The non-linearity is certainly on display.
The latest installment of the hit indie horror series Amnesia got announced only a few weeks ago, yet the team over at Frictional Games is already showing a good amount of gameplay footage for Amnesia: The Bunker; most recently, it uploaded a few short clips that showcase how a locked door isn’t necessarily a dead end that needs to be left for later. In fact, it’s far from it.
Frictional Games’ next title will place players in the shoes of Henri Clement, a French World War 1 soldier who wakes up alone in a dark bunker with only a revolver and a flashlight at his disposal, as he attempts to figure out what happened to his men. Its initial announcement trailer showed what’s to be a notable deviation from the Amnesia series, which is that The Bunker will allow you to use your gun to defend yourself against the “ever-present monster” that lurks in the area.
Another big selling point that the game keeps touting in its promotional material, is its non-linearity. The Bunker will have a “semi-open world” that you can tackle in a varying order. There are multiple solutions to its problems, partly based on the different resources you can gather. Its Steam page states that with “randomization and unpredictable behavior, no play-through is the same.” Furthermore, the ever-present is stated to react to player actions.
This can be gauged in the video above, which shows the various ways you can break down doors. What doors you open will seemingly depend on what resources you have available, and whether you want to use them at that moment. For example, the player uses a grenade in this clip, but it could be another player would want to save it against an encounter with the monster. There are also in-world tools you can use, like the brick they throw at the door.
This video shows the protagonist using his revolver to shoot at a lock, while this one shows him using a flair to blow up a barrel, which in turn, blows up the door. Your decision-making will likely also depend on the proximity of the monster, for you may not want to make such loud noises if it is near.
Amnesia: The Bunker releases March 2023, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
