Since the launch of The Dark Pictures Anthology games, developer and publisher Supermassive Games has taken us through ghost ships, witch trials, and ancient temples. But with their latest entry, Directive 8020, the series finally blasts off into the dark, unforgiving vacuum of space, and the result is definitely worth checking out.
With small, dark corners, a highly infectious alien lifeform on the loose, and a constant question of who that person is, whether they are who they say they are, going back and forth, keeps the mystery right up until the last moments of your playthrough.
Using the rewind system, you can go back if you make a mistake or want to see an alternate path if you choose incorrectly on a critical decision. It is part of what keeps the game alive long after you have finished the main story. Taking the familiar interactive-drama formula to new heights, Directive 8020 easily claims the title of the absolute best game in the Dark Pictures series to date.
The Thing meets Aliens
The premise follows the crew of the colony ship Cassiopeia as they head toward the exoplanet Tau Ceti f, only to encounter a terrifying, shape-shifting alien threat. If you are a fan of sci-fi horror, the influences here wear their bloody hearts on their sleeves.
The game masterfully combines the claustrophobic, blue-collar space-trucker dread of Ridley Scott’s Alien with the crushing, paranoid tension of John Carpenter’s The Thing. Because the organism can mimic its prey, you are constantly second-guessing every interaction with your crewmates. The anxiety of not knowing who is human and who is a cosmic imposter elevates the game’s branching narrative in a way the series has never quite managed before.
A massive part of why this tension works so well is the phenomenal cast. Supermassive has always leaned heavily on established talent, but the roster in Directive 8020 delivers some of the best performances we’ve seen in the genre.
Leading the charge is Lashana Lynch as pilot Brianna Young, who anchors the narrative with a grounded, fiercely determined performance. She is brilliantly supported by a fantastic ensemble, including Danny Sapani (Stafford) and Lotte Verbeek (Eisele), all of whom bring serious emotional weight to a script that asks them to portray both terrified survivors and (potentially) uncanny doppelgängers. A lot of the game requires sneaking around in vents, waiting around corners and various stealth mechanics in between cut scenes.
What I really did enjoy about the choices you make with the characters is that you can affect their personalities to make them light-hearted or serious, which then locks in who they are for the rest of the game. This only really worked well on certain characters, and for some of the others, it didn’t feel like it added enough nuance to the characters. While the performances are fantastic from the cast involved, the script and story don’t offer much depth here.
Look the Part
On a technical level, Directive 8020 is a stunning showcase, particularly when played on the PS5 Pro. The graphical fidelity is simply incredible. The stark, blinking neon lights of the Cassiopeia, the terrifyingly detailed creature designs, and the hyper-realistic facial animations all benefit immensely from the Pro’s enhanced hardware. Performance is buttery smooth, ensuring that you won’t miss a crucial Quick Time Event due to frame drops.
The lighting and particle effects create an atmosphere so dense you can practically feel the oxygen draining from the room. There are two modes you can choose from: quality mode, which improves graphics and runs at 30 FPS, or performance mode, running at 60 FPS. I switched between the two during my gameplay and settled on performance mode in the end, and there wasn’t too much of a change in the visuals that I could see.
Final Thoughts
While it still retains some of the mechanical quirks inherent to the Supermassive formula, Directive 8020 refines the pacing, heightens the stakes, and bumps up the scares. By trapping a stellar cast in a gorgeous, terrifying nightmare of paranoia and survival, it redefines what The Dark Pictures Anthology is capable of and propels the anthology series into new territory.
While the choices for your character don’t always pay off in terms of their personality, the talented cast is strong enough to deliver memorable performances here. After five games that followed the same formula, it’s great to see the developer taking a chance and trying something out of the box.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: New direction for the series; Gorgeous visuals; Great performances from the cast
Lowlights: Over-reliance on stealth mode; Character decisions don’t make too much of a difference
Developer: Supermassive Games
Publisher: Supermassive Games
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC
Available: Now
Review conducted on PlayStation 5 Pro with a code provided by the publisher.
Featured header image also provided by the publisher.
