Posted on: October 11, 2025
ParasiteHouse
Possesseur vérifiéJeux: Avis: 6
Not As Good As Its Glaze
My favorite horror game is Alien: Isolation. I was also raised by a rat demon in a World War I era bunker and my mother was a hand grenade, so you know I have some experience evaluating video games of this nature. I bought The Bunker under the impression that it would be a simpler and more intimate take on the experience you get from Alien: Isolation. I was also hopeful that it would distinguish itself by being a short and snappy game of cat and mouse that takes place in a horribly tactile past instead of a long and laborious game that takes place in a horribly tactile future. Eh. I think Amnesia: The Bunker's ultimate problem is that being Alien: Isolation is really hard. A lot of the time, even Alien: Isolation doesn’t succeed at being Alien: Isolation. You can't just pretend to be Alien: Isolation and then tacitly brag about it on your store page and your load screen and in your tutorials. It's not something you can fake until you make. By the time the bell rings for round 10 of Command Grab Monster vs. The Man Who Gets Grabbed, the illusion breaks. It’s totally possible to get to this point without having made meaningful progress, and to do this so early on in a genre that relies on immersion and illusion is a death knell for any horror game. Once you’ve died to nonsense a few times, The Bunker becomes a tedious hustle through a tiny environment full of prescriptive bits of junk that you don’t have inventory space for. Though the game claims that you should experiment and adapt and that you can "probably" apply inventive solutions to problems, your recourse is frequently limited to the obvious, and the obvious is frequently ineffective despite its obviousness. Nowhere is this more evident than the game’s antagonist, Jean Ratzenberger, heir to the ancient Zangief clan of command grabbers. Jean is a giant rat monster and he’s probably here because of something awful the player character can’t remember doing, but I dunno because I’m not finishing this. Jean was built for World War I because he’s a brazen literary device representing its madness. He loves tiny tunnels and darkness and the senseless slaughter of hapless young men. You get it on good authority that Jean, like most video game monsters, has rules and weaknesses, but the game lies to you like propagandists lied to an entire generation of men to get them to throw themselves into rat-infested trenches and run toward machine gun fire. There are no rules with Jean Ratzenberger, nor are there illusions of rules. There are only lies. Want to keep Jean at bay by fueling the generator and turning on the lights? For him, having to go in the light to kill you is as daunting as having to go to the fridge to get food when you’re comfortable on the couch. It might seem like a labor in your head, but you’re not going to sit around being hungry. Want to cut off his routes of ingress by dragging heavy objects in front of his hidey holes? I guess that works when he’s in a languid mood, but it’s a tedious and time consuming ritual in a game where you’re on the clock, there are holes everywhere, and he can break stuff anyway. You can fend him off by blocking a hole with an explosive barrel so he gets inexplicably blown up when he comes out, but holes are often along your routes, so don’t get blown up yourself or you might not live long enough to get command grabbed. Want to hide in the dark behind furniture and a locked door? He can break down the door and see in the dark, and god forbid you try to hide from him while you’re injured because you’ll leave a blood trail. I think he can smell? He often comes right to you, and even hiding well has a low chance of success. Want to shoot him? That might stop him before he command grabs you, but it’s a waste of one of the scarcer resources in the game. It’s a wonder that global society managed to throw forty million lives away in World War I when they were shipping bullets to the warfront in boxes of one. Want to blow him up with a grenade? I guess that works for a little while, but rarely in a pinch. Grenades have a timer that’s only a little longer than the generator’s, so he’s probably going to get you before it explodes. One time I think I interrupted his command grab with one, but another time I think I interrupted his command grab by throwing up my hands and swearing at my son, so your mileage may vary. Want to drop a firebomb in front of his hidey hole and then shoot it when he comes out so it explodes and he racks off for a bit? Nah the game doesn’t let you use those without a lighter. No inventive solutions for you! Want to inspire hesitation by throwing a flare at him? The game tells you over and over that he doesn’t like bright light, but that doesn’t seem to do much either. Want to distract him by throwing something that will make a loud noise? A lot of the time he’s just not interested. Ultimately, the monster in The Bunker isn’t scary because it feels like he does whatever he wants regardless of your input. Since he does whatever he wants, there are no rules for his behavior. Since there are no rules for his behavior, you have no consistent recourse. Since you have no consistent recourse, you can’t reliably win victories against him. Since you can’t reliably win, there’s no tension in the struggle, and you become resigned to his presence. You don’t grow attached to your resources because you can’t rely on them. You don’t race to get your work done before the lights go out because the lights don't work. You don’t worry about making loud noises because he’s scripted to come out of his hole and get you anyway. As the centerpiece of the game, Jean is a terrible representative for the horror the game is trying and failing to convey. The environment and scenario also subvert the Bunker’s alleged values. For a short game emphasizing experimentation and adaptation, there’s a lot of search action going on, and it’s the Condemned: Criminal Origins kind where you can’t get by certain barriers without the correct garden tool. I know this is a video game and it’s typical faire in this genre, but it feels so wrong in this context. I’m sorry, but I’m incredulous that this bunker has one lighter, one set of bolt cutters, and one wrench. The fact that I have to have these things to progress seems contrary to the scenario The Bunker wants to create. The resulting process is a racket where I waste precious generator time by wandering around not doing what I know I’m supposed to do because Amnesia: The Grand Experiment demands a pentagonal socket wrench to get around this thin metal grating and all I have is a bunch of explosives, a gun, a stick that burns at eight hundred degrees, and a bunker full of stout metal tools that you can pick up but not use for anything. Not since the little pile of rubble in Dark Souls 2 has progress gating seemed so harebrained and conspicuous, but Dark Souls 2 wasn’t boasting an environment where you have to adapt and overcome obstacles in creative ways. Want to light a firebomb with a flare? No! Want to light a firebomb with the kerosene lamp in the safe room? No! Want to take that lamp with you so you can use it as a source of light or fire? No! Want to undo those bolts on the grating with the giant tongs you found behind a door in maintenance? No! Want to use a grenade and a cord to create a trap for the monster? No! Only every other soldier gets to do that! Want to disarm a trap with your hands? No! You need bolt cutters! Want to step over a wire trap like literally any idiot could? No! You have to jump and you have to get a running start or you’ll set off the trap! Want to use some cordage to leave a trail for yourself that the monster won’t know to follow? No! The Bunker is rife with simple things you’d love to do but can’t. There’s even daylight shining through the rubble you need to blast to win. If you could go up there and shift some rocks around, we wouldn’t have a game. Maybe we shouldn’t.
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