Underground, Overground - Bunker Builder Simulator: Prologue
When I own my own home, I will dig an underground tunnel/bunker so there’s a secret area just for me. That’s what I told myself as a kid. Now, as a homeowner, a basement area is clearly missing from my home. Bloody planning permission. The next best thing? A virtual bunker in Bunker Builder Simulator: Prologue.
Yes, you guessed it – this simulation is about building a bespoke lair, and you don’t have to be a villain, either. In the Prologue by Games Incubator and PlayWay, there aren’t any story elements about how you inherited a bunker, land, or cement. There is a familiar laptop you have to use to access everything, however, so if you’ve played ANY sort of simulator, you’ll be in familiar territory here.
Bunker Builder Simulator: Prologue is simple: build a bunker. No Mr Prepper, Fallout or any other apocalypse-based narrative here, as, like many other games of its ilk, it’s a chill(ish) affair in that you construct a bunker at a leisurely pace without. The only thing to counter that is whether you can handle the fiddly controls.
Builder Bunker Simulator: Prologue
The UI is unobtrusive and better than a lot of simulators that are fresh off the conveyor belt. Still, application is more clumsy than anything as it needs to be more accurate when digging holes or placing objects. In the tutorial, the first task was simple: dig a hole. An area was allocated, and a guideline was provided, but no way whatsoever to make a symmetrical shape. If that’s your thing and you like a little order, Bunker Builder Simulator: Prologue may irritate you. The levels of irritation depend on how fussy you are.
Likewise, actual construction is similar to House Flipper and arcade-like in its approach. Mixing cement, cutting up planks, and building walls – all of that jazz – was a paint-by-numbers. Some elements make the repetition quite therapeutic, but the bubble can pop when you can’t place things where you want them or awkwardly switch between your equipment and carry one thing at a time. An alternative option would be Landlord’s Super.
A somewhat negative outlook, but Bunker Builder Simulator: Prologue shows promise, and to be completely honest, I love the concept. Doing up a home or shovelling shit in a castle is starting to sound tedious, and though simulators tend to be where I spend a lot of my gaming hours, the content is getting a bit old hat. On the other hand, this offers you the chance to have a secret underground base (maybe DLC will offer missile silos, ninjas, and recording studios?), replicate the works of Colin Furze, or just be a welcome exploration into underground tinkering. What could you do once you’ve built your bunker? Maybe you could perform a DJ set?