Game Review – The Bunker – Splendy Games2 min read

Developed by British company Splendy Games, The Bunker came out in September 2016 for PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One, followed by the version for Nintendo switch.

The Bunker will be developed and released as an interactive movie, which involves the player-spectator in first to make choices.

The game starts in England in 1986, and the realistic fear of nuclear war has prompted many governments to realise undergrounds shelters are able to allow the survival of part of the population for several decades.

About 60 people live in the bunker, and one night during the explosion of nuclear bombs, we witness the birth of John.

Thirty years have passed, and John and his elderly mother Margaret are left alone in the bunker, for unknown reasons.

When Margaret died, John was utterly alone in the bunker, living in seclusion following a strict routine, without ever leaving their rooms.

But one day the routine breaks down, a fault in the air filtering forces John having to delve into unexplored areas of the bunker, thus leaving a safe environment in which his mother had forced him to live, showing to us all the fears of what, to all intents and purposes, is a child in an adult’s body.

From here on, the story intensifies and we discover two Johns, the present one and the one that slowly will be revealed in flashbacks that comes with the advancement of the plot, showing details of his past that he had forgotten.

Sometimes they’re shown at a time that seems not to be relevant, revealing why it was left alone and what happened to the other survivors.

Playing The Bunker means to hold the joystick in complete relaxation, as the video sequences alternate with moments in which you choose to continue, prompting John to explore one area over another, or by collecting useful items to survive.

The atmosphere is oppressive, the bunker is solid but worn, familiar but potentially lethal, with sinister shadows that seem to hide dark secrets.

The bunker was wholly turned into a structure dating back to World War II, and all of the video game sequences were shot in the building, in real environments.

This exact bunker is located in Essex, between the Southeast campaigns and it comes to represents the nature, ability and mental health of the protagonist of the story.

The interface is minimal, and interaction takes place with only one button to press with the right timing and rhythm in the current context.

The story, however, does not continue if you do not make a choice, in fact, what is passionate about the narrative that takes place on two different planes of time but connected to each other, and not the interaction, which is minimal.

The Bunker is an intense and engaging experience, accurate in every detail, an ambitious project that makes acting, photography and scripts its strengths.

Giving new strength to interactive film, while creating something innovative and intuitive.