It was back in September 2016 that we took our first playthrough of The Bunker, an interactive FMV (full-motion video) video game filmed on location in a decommissioned nuclear bunker. Fast forward a year and a half and Splendy Games and Wales Interactive’s The Bunker has come to the Nintendo Switch. As we’ve previously reviewed The Bunker on the Xbox One, our The Bunker review on the Nintendo Switch will be much shorter and touch on what’s new and different so I recommend reading our previous review for aspects related to the story, graphics, and sound. On that note, read on to see how this thoroughly enjoyable — albeit short — journey translates to the Nintendo Switch.
Gameplay
Like most ports, everything from the previous versions of The Bunker including the story, journey, graphics, and sound remain the same. The big difference that you’ll find on the Nintendo Switch version is the introduction of touch controls due to the Switch’s touchscreen and portable nature. While the actual gameplay hasn’t changed at all, you’re still tasked with selecting objects or locations to interact with them. While it worked well enough on the Xbox One with a controller, and you can use the Joy-Con controllers here as well, it’s so much easier and intuitive being able to just touch the screen to interact.
In fact, after playing through a few scenes using touch as my main way to interface with the game, I forced myself to use the Joy-Cons to continue on and found them to be a slower, more clunky feeling way to navigate through the different screens and interact with the items and locations. While you’d have to use the Joy-Cons when playing on your TV, I actually found that playing The Bunker on the Switch in a darker room with a decent pair of headphones using the touch interface a much more satisfying experience than playing it on a bigger screen. In some ways, it felt akin to reading a book albeit a moving one which you have to interact with in order to advance the story.
Overall though, the introduction of touch controls on the Switch version was a fantastic call by Splendy Games and Wales Interactive and hopefully they’ll be following up with Late Shift, another FMV game already released for other consoles and systems. The live-action video storytelling mode with the interactive components is well suited for the Switch and the console had no issues keeping the video and gameplay smooth.
Wrap-up
If you’re looking for a short, suspenseful, well done psychological horror game, the full-motion video game The Bunker on the Nintendo Switch is definitely one you shouldn’t pass up.
The Bunker is now available for $12.99USD/£9.99 through the Nintendo eShop. The price is definitely right for this short, yet enjoyable, suspenseful, well done psychological horror game.
