Sequels are often contentious, but I feel like video games can get away with being a part of a long-running series – and, crucially, still be good while they’re at it, well past the point where a book or movie franchise would have outstayed its welcome.
The thing is, though, when it comes to GOTY lists like our Advent Calendar, it’s a much bigger task to convince your fellow voters of the merits of your new favourite game when it’s the third, fourth, or maybe even sixteenth in its series. I’m adamant that those games deserve their share of recognition at the end of the year, which is why my honourable mentions celebrate 2022’s new entries into some of my favourite ongoing series.
]]>A few weeks ago, I got the chance to visit Supermassive HQ for a hands-on with The Devil In Me, the fourth game in — and season one finale of — The Dark Pictures Anthology. While I was there, I also had the chance to interview three of the series leads: Tom Heaton, creative director on both The Devil In Me and Man Of Medan; Will Doyle, creative director across the whole Dark Pictures Anthology and director of last year's entry House Of Ashes; and Dan McDonald, the studio director for the anthology.
]]>Ever had a real-life experience where you’re something like 90% sure you’re actually in a horror film? Answers in the comments, please. Now, imagine that, but also someone asks you to pop your phone in a lockbox, you know, for safekeeping. Also, they say something like “You won’t need it where we’re going” and then do a murder wink at an imaginary camera. Something quite similar to this happens to our ill-fated documentary crew early in The Devil In Me. 'Aha!' I thought. Supermassive are being knowingly, playfully tropey again. Great. These games are best when they lean into the cheese like a drunk buffet guest, and I was pumped to watch it stumble around a schlocky murder party and get baked brie all over the elbows of its best tux.
For those yet to stick their snout into Supermassive’s truffle-trove of horror offerings, the basic premise of these narrative adventure games can best be summarised: What if shouting at the screen to try and stop idiot characters performing horror film no-nos actually worked? The formula was both invented and, miraculously, perfected in 2015’s Until Dawn. Since then, the studio have released three ‘episodic’ (although narratively independent) Dark Pictures titles, and The Quarry, all of which can best be summarised: Like Until Dawn, but not as good.
]]>A short teaser for the next horror game in Supermassive’s The Dark Pictures Anthology series has emerged on YouTube. Called Directive 8020, it seems like this one is going full sci-fi and heading all the way into outer space, Event Horizon style. The teaser video seems to have been taken from the end of an advance copy of its predecessor The Devil In Me, which is released tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled for our review. Supermassive will likely follow up with an official teaser after The Devil In Me's out. You can watch the leaked teaser below, if you’re not spooked by the possibility of spoilers.
]]>Horror series The Dark Pictures Anthology is drawing its first season to a close with the arrival of supernaturally bereft slasher The Devil In Me on November 18th, and a new trailer lets us meet all the cheerful faces we’ll undoubtedly see brutally murdered at some point. Handily, it’s made me realise that Paul Kaye – known for his Game Of Thrones role as resurrectionist Thoros of Myr, and for being mortally annoying as Dennis Pennis in the Nineties – is playing shock doc director Charlie. Kaye’s nonchalant accent seems like a great fit, as you’ll see in the trailer below.
]]>Early last week, I had the opportunity to get hands-on with the demo for The Devil In Me, the upcoming fourth entry and season one finale of The Dark Pictures Anthology. I'm a big Dark Pictures fan, but had some reservations about this latest outing due to its subject matter, which this time around draws more inspiration from real-life serial killers than supernatural legends. Still, by the end of my 90 minutes or so with the game, my feelings had evolved considerably, and I'm happy to say I'm now way more excited for it than I was. In fact, I think this could easily end up as the best Dark Pictures game yet.
]]>It’s usually nice to see older games get updates, particularly when we’re not expecting it. Think of it as a good jump scare. Supermassive Games have given their first two The Dark Pictures Anthology some extra care and attention today, dropping in new difficulty settings and accessibility options, tweaked UI, and even faster walking for characters. There’s also an extended chapter for Man Of Medan. I didn’t think update trailers were a thing but there’s one for this, which you can watch below.
