The Dark Pictures: Directive 8020 preview - A revolutionary new era begins

You may think that by now, you’re well versed in The Dark Pictures formula, but I'm here to tell you that that’s all about to change. The upcoming Directive 8020 doesn’t simply just mark the series’ first foray into space and cosmic horror, so too does it completely change up the gameplay formula adding a sense of player agency. Your choices throughout the game’s story remain a crucial component - it’s up to you whether the crew of Cassiopeia makes it out alive - but this time around, it isn’t choice alone that’ll determine your fate.

The Cassiopeia is a colony ship that crash lands on Tau Ceti f, 12 light years away from planet Earth. Starring Lashana Lynch as Brianna Young, the game will follow Young as she fights for the survival of both herself and her crew after it quickly becomes clear that they’re not alone on board. Described to me by developers as ‘John Carpenter’s The Thing in space’, Young will come up against a mutating alien organism that I can guarantee will give you nightmares.

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 call Directive 8020 revolutionary 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.

Take a look at the upcoming The Dark Pictures: Directive 8020 in 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.

That seems to be arriving in Directive 8020. The quick time events and branching narrative choices are all still there but this time around, Brianna and her crewmates are equipped with four key tools. There’s a utility strap to remotely control mechanisms, a scanner to locate and detect nearby entities, a messenger app to contact your crewmates, and a wedge tool which both overrides doorways and can be used to stun unexpected foes.

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 of Directive 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 than The Devil In Me. We’ve not had a threat in exploration before, but now we have real terror in those spaces.”

Credit / Supermassive Games

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 of The 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.

That makes them incredibly hard to keep track of. With that in mind, I watched as developers made Brianna make use of her scanner, but only when it was safe to do so, as well as use the utility strap to force a distraction to play on a nearby screen. At the end of the segment after several minutes of stealthy sneaking, the grisly being suddenly appeared right before our eyes, prompting Brianna to think on her feet, using her wedge tool to zap the creature, allowing for her getaway. I’m told though that this is just one example of where Brianna can die.

Credit / Supermassive Games

Like all Supermassive Games entries, everyone can survive but so too can everyone perish. “Horror has a bitter-sweetness to it,” as Dan explained it to me. “We have lots of different angles. This mission is about hope. It's about hope for humanity and hope for us coming together and doing something better - and then it gets twisted.” With that in mind, there is, by the sounds of it, replayability in experiencing that breadth of outcome.

Beyond this, I’m excited by the new branch of horror that Directive 8020 is exploring, cosmic horror. Yes, this game has its fair share of jump scares but there’s a greater horror at play, for me anyway. There’s something so claustrophobic about the notion of space, something I felt as Brianna crept around the Cassiopeia. Yes, space is vast and endless but here is a group of people trapped in a finite space with no possible way to contact help. I was keen to hear Dan’s thoughts on tapping into this new strand of the genre.

“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

The Dark Pictures: Directive 8020 is shaping up to be what, fair to say, I think many of us have been waiting for. In bringing stealth and survival horror gameplay mechanics into the fold, Supermassive Games has the potential to go beyond being a narrative powerhouse. This could be an all-time great in the world of horror. The claustrophobia of space combined with a new sense of player agency and the kind of enthralling tale that you only get in a Supermassive title, all brought to life by world class talent? That’s a winning formula if ever I heard one.

The Dark Pictures: Directive 8020 is set to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in 2025.