Amnesia: The Bunker is the new horror game from Frictional

Frictional Games just announced its latest entry in the Amnesia series, called Amnesia: The Bunker. Like previous games in the series, it is a survival horror game about a player character dealing with amnesia. However, Frictional changes the formula of the series with the addition of a “semi-open world”, a customizable playstyle, and a weapon. The game is scheduled for March 2023.

According to Frictional’s description, The Bunker features emergent gameplay that influences the outcome of the story. “Amnesia: The Bunker encourages the player to explore and experiment, using wits and all the tools at their disposal to overcome the impending horrors. Players will feel a stressful amount of power in their hands. Each decision will change the outcome of how the game reacts as a result of the choices made.”

So far, Frictional has only teased about the details of the game’s story. “Armed with a revolver rifle and a noisy dynamo flashlight, players walk through a dimly lit WWI bunker in the shoes of a French soldier suffering from amnesia and being hunted by an alien.” The trailer doesn’t reveal much more about the gameplay, but the titular bunker does look like a suitably spooky setting.

The Amnesia series, which began with The Dark Descent in 2010, is one of the most influential horror series in recent years, both for its proprietary content and how popular it was with YouTube Let’s Players. One of the advantages of the original title is that the player character has no meaningful way to defend themselves. The addition of a weapon is a major change from the series’ standard operating procedure.

Amnesia: The Bunker is scheduled for March 2023 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One and Steam.