War can test your faith but the events within The Bunker are incomprehensible that you truly cannot blame the men who lost their minds and sabotaged their comrades – all for their greater good. With fear of the other side invading, an internal invasion of their own led to the soldiers succumbing to their own paranoia and insanity. The Bunker was crumbling and you are at the heart of it. Being the last soldier taking his stand, find out what happened to your comrades and the identity of the Beast that crawls across these walls, in search for something deeper than simple bloodshed. This is Vincent’s guide on how to obtain the Wrench by finding the Pillbox Key in Amnesia: The Bunker.
Whilst you have all the opportunity to decide which route you want to take after lifting Lockdown, we highly recommend that of all the items you unlock in the game, the Wrench is your first pick. The Wrench gives you the opportunity to get into new rooms that are locked from the inside where a grenade may not be an option. It also can find you interesting little secrets through sections in the Bunker’s walls that even I did not find until my second playthrough. The Wrench is also key to getting the Bolt Cutters.
Where to Find the Pillbox Key
After lifting Lockdown, you should pay a visit to Maintenance at the end of the Officer Quarters. You need to head downwards as the staircase going up takes you back to the Infirmary. There will be a group of rats here. Now, you can use many methods to take these guys out however, I highly recommend that you do a running jump across these guys. It often results in getting bit once, taking some damage but nothing a simple bandage cannot fix. However, if you want to avoid damage, you can use Gas Grenades, Frags, Flares, Torches (requires Lighter) or even the Revolver. If you use anything that makes noise, just make sure to run immediately afterwards and load up the next map which is Maintenance in order to avoid the Beast.
Now that you are in the correct area, head to the Pantry. There are a few booby-traps here so always point your flashlight downwards to see ahead of you. If you find any traps, just do a running jump over them. We can take these out at a later point. In the Pantry, there is a tipped over wooden crate with a lot of Meat inside. Annoyingly there is also a lot of Rats blocking this area. Do what you need to do to clear them out as Meat will be incredibly useful here. There is an explosive barrel in the corner that you can shoot but remember that you need to exit immediately. There should be a hiding spot in the bottom-left corner of Maintenance.
Next, head to Workshop, where you need to get through the tunnel to get into the Storage Hub. If you happen to have Flares here, they can help you out a lot as they also clear out the Rats. Once you are inside the Hub, head for the Chapel (located on your left). There is a booby-trap directly in front of the Chapel door so be sure to avoid this otherwise the Beast will come running. If you trip it, you have time to grab the Key and then crouch hide behind the Chapel table as the Beast patrols. The Pillbox Key is located inside the Confessional Box where the Priest can be found.
How to Get the Wrench
Now that you have the Pillbox Key, head out of the Chapel and back towards the Workshop tunnel filled with Rats. This time though, do not go through it but keep walking the same direction, towards the Pillbox door. Use the Key to get inside where a save point can be found. Climb the ladder and be sure to crouch up here as you will get shot by German snipers from afar. I learnt this the hard way. Stafford’s Dog Tag can be found by his corpse.
Return to the Mission Storage to unlock Stafford’s Locker by checking the code on the back of the Dog Tag. This will grant you the Special Wrench for you to use. The Wrench opens all vents around the maps.
How to Open Vents
Once you get your hands on the Wrench, you will want to use this to open any vents you uncover through your exploration. The Wrench can be used to get into spots that offer unlimited amounts of empty bottles via the Wine Cellar, to get into the Break Room of Maintenance, or to unlock new short-cuts into areas that were previously blocked by Rats. There are a lot of options with the Wrench, including this being the only real way of getting the Bolt Cutters in the Prison.
But to use the Wrench, you will first need to go into your Inventory. Here you can Hotkey the Wrench, regardless on whether you are playing on M&K or Controller. For me, I liked placing the Wrench to ‘Up on the D-Pad’ and the Bolt Cutters to ‘Down on the D-Pad’. If you do not wish to assign as you are using Grenades or Health for those keys/buttons instead, simply click/press to interact which will bring the Wrench out. It behaves similarly to healing or refilling the Generator with Fuel.
You will need to hold the interact key until you see the hand with Wrench icon come up. Point the Wrench directly at the screws of the vent cover rather than at its centre. Click the other interact key to start the animation of removing the screw. On controller, you need to use left trigger to bring out the interact prompt/icon and then the right trigger to initiate the action animation. You will need to do this twice to remove the two top screws. Once done, you can now lift and move the vent cover to place it aside so you can head on through.
Looking for more Amnesia: The Bunker guides? We have more available here. Alternatively, check out GJ related articles in the Horror section here. Thank you for reading this guide!
