Directive 8020 Preview
Supermassive Games’ The Dark Picture Anthology titles have always been set in claustrophobic spaces and isolated locations. The terrfying sensation of being cut off from help and oppressed by terror is central to the series. While it seems like a departure of sorts, the upcoming Directive 8020 might just have the most terrifyingly isolated environment so far: a distant planet a dozen light years from Earth.
Here’s The Thing
Shape-shifting aliens able to mimic humans or inhabit their bodies is not a new narrative hook. John Carpenter’s The Thing is the best-known example but there are plenty of others. In Directive 8020, you play as members of the crew of the colony ship Cassiopeia. You ship crash lands on the planet Tau Ceti f, and it soon becomes clear that surviving an inhospitable planet might be the least of your challenges.
The demo I played started with an in media res section featuring stealthing through the ship’s hallways while avoiding a menacing and deadly character. Flash forwarding and back, there were a number of sequences that provided a taste of the game’s tone and action. It’s unclear whether this non-linear storytelling persists throughout. There were definitely some unexplained story beats and characters.
Supermassive Games are generally praised for their excellent performance capture and voice acting anchored by well-written dialogue. They don’t always escape well-worn tropes of whatever genre they’re inhabiting, be it teen slasher film or haunted house mystery. In the case of Directive 8020, there were some definite nods to The Thing and Alien, minus the gut-busting monsters.
Directive 8020 is not about wielding space weapons to dispatch hordes of aliens. Like the best horror, the tension comes from dark spaces, jump scares and mounting fear of the unknown. That said, there are plenty of QTEs and unexpected action moments where quick reflexes come in handy.
Space Race
The mechanics of Directive 8020 are not entirely unlike other games from the developer. There’s a minimal UI, dialogue choices that have a major impact on story beats and the new ability to rewind the game to replay important decisions and reshape the narrative. Stealth and movement generally feel as polished and natural as in other Supermassive titles, though character faces in particular seem a little less refined. The ship’s moans and groans and moody ambient music add up to an effective audio experience. Though I didn’t have the opportunity to try it out, Directive 8020 features up to five-player co-op.
At least in the demo, the Cassiopaeia is a recognizably standard — though gleaming — sci-fi spaceship of clinical halls and labyrinthine tunnels filled with shadows and steam. Whether inside or outside the ship, lighting design is impressive and maybe the most critical visual component in creating mood and tension.
Like many fans, I’ve enjoyed Supermassive games like Until Dawn, The Quarry, and even (though I seem to be in the minority) The Casting of Frank Stone. Directive 8020 is a welcome change of venue, but hardly an unexpected one. The lonely terror of being isolated on a distant planet matches perfectly with Supermassive’s storytelling prowess. Judging by the slice of the game I played, Directive 8020 might be one of the best entries in the Dark Pictures Anthology catalogue.
***PC code provided by the publisher for preview***