]]>"The thing we're doing with The Dark Pictures is exploring different sub genres of horror," explains game director Tom Heaton. The Dark Pictures Anthology is, well, a horror anthology, each a compact standalone scary game where you explore and deal with QTEs and hazardous choices, in the vein of Supermassive's smash hit Until Dawn. The idea, says Heaton, is that each one takes one or two horror sub-genres and mines them, maybe subverting the tropes here and there. Up next is The Devil In Me, inspired by the infamous Chicago serial killer H. H. Holmes.
"What I think we decided with The Dark Pictures games early on was that the next game in the series would be very different from the last game, because we want to keep it fresh, we want to give the audience new," Heaton explains. So, after a zombie ghost ship in Man Of Medan, the psychological witch hauntings in Little Hope, and military squad vs. vampire aliens in House Of Ashes, Heaton pitches The Devil In Me as kind of Saw meets The Shining. It's a serial killer slasher in a weirdo hotel, and it has a true crime element. And I have to say, it's probably the most excited I've been for a Dark Pictures entry.
]]>Developers of The Quarry and The Dark Pictures Anthology series Supermassive Games have been fully acquired by Danish film production company Nordisk Film. UK studio Supermassive announced the buy-out today on Twitter, but did not share how much the acquisition will cost.
The Copenhagen-based Nordisk is the world’s oldest continuously active movie production company, founded in 1906. Their Nordisk Games division has minority and majority stakes in six other development studios.
]]>Nobody likes mannequins, except maybe Andrew McCarthy. Nobody likes dead bodies being puppeted around out much either, except maybe Andrew McCarthy. That’s why I’m slightly disappointed that Supermassive Games didn't hire the legendary 1980s actor to star in The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me, which revealed a little more about its spooky murder doll house in a new story trailer. I’m sure you’ll be thoroughly creeped out when you watch it below.
]]>2022 is finally here and that can only mean one thing. We've got another year of hip new video games to look forward to, and we've been busy rustling up the ones we're most excited about. In truth, there are tons of games on the horizon that could easily sit on this list, and some of them are so close to release we can practically already see the pixels on our screens morphing into their lush, polygonal landscapes. Games like Monster Hunter Rise, God Of War and Rainbow Six Extraction. You won't find them here, but trust us, you'll be seeing a lot of them over the coming weeks.
There are always more games coming out than we have fingers to write about them, but the 2022 games we've listed below are the ones the RPS team are personally most looking forward to playing. We've got games big and small here, and they're all listed in alphabetical order. After all, release dates are increasingly slippery beasts these days. Think we've missed something? Why not take to the comments below and tell us all about it. You might just convince us to put it on our radars. But enough from me. Here are our 43 most anticipated games of 2022.
]]>If you've already finished House Of Ashes, you'll have seen a wee trailer revealing that the next part of The Dark Pictures Anthology will be the "season one finale", named The Devil In Me. Bandai Namco have since publicly announced the next game in Supermassive's interactive horror story series, explaining a bit more of what's going on with the animatronic corpse. Bad news for would-be survivors: it's set in a replica of the infamous 'Murder Castle', a hotel built with traps and torture chambers by American serial killer H. H. Holmes.
]]>I have a real soft spot for Supermassive Games. Until Dawn was a knowingly schlocky teen slasher horror film made into an interactive adventure game, and it was great for at least two thirds of its runtime. I've also felt the same about their more recent project, The Dark Pictures Anthology, which began with Man Of Medan in 2019. Every time a new instalment comes out I believe it's in with a shot of being well good - although each one has since made me doubt the "knowing" part of my interpretation of Until Dawn. The latest entry, House Of Ashes, comes the closest yet to recapturing the daft thrills of Until Dawn, with a classic survival-horror setup that's half The Descent and half Aliens.
