Supermassive Games, the developers of the Dark Pictures franchise, have been engaged since 2019 in figuring out exactly what an interactive movie is, and attempting to harmonize their passion for cinematic storytelling with gamers’ expectations for how a videogame should play. Directive 8020, which proudly announces its identity as a ‘Dark Pictures Game’ in its opening credits, represents the kind of rebirth its developers were hoping for, offering everything from the small step of adding real-time stealth sequences to the giant leap of completely revamping the chapter select system, making all of the plot’s various branches accessible in a way they’ve never been before.
I was able to sample just one of 8020‘s eight episodes – chapter 4, “Dragnet” — which is set in the middle of the story as the characters have just survived their spaceship crash-landing on the planet they were supposed to be surveying. If the situation wasn’t dire enough, matters are complicated when one of their crewmembers is found to have been murdered, with another, currently missing crewmember being the only suspect. At least, as far as they know…
It’s not difficult to figure out why this section of 8020 was sent out for preview, as it offers a concentrated hit of action and tension almost unparalleled in the rest of the series. From the opening moments in which things jump ahead three or four chapters for a flash-forward of the ship in total collapse, to a tense, Alien-inspired sequence that has the player crawling through access tunnels, up to a deadly showdown with the killer that finishes the preview off, it’s 45 minutes of going from strength to strength.
The choice-centered gameplay that the franchise is built around is well-implemented here. There’s only one decision to be made — whether or not to bring a gun along while hunting down the murderer, but it’s a crucial one, given the way the hunt ends. That said, I was surprised to not see any of the gruesome deaths the Dark Pictures franchise is famous for. Failed QTEs can get one character stabbed in the stomach and another can lose an eye in a particularly horrible fashion, but I didn’t encounter any of the 44 deaths that are secreted throughout the story.
Great effort has been made to find ways to keep the player engaged with the gameplay, most notably in the aforementioned stealth sequences. Where in previous entries players hid from monsters by holding the controller still or playing a rhythm game, a full-fledged stealth mechanic has now been added, complete with patrolling enemies, designated hiding spots, and the option to manipulate the ship’s systems to cause distractions. There’s nothing here that’s going to revolutionize the genre, but it’s a completely smooth experience — I ran through the two stealth sequences a few times each, and never once did the hunter react in strange or unfair ways.
Even more impressive (at least, for a longtime fan of the series like me) is Directive 8020‘s revamped branching narrative system.
All of the variations in story, dialogue, and character development that the series is known for are still there, but the big change is that the developers have lifted the hood and now allow the player to see how the system works.
Each chapter’s events are laid out on a timeline that players are free to consult. It shows the path they’re currently on, as well as additional story nodes representing other scenes and developments they missed. In a gift to the idly curious and those who love tracking down every little segment of a story, the extra nodes contains instructions for what the player needs to do in order to unlock them. For example, a character’s death in a previous chapter would have majorly changed things for my playthrough, and the fact that the killer I was hunting had been identified at all was down to two key events happening earlier in the plot. Knowing this means the difference in just a few changes is like night and day. While all of the Dark Pictures games have enormous amounts of depth, previous titles challenged the players to dig those secrets out for themselves. This time, the devs are letting people know where to look.
Beyond those large shifts, the things players expect are still here, of course. It’s the best looking Dark Pictures game, the smoothest-playing Dark Pictures game, and by far it’s going to be the most accessible Dark Pictures game.
Supermassive Games have taken over three years to get Directive 8020 right, and that time seems to have been well-spent. While I can’t speak to the overall quality of the story as I’ve only seen a sliver of it, it’s safe to say that in every other respect, this is the best the Dark Pictures has ever been, with fans and newcomers alike having every reason to be excited about its upcoming release.
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