In anticipation of its next horror adventure, Amnesia: The Bunker, developer Frictional Games has published a brief gameplay teaser that reveals a new gameplay element for fans of the franchise. The original Amnesia adventure, The Dark Descent, was a masterpiece in sheer terror and is remembered fondly for possessing one of its most unsettling settings ever seen in a video game. Not only did it help kickstart the theme, but it also contributed to the creation of “Let’s Play” clips on YouTube, in which players would document themselves facing their fears in what was then one of the most frightening titles ever created.
Thankfully, the publisher has now confirmed that the fourth installment, titled Amnesia: The Bunker, will be released in March of 2023. The first title in the series, released in 2010, is often regarded as the best in the series because of the unusual manner it makes the gamer feel both defenseless and afraid at the same time. One of the scariest aspects of the three existing games is that they take away the player’s ability to defend himself, but it seems that this will be altered in the next release.
A short trailer for Amnesia: The Bunker, released not too long ago, portrays the carrying of a gun and shooting it at a door lock. The teaser is just 23 seconds in length, so it may not seem like much, but for fans of the franchise, the ability to wield a firearm is something that the previous three titles purposefully kept off. There may be some apprehension among Amnesia and SOMA (another game made by Frictional) aficionados about whether or not the inclusion of a gun would detract from the title’s overall terror, but only time will tell.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, widely regarded as among the most important independent horror titles of all time, entered the market during a period of transition for the subgenre. Some believed that the Resident Evil titles had abandoned their horror foundations, and Silent Hill was not exactly thriving at the time. While Dead Space gave gamers something to be excited about, it wasn’t until Amnesia came out that many players experienced true gaming terror.
This March 2023 will be exciting for fans of horror games, what with the release of both this and Resident Evil 4 Remake. While improvements have been made to the initial methodology that Frictional created in 2010, its influence on the industry’s capacity to terrify players, especially those more acclimated to the impacts of horror, cannot be denied.