The five playable protagonists you flit between are trapped in an ancient Sumerian temple that leads into an even deeper cavern, and then an even deeperer, ancienter ruin. The turducken of potholing. But instead of delicious stuffing, the surprise in these layers is a race of vampiric monsters whose vision is based on sound, and whose spit is LSD. Your job is to get your goons out alive, and the main problem is that the goons in question are - instead of a busload of teens on a field trip gone wrong - a small team of US marines searching for WMDs in 2003 Iraq. Wakka wakka.
]]>I do so love it when games let me think about Halloween this early in the year, so big thanks to Supermassive Games for announcing the release date for The Dark Pictures Anthology: House Of Ashes today during the Summer Game Fest. The next instalment in their spooky narrative-driven game collection is set to arrive on October 22nd, and in the new trailer they showed some of the scary beasties we'll be up against.
]]>Supermassive Games, the makers of Until Dawn, return today with a new branching horror story, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope. This time, they're sending hapless students to an abandoned American town with a dark history of witch trials. Oh you bet they're getting a spooking! It supports co-op so your pals can join in making foolish decisions leading to their deaths too, make a real Halloween of it.
]]>Light horror fans rejoice, for The Dark Pictures Anthology - Little Hope cometh. The second game in a planned series of eight, this witchy tale is probably best thought of as a very fancy form of interactive fiction.
As expected, it's a self-contained story presented by the vaguely menacing Curator, who challenges the player to decide how each story goes. Your choices and reflexes will ideally keep as many people alive as possible (although there's nothing to stop you from going for the complete corpse set). It's now due out on the 30th of October.
]]>The next spooky bedtime story game from Supermassive Games has conjured some new witch-y gameplay. Little Hope is the second in the spooky choose-your-own-movie The Dark Pictures Anthology series. As with Man Of Medan, this new gameplay video shows the new protagonists ambling about, disagreeing about whether or not something weird is going on around here (it is), and getting in way over their dense horror protagonist heads.
]]>Until Dawn developers Supermassive Games today announced that they're delaying the second chapter of The Dark Pictures Anthology, Little Hope. The realities of a 200-person team working from home mean yeah, bit of a hold-up. Previously due this summer, the second of their eight interactive horror stories is now expected in the autumn. Hey, that's a far more fitting season for unsuspecting college students to visit a small American town with a history of murderous witch hunts.
]]>Interactive horror series The Dark Pictures Anthology plunged into the depths of the ocean in its first episode Man Of Medan. The next horrific tale is headed to somewhere in small town North America to get tangled up in the spooky history of witch hunting. A new trailer hints at some of the dark forces at play: dark magic, religious fervor, and maybe actual demons? No matter what the truth of the situation ends up being, Little Hope looks plenty spooky and grim. It will arrive sometime this summer.
]]>The difference between horror and comedy is largely a matter of timing. For example, when Alex was caught in a storm with his hands tied, trying to dodge sudden flying objects was frightening. A second later, when I realised one of the objects was a frying pan, I determined that my next playthrough would involve a lot of amusing bruises for him.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man Of Medan is the first in a planned series of interactive horror stories from Supermassive Games, the devs best known for 2015's Until Dawn, a game never released on PC and therefore imaginary. Which is unfortunate, because it's the best point of reference for this game. Man Of Medan is essentially a visual novel with extremely high production values, multiple playable characters and possible story paths, and a heavy emphasis on the consequences of player and character decisions.
Supermassive emphasise that the game is geared towards multiplayer, with an online two-player co-op mode, and an up-to-four-friends offline party mode taking full advantage of its multiple perspectives and story permutations - and its many possible deaths. We plan to write about those options later, but as official RPS hermit my report on how it fares here is for a single player run through.
]]>After a stretch of making PlayStation-exclusive games, Supermassive Games will bring their next horror story to PC. Today they announced The Dark Pictures, an anthology of standalone branching cinematic horror games which will start next year with a trip to a spooky ghost ship in Man Of Medan. I played their 2015 game Until Dawn with the flatmate on PS4, going in expecting David Cage-style awfulness but being pleasantly surprised by fun teen horror bouncing between multiple perspectives. Yeah, go on, tell me more about this g-g-g-ghost s-s-s-ship!
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