REVIEW – Back in the 90s, there was a slew of games on the PC dubbed as FMV games. The concept was that actors would be filmed just like in a movie. However, the player would be able to influence a small set of decisions, making it an interactive movie. Such games back in the day were Phantasmagoria, Dragon’s Lair, Terror T.R.A.X. and there was even that X-Files game.  Her Story is another recent example of such games being on the resurgence, which had a rather great narrative, but The Bunker aims at being a more horror/thriller themed game.

Now after a long time, it seems a developer is taking another crack at the concept, under the title The Bunker – in which we are the last remaining person in a nuclear bunker for government personnel.

The cast includes some minor talent from various high profile shows such as Adam Brown (The Hobbit), Sarah Greene (Penny Dreadful), Grahame Fox (Game Of Thrones) and Jerome St. John Blake (Star Wars). The hook of the game is that there is no CGI or motion capture. Everything was shot in an old decommissioned Nuclear Bunker. Regarding writing, it seemed rather competent based on the promotional material.

With all the hype and heavy hitters behind the project, does The Bunker stack up to the original concept, and exceeded it? Or is it a game that should be locked behind a Vault forever? Find out here!

The Bunker is open

The story of The Bunker takes place in an alternative universe where nuclear war broke out in 1986, and 59 people lived. 30 years later only two people remain John, and Sarah (who is John’s mother). The years have not been kind to the Mother as she is on her death bed, with John tending to her. Her final words to John is that if he stays with the routine, and he will be okay.

The first couple of minutes can be tedious for some players, as you’ll be stuck to the routine. Sadly for John’s life, but exciting for us, the routine soon has to be nixed, as the Bunker is slowly pushing us to venture out of our room to fix its issues. From that points its a race to fix the bunker before radiation takes over all five levels, and also John will uncover the cruel reality of the past.

The story is well told, and the production quality is also top-notch. The sound and visuals are clean; the acting is solid if a little forced at times. It feels very authentic thanks to the set pieces being filmed at an actual nuclear bunker. So there is little to talk about regarding graphic quality in an FMV game, and even mentioning the sound design is a little weird since it is live action.

Everything looks great, and that is great, as many FMV games back in the day looked horrible, plus controlled horribly. However it just feels okay, and nothing special, it is a rather closed set, to show off the ambiance and cluastrophobic nature of the bunker John is in, yet a few other games have done this already, and better.

The game cost around twenty euros (depending on which market you buy it), which is good because while The Bunker has many good parts, it ain’t no Telltale adventure game.

Lock em up!

While the game is good, which is a rare sight to behold for an FMV game, it has many problems. First of all, it is a good thing that the game is sold at such a low prices, as the length of this product is around 2-4 hours (depending if you try to find the collectibles). Also back in the day, FMV games had rather difficult sections(i.e. click everywhere puzzles) and even fail states.

The Bunker has none of that, and it is a real shame, there are some parts where you can have some influence, but it is entirely minimal. The playthrough of this game is so linear Call Of Duty would blush when seeing The Bunker‘s walkthrough. It wants to be an FMV game, but at the same time, this seems like a high budget mini-series’ pilot episode that never got a full-fledged season.

It is disappointing that there are no choices, only in the ending of the game. We do not control anything and are just spectating a set of linear events. It could have been so much more, and it is sad to see that the game with such high-quality budget, ends up lacking what most FMV games had: Choice, consequence (and in some cases gruesome death of characters).

Maybe a sequel later down the line, or a spin-off for The Bunker would do some good. Feels rather short, and I have to wonder how long did this game take to produce, if it would have been in the oven for a year or more, maybe we would have gotten a fairly long 8-10 hour experience.

Escape?

The Bunker is a nice experience, but a very niché game. If you have the time to spare, and a bit of cash; jump into this Bunker for an interesting ride. Just do not expect too much.

-Dante-

Publisher: Green Man Gaming Publishing

Developer: Splendy Interactive, Wales Interactive

Genre: FMV / Adventure game

Release date: Sept 20, 2016