Rating
The Bunker
The Bunker is a completely live action experience with point-and-click interactivity. Filmed on location in a decommissioned government nuclear bunker, it features a plot crafted by writers and designers behind titles like The Witcher, SOMA and Broken Sword, and incredible cast including Adam Brown (The Hobbit) and Sarah Greene (Penny Dreadful, Ass...
Details
- Released
- September 19, 2016
- Developer
- Wales Interactive, Splendy Interactive
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The Bunker Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
The FMV genre has had a bit of a renaissance lately. Her Story and Contradiction: Spot The Liar both released to a positive amount of fanfare over on the PC, and now it's time for the PlayStation 4 to get its own full motion adventure. The Bunker marks quite a change in scenery for developer Wales Interactive, a studio that's best known for its work on Soul Axiom - a game we weren't particularly fond of. So does The Bunker fall into the same category as its predecessor, or were we left pleasantly surprised?
Live action point and click games are a rare breed these days, especially on consoles. Can The Bunker revitalize a long-forgotten genre?
A wonderfully tense and oppressive atmosphere let down by the restrictions of live action interactivity.
As a game, it might bring all this goodwill down a peg, but it never once feels like you’ve wasted your time. At worst, it’s like you’ve watched a great horror/thriller with a faulty remote by your side. And if you get over that, you’ll enjoy The Bunker. Well, as enjoyable as a post-nuclear holocaust story allows, anyway.
The Bunker on Nintendo Switch is a little hard to recommend, but will certainly find an audience in those who love horror films and want something dreary and dark on their console. While visually impressive and ambitious, it unfortunately falters with its execution and replayability.
On paper, The Bunker sounds like a fantastic premise for a taut psychological horror that's both claustrophobic and frightening. As it stands, however, the game doesn't hang together as well as it should, most moments of drama provoking laughter when you should be on the edge of your seat. One instance made me grit my teeth and squirm, but the rest of the game is ineffective in generating any real atmosphere. I really wanted to love The Bunker, but it just doesn't work.
I’m not enormously impressed to see that the game is using quotes from previews as “reviews” on its Steam store page, because, well, that’s lying. £14 is a lot for two hours, and as I think I’ve perhaps covered above, it’s an abysmal game. The Welshest game I've ever played, but still abysmal. Great TV show for the most part, but one that keeps annoying your viewing pleasure by asking you to click on a dot. Graphics are amazing, though!