I had the opportunity to sit down with the game’s developers at this year’s Gamescom, witnessing around 20-minutes or so of gameplay. It was one of my most anticipated appointments of the trip, and I was right to feel that way. To callDirective 8020revolutionary may be too bold at this early stage in time, but it really does feel like the series has unlocked a stratospheric level of potential that I’ve been begging to see for years.
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Take a look at the upcomingThe Dark Pictures: Directive 8020in action below.
Supermassive Games, as a studio, is well renowned for its sprawling narratives. In my opinion, no one does it better. There’s a magic in the thrill of knowing that the story will pan out based purely on your own choices and logical thinking - or illogical depending how things turn out. Beyond that though, previous titles from the studio haven’t exactly given us much autonomy over our fates. Yes, there are quick time events which I do enjoy, but in recent years, I’ve found myself waiting for that next evolution.
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Finally, Dark Pictures is bringing stealth and survival horror-inspired gameplay into the mix. How you use those aforementioned tools isn’t spelt out to you. In fact, during my demo, I was advised that sometimes using a tool can be totally the wrong call. Using a scanner may help you locate one ofDirective 8020’s shapeshifting enemies but use it in too close of a proximity and you may give your own position away.
“We do a lot of research about what the players want,” executive producer Dan McDonald told me, as we sat down to discuss the game, “and we want to challenge ourselves to do bigger and better things.”
“We’ve given ourselves more time to finish this game, and the company’s been really supportive of that, so we can try new things. […] We’ve known almost since day one of making Dark Pictures that we’d one day go to space, but this has been a much bigger step forward thanThe Devil In Me. We’ve not had a threat in exploration before, but now we have real terror in those spaces.”
Credit / Supermassive Games
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The tools formed the key focus of the gameplay sequence I was able to see at Gamescom. In this specific iteration of the scene, Brianna is attempting to reunite with several of her crewmates but to do so, she must sneak past one of the unnamed shapeshifting enemies. They somewhat reminded me ofThe Last of Us’ clickers with their otherworldly screeches and pustile growths but that’s about where the similarities ended. These beings are, firstly, not blind and, secondly, able to instantaneously transport themselves to a different location via the spore network that begins to encompass the ship in the game.
Credit / Supermassive Games
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“It is claustrophobic, even though you know the vastness of space is forever,” he began. “You see space movies with people floating away and not being able to get back. And that is a real fear, […] it’s almost like drowning, not being able to fight back against something.”
“That’s a key influence, mixed with the sci-fi element. There’s lots of vents and panels and machines and all that kind of stuff you can sneak through. But then also hiding in the shadows could be anything. The fact that the ship crashes instead of lands too opens up new opportunities, with the ship changing throughout the game.” As an exciting little extra, Dan confirmed that “they do actually go outside of the ship for a bit as well, so we see this fantastical alien planet, but it’s hostile to us”.
Credit / Supermassive Games
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The Dark Pictures: Directive 8020is set to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in 2025.
Topics:PlayStation,Xbox,PC,Preview
