When was the last time Frictional made a bad horror game? That would be never. It’s no surprise, then, that there’s plenty of excitement surrounding the upcoming Amnesia: The Bunker, which is promising to enhance and improve upon the survival horror series’ formula in a number of interesting ways. However, as it turns out, the wait for it is going to drag on a tad bit longer.
In a video message uploaded by the studio on Twitter, Amnesia: The Bunker creative lead Fredrik Olsson announced that the survival horror title is being delayed again, this time to June 6, and said that the development team had “encountered multiple rare crashes that are very difficulty to identify, reproduce, and thereby, also fix”. He added that the alternative to delaying the game would effectively be crunch, which, in his words, is “simply not something we do here at Frictional”.
“We here at Frictional have been working really, really hard trying to make The Bunker the best game it can possibly be,” Olsson said. “I think I speak for the whole team when I say that we are super excited with what we’ve accomplished with this game. Everything is coming together so nicely. We have the gameplay, the art, the animations, the atmosphere, the narrative, everything is just coming together, and we are really ready to ship this out into the world and hear what people have to say about it.
“However, I’m coming to you as the bearer of bad news here, because we have recently been forced to take a decision to delay the game once again, this time for two weeks. We won’t make it on May 23, instead the new launch date will be June 6. We are going through a certification process and we have encountered multiple rare crashes that are very difficulty to identify, reproduce, and thereby, also fix. We simply can’t make it in time. The alternatives, of course, would have been to ask the team to work weekends or nights, but that’s simply not something we do here at Frictional.”
This isn’t the first time that Amnesia: The Bunker has been delayed. Originally set to launch in March, the game was delayed shortly before that window to May 16, while shortly afterward, Frictional delayed the game by another week.
That said, though the wait for Amnesia: The Bunker will go on a little longer, players will nonetheless soon have the chance to get a taste of its offerings. Olsson also confirmed in his message that a demo will be releasing for Steam “soon”. In a separately published message on Twitter, Frictional confirmed that the demo will launch on May 22.
Recently, Frictional released a 10-minute gameplay demonstration, showing off The Bunker’s titular setting, its terrifying and ever-present stalker enemy, its survival horror gameplay mechanics, and more. Check it out through here.
Amnesia: The Bunker is in development for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Check out our interview with Olsson through here for more details on the game.