"Amnesia: The Bunker," the fourth installment in Friction Games' survival horror series, is a bit different from its predecessors; one might say the same about 2020's "Amnesia:" The Bunker" has guns, as does "Amnesia: Rebirth," set in sun-drenched Algeria. This is because "Amnesia" basically popularized the "cat-and-mouse" format of modern survival horror, which was later adopted by games such as "Outlast" and "Visage."

Originally scheduled for release in March 2023, "Amnesia: The Bunker" will now be released a few months later, on May 16. The Friction team suffered a number of illnesses this winter that affected development. We are a small team and things like this have a huge impact on production. [We don't want to rush the final product in light of these production interruptions. The team is working hard to make 'The Bunker' the best it can be and a few more weeks will make the difference we need."

It's not just the firepower that is novel in The Bunker. The game has a semi-open world, and as a result, most encounters are unscripted. According to creative lead Fredrik Olsson, the studio is aiming for a more "systematic, dynamic, and emergent" approach to horror, in contrast to the heavily scripted nature of Friction's previous games. In the same article, Andy Chalk notes that the game is closer to stealth than pure horror, and that "the alchemy that made 'Dark Descent' such a terrifying brain melter is not as potent as it once was."

Like a needle that's hard to thread, Amnesia: The Bunker will be available on Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG on May 16.