A new trailer is out for Amnesia: The Bunker, and though the half-minute clip does not reveal all that much, the tension and fear emanating from its visual style and haunting audio are palpable. Fans of the series, already eager to get their hands on Amnesia: The Bunker, need little else to hype them up for the game's forthcoming release.
Frictional Game's first entry into the series, Amnesia: The Dark Descent came out in 2010 to rave reviews, with critics hailing the new survival horror IP as one of the scariest games of all time. It was considered such a chilling experience that players would all but dare one another to play it. Sections of the game such as the sewers or the refinery became legendary among horror fans, as players would be unable to calm their nerves enough to play through them. Frictional Games would let The Chinese Room develop the next entry in the series as they worked on the psychological horror game, Soma. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs was less favorably received among fans, and Frictional Games would take back the reins for its 2020 Amnesia: Rebirth, regarded as a return to form for the franchise, albeit one with a lower ceiling than its originator.
The new teaser trailer for Amnesia: The Bunker is the fourth glimpse of gameplay to come out since the game's announcement at the end of November. The game, set during World War One, has its protagonist delving into a dark and dilapidated network of underground bunkers. This most recent trailer pans menacingly toward a hole in a concrete wall, which appears to have been dug into by some vile entity whose rabid, gravelly snarl can be heard as the trailer fades to black. The dust-covered room contains expended artillery shell casings, blood-stained concrete floors, and a discarded, era-appropriate helmet with half of its owner's brains left inside of it. The distant sound of howling winds and the thrum of machinery enhance the sense of dread that encompasses the trailer.
The first three gameplay snippets for Amnesia: The Bunker showed off the types of early 20th century implements that will be at the player's disposal. Slow-reloading revolvers, crank-powered flashlights, and string-pulled flares highlight how, while the protagonist is in mortal peril and being hunted, they are far from helpless. Whatever terrifying supernatural entities will pursue the character through the game have not been shown yet, but the unnerving sounds from them have probed at the darkest recesses of players' imaginations.
For fans of Frictional Games and the Amnesia series, March 2023 cannot come soon enough. Amnesia: The Bunker is shaping up to be a spine-chilling addition to the survival horror genre and the method of releasing small, contextless vignettes of the game is a fantastic way to drum up interest without spoiling the terrors that lurk within it.
Amnesia: The Bunker launches March 2023 for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.