a historical setting with a Lovecraftian twist, and a protagonist who has forgotten something terrible.

But The Bunker is a marked departure from a long-established formula. Set in the trenches of World War I, it mixes Amnesia’s adventure game roots with a messier and more open-ended immersive sim design. It’s one of the series’ most unforgiving and least approachable entries — yet, at times, one of the most interesting.

Frictional described The Bunker as “semi-open world” last year, but that’s perhaps the worst description I could summon. The game is impossibly stifling. After 10 minutes of open-air trench warfare, your protagonist, part of the French armed forces, reawakens in a darkened bunker. The only exit has been sealed, and a supernatural creature is roaming the tunnels, tracking every noise you make. Your goal is to get explosives and blow the bunker open — a process that requires bypassing locks, grates, grenade traps, passcode combinations, and of course, the ever-present monster. Nearly the entire process takes place in five cramped areas, including a hub that holds a save point and a gas-fueled generator.

This generator is the eponymous bunker’s faltering heart. When it’s turned off, huge parts of the levels are pitch-black and barely navigable. There’s a flashlight, but it requires near-constant, noisy winding. And the creature seems to just hang around without the generator. Anything but a short