It’s no secret that developer Supermassive Games is inspired by horror movies. The studio’s brand of choose your own adventure horror games has always pulled ideas from classic slashers and adapted those ideas into original stories. With Directive 8020, the latest entry in its long running Dark Pictures anthology, that inspiration is clearer than ever. I played a quick slice of it at Summer Game Fest and I’m happy to report that Supermassive has basically just made John Carpenter’s The Thing, but playable.
That isn’t apparent right away when my demo begins. I start in the middle of a dramatic conversation between two of its main characters who set up the sci-fi world and express some concerns with an operation to Mars. For the purposes of the demo, it’s basically just a way for Supermassive to show off how strong its cinematic chops have gotten. The character models approach hyperrealism, and the acting doesn’t feel far off from a Hollywood movie. After that quick introduction, things rapidly heat up. One of those characters winds up facing down his doppelganger, leading to a thrilling little fight scene.
While those bits have some minimal interaction, I get to do a lot more when a doppelganger suddenly mutates into an enormous flesh monster pulled straight from a John Carpenter movie. I’m tossed into a straight-up stealth horror sequence where I need to get past a patrolling monster and sneak my way to a ladder. I can use a scanner to track its position through walls. Though it’s a bit of a standard stealth hiding sequence, it’s a remarkably tense one. I’m legitimately terrified of getting caught, likely because the monster that’s chasing me is just so grotesque with its human face hanging from its hulking body. I almost get to the end undetected, but it spots me at the last moment. I make a run for the ladder and grab it with a second to spare. It’s another true movie moment.
Even with all these tells, I don’t fully pick up on how much Supermassive is making The Thing in space until the next cutscene. The ship’s crew has a potential doppelganger contained in a cell and must decide if he’s friend or foe. I’m given the choice to either shoot him dead or spare him. Naturally, I shoot the sucker dead. That’s where I learn about the biggest way that Directive 8020 is evolving the Dark Pictures formula. As soon as I make my choice, a pop up appears on screen that asks me if I want to rewind. I’m no longer stuck with my bad decision.
When it happens, a developer from the Supermassive team come over to me and explains exactly how that works. By opening a menu, players can now see exactly how a chapter’s story tree will branch. It doesn’t show what the choices are, but it shows how many permeations there are from the jump. In my case, there were three ways my encounter could have gone. It turned out that the guy I shot was legitimately a human (whoops), but certain story choices earlier on could lead to a mimic being there instead — hence three possible outcomes. And don’t worry: If you’re a purist, there will be a mode that disallows you from using rewinds, so you have to live with your bad choices.
All of this seems like a smart evolution for a formula that Supermassive Games has nearly perfected at this point. The few choices I had to make felt impactful and I like having a little more classic horror gameplay in that bit of stealth. More than anything, I just like running away from gross body horror monsters that would make David Cronenberg proud. I’m ready to be grossed out.
Directive 8020 launches on October 2 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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