Amnesia: The Bunker

Another great game on the Amnesia series, but this one takes a different approach: this is primarily a survival horror game. You play as a French soldier during WWI stuck inside a bunker and you have to find a way to escape. The game is non-linear: you can complete the objectives in any order. The bunker is abandoned, it is incredibly dark and eerie, and falling to pieces. And then there is the monster: an ever-present and intelligent threat. It hides in the walls and reacts to your movements. If you make too much noise, it comes out starts hunting you. It knows how to open doors and will smash anything that is in the way. But it also knows to hide in holes and wait for prey (ie: you) to run by to kill it. You CAN fight the monster, but this only buys you a few minutes of relative safety. There is a very unexpected depth to this game. Unlike other Amnesia games where you are basically a victim all the time, here you have several options at your disposal. You have some control - but you have to very carefully balance your scarce resources. Another unexpected feature is the monster's behaviour. It has its routines and it is predictable to a point, but it WILL surprise you. Don't get complacent. The game is not exactly "scary", but there are genuinely blood pumping moments. The thrill of having the monster mere centimetres from you as you tiptoe around. The primal fear as you turn tail and just RUN LIKE HELL when the monster spots you. It is a game of highs and lows. A lot of time you are just feeling your way in the darkness and hiding in a closet, or you are just scouting for resources. But then you decide "let's do this" load up on grenades and just push through some obstacle to grab a key item, monster be damned! After completing the game you unlock new game+ which gives you tons of options to customise the game - like monster aggression or amount of resources. This makes the game superbly replayable. It's a great game. I really recommend it.

Cette fois-ci, nous sommes dans un bunker pendant la première guerre mondiale et quelle ambiance réussite ! Il y a peu de lumières mais ce n'est pas un soucis car nous possédons une lampe à dynamo qui exclue le besoin de l'alimenter par de l'huile. Appartenant à l'armée française, il est agréable de voir que les affiches de propagandes sont dans la langue de Molière. On regrettera la non-traduction des panneaux de signalisations : pourquoi faire les choses à moitié ? Tout comme les voix françaises ! Où sont-elles ? C'était le moment ! Les allemands parlent dans leur langue... Pourquoi pas ce cher Henri ? Les animations de recharges des armes sont bien réalisées et contribuent à nous immerger dans ce cauchemar. Notre arsenal sert simplement à ralentir notre ennemi ; celui-ci est immortel. Tout comme dans Alien Isolation, vous êtes traqué par un monstre inarrêtable. Ici, c'est plus permissif, si vous êtes repéré, vous n'êtes pas forcément fichu et vous pouvez fuir pour vous cacher ou le semer. Le système de sauvegardes se fait via des lanternes à allumer. Pas d'automatiques. Vous êtes responsabilisé au maximum. Tout comme l'inventaire limité : vous avez un coffre de stockage mais qui n'est pas infini. Ce rangement est utile mais vous pouvez aussi bien tout jeter au sol : ça reste. Vous avez un système de carburant pour les lumières. C'est alléchant sur le papier mais ça ne sert vraiment pas beaucoup. Seulement pour deux moments obligatoires. Du coup, vous pouvez littéralement crouler sous l'or noir ! La carte est petite et la durée de vie s'en ressent : en 4 heures, vous aurez fait le tour et serez prêt à rejoindre l'extérieur. Le scénario est distillé via des documents. Peu de dialogues sont présents. On peut dire beaucoup sur la série Amnesia mais on ne peut pas lui enlever le fait que les développeurs font des efforts pour nous proposer à chaque épisode un nouveau contexte. Ce jeu est le plus claustrophobe de la licence... Je recommande !

You can fight back.. but just to buy some time.

There's this concept floating around the white liberal RPG scene (D&D and other bland mass appeal games) that state that horror is never about scaring the player, only their characters. I despise them! When I watch a horror movie, when I play a horror tabletop RPG and when I play a horror video game, I want to be scared. I have played for two hours in two one hour sessions, and I don't picture myself playing longer sessions, one hour is enough, the stress and dreadful atmosphere get under my skin in a matter of minutes. If you are one of those white liberal RPG people that think the player should never feel any disconfort, please play this and sh*t in your pants, you deserve it. But if you are a normal persona, play this game because it's absolutely amazing (at least the two first hours, and with the perfect track of excellence from Frictional games, I am sure the rest of the game will be just as good. I only hope I don't have a heart attack and that I find bullets.

I love the Amnesia series, but ever since The Dark Descent, Frictional games doesn't seem to get right balance of horror anymore (excluding Soma, which is amazing!). The thing here is, there is too much horror. And yes, that is a bad thing. You die so often, that the monster stops being scary and becomes annoying. And those stupid rats with their headlight eyes totally ruin the atmosphere... I really wanted to love this, but I can't. The game is actively working against itself, undermining itself. There should have been more puzzles and discovery. The game is at it spookiest when the monster isn't seen, but heard growling behind the walls. Another thing that sucks is that the monster cannot be predicted in most instances. There is no scanner like in Alien Isolation that messes with your anxiety. Nope. There it suddenly is, and bam your run in ruined. This game has a great start, and can genuinely scare you at first. But after a while, it become a chore, and the monster a bore. And the weird roguelite kinda gameplay loop just doesn't fit really well. The Dark Descent > Rebirth > A Machine For Pigs > The Bunker