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Amnesia: The Bunker's new gameplay video is bringing big Alien: Isolation-but-WW1 vibes

With some well-fed rats

Frictional Games are releasing the next entry in their hit horror series later this month - May 23rd - with Amnesia: The Bunker, taking their signature stalks through the dark into a World War One setting. That date’s creeping up very soon, and we now have our first extended look at gameplay down below.

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The Bunker puts you in the frightened shoes of Henri Clement, a French soldier who's been separated from his squad and abandoned in the titular bunker. He’s not totally alone, though. As you can see, Clement has all kinds of friends that’ll occupy his time in the dark, including hungry rats, an ever-present Alien: Isolation-type monster, and letters left behind by corpses that detail how to turn on the lights and whatnot. See, I told you: friends.

Light seems to be playing an even bigger role in this prequel, as it’s used in a couple of interesting ways during this demo alone. For one, there’s the pocket-sized torch that makes an awful lot of noise when you charge it up. Even though light sources can scare off lurking beasts, that noise will still alert them to your location regardless, giving you just a few seconds of safety before the torch turns off and leaves you defenceless.

The Bunker’s new sandbox structure means more unscripted events too, but it also means you’ll have more options when it comes to dealing with that stalking beast- temporarily, I should add. There’s the divisive ammo-starved handgun, a couple grenades, and the most useful tool, the environment. The above footage shows Clement luring the beast through a booby trap that shakes the whole room, but again, that only stops the threat temporarily.

Amnesia’s famous scares seemed intact during our first big look. I have a theory that when people are on-edge, anything can scare them, like a hung-up coat being mistaken for the Babadook. This initial demo had me spooked out by mattresses half-submerged in shadows, so I guess it passes my made-up test.

Amnesia: The Bunker will be creeping up on May 23rd, coming to Steam, GOG, The Epic Games Store, and consoles.

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