Amnesia: The Bunker Will “Avoid Linearity” and “Evolve Differently with Each Playthrough”

"We’ve made a conscious effort to avoid linearity and predictability, ensuring that every aspect of the game presents a certain level of challenge, no matter how many times you play it," says creative lead Frederik Olsson.

Posted By | On 22nd, Mar. 2023

amnesia the bunker

From its semi-open world approach to its lack of a sanity mechanic, Amnesia: The Bunker is shaking up the series’ tried-and-tested formula in more ways than one, and one particular way it’s doing that that’s caught the eye of many is the promise of a much more dynamic and non-linear adventure that will make each playthrough feel unique. Speaking in a recent interview with GamingBolt, the game’s creative lead Frederik Olsson provided more details on that particular aspect, and how it will manifest in the game.

According to Olsson, one of the key design principles that developer Frictional Games adopted for the development of Amnesia: The Bunker was to make it a game that players will want to revisit past their first playthrough. While a single playthrough of the game will last 4-6 hours on average, Olsson says Amnesia: The Bunker also features several elements that enable it to “avoid linearity and predictability”.

“One of the core design pillars of this game has been to make it an experience that players will want to revisit, either on their own or after seeing someone else play,” Olsson told GamingBolt. “We’ve made a conscious effort to avoid linearity and predictability, ensuring that every aspect of the game presents a certain level of challenge, no matter how many times you play it. The player should never know exactly what it will take to overcome an obstacle.

“To achieve this, we have opted for a set of mechanics that we believe to make a strong foundation for this type of experience. The generator that continuously burns fuel introduces an element of time and can instantly change your situation if it runs out. Combine this with the dynamic threat that hunts you, loud tools such as the revolver or grenades, and a noisy light source, and you have a very dynamic and unscripted setup. The gameplay is influenced heavily by the player’s actions, ensuring that each playthrough is unique.”

Beyond that, Amnesia: The Bunker will also feature randomization elements that will mix things up from playthrough to playthrough, which will entail things such as the locations of items and traps, while codes needed to solve puzzles and progress further will also be randomized.

“We recognized that we could enhance the replayability of the game even further by randomizing certain elements,” Olsson said. “The location of resources, traps, and important codes are all randomized, with even the codes themselves being randomly generated to prevent cheating.

“Together, these elements create a game that evolves differently with each playthrough, providing new and unique situations and challenges each time.”

In the same interview, Olsson also spoke with GamingBolt about how the game’s semi-open world will be structured, and how it will continue to make use of darkness and light similar to previous Amnesia games.

Amnesia: The Bunker launches on May 16 for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, and PC.


Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out!

Share Your Thoughts Below  (Always follow our comments policy!)



Keep On Reading!

Cyberpunk 2077 – CD Projekt RED Has “No Plans” for a PS5 Pro Patch

Cyberpunk 2077 – CD Projekt RED Has “No Plans” for a PS5 Pro Patch

Don't expect PS5 Pro enhancements to be added into the action RPG anytime soon, with CDPR confirming there are...

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s First Week Sales in Europe Were Lower Than Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s First Week Sales in Europe Were Lower Than Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

BioWare's and EA's divisive action RPG was the seventh-highest selling game in Europe for the month of October...

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Developer Says it’s “Committed to Monitoring Feedback and Quickly Fixing Issues”

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Developer Says it’s “Committed to Monitoring Feedback and Quickly Fixing Issues”

GSC Game World will be rolling out smaller hotfixes at first with larger updates coming later, while a post-la...

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Peaks at Over 24,000 Concurrent Steam Players

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Peaks at Over 24,000 Concurrent Steam Players

The recently-released title's significant launch issues have sparked widespread backlash and criticism among t...

Stellar Blade x NieR: Automata Collaboration is Now Live, Adds New Cosmetics

Stellar Blade x NieR: Automata Collaboration is Now Live, Adds New Cosmetics

Available for $9.99, the 11 cosmetics include 9S and Emil outfits for Lily and Adam while transforming Eve int...

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is Out Today, Launch Trailer Revealed

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is Out Today, Launch Trailer Revealed

GSC Game World's long-awaited sequel is out soon for Xbox Series X/S and PC. It's also playable on day one for...