Supermassive Games continues its Dark Pictures series with Directive 8020, a very cinematic sci-fi survival horror game.
Developed by the creators of Until Dawn and The Quarry, The Dark Pictures games put the fate of a group of protagonists in the player’s hands. Every choice matters, as decisions can lead to life-or-death outcomes. The branching narratives ensure that each playthrough unfolds differently, shaped by the player’s actions.
Directive 8020 was originally planned as the opening entry in the second season of The Dark Pictures Anthology. The first season included Man of Medan (2019), Little Hope (2020), House of Ashes (2021), and The Devil in Me (2022). With this new instalment, however, Supermassive appears to be moving away from the series’ anthology-style framing, dropping the drama introduction and the recurring presence of the mysterious Curator, though observant players may still catch glimpses of him.
As with previous Dark Pictures titles, Directive 8020 has a familiar face as the lead. British actress Lashana Lynch, from Captain Marvel, No Time to Die and most recently The Day of the Jackal, plays Brianna Young, a pilot aboard the Cassiopeia, a deep-space survey vessel heading to Tau Ceti f and travelling six months ahead of the colony ship Andromeda.
The Cassiopeia is a sister ship to the Andromeda, built as a trial run for the colony mission but lacking the fuel required to land on the planet. After completing the four-year journey, the crew’s objective is to carry out their survey and then return to Earth. Drawing inspiration from Alien, The Thing, Event Horizon, and other haunted-house-in-space stories, things quickly unravel for the Cassiopeia’s skeleton crew when a meteorite strikes the ship.
The game’s plot exploits every sci-fi genre trope you can think of, and to great effect. In less careful hands, what’s intended as a homage to evoke the same unease and terror as its inspirations could feel overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, Directive 8020 embraces those clichés, placing the choices directly in your hands. Every tense, life-or-death moment is yours to navigate.
It also dives deep into body horror, which may prove too intense for more squeamish players. Without going into detail, the gruesome imagery easily rivals the unsettling visuals of John Carpenter’s The Thing.
The game looks stunning on PlayStation 5; the scenes in space are particularly breathtaking with the starfield as a backdrop. The environments as a whole are impressive and meticulously detailed, making full use of the almost photoreal visuals afforded to the developers in switching to the Unreal Engine 5. The motion-captured performances are equally impressive, with the actors bringing a level of realism that helps make the experience feel truly cinematic.
As well as the move to Unreal Engine 5, Supermassive has reworked the formula slightly. The camera is now fully player-controlled, giving the game a more modern feel, though it loses some of the cinematic flair of earlier entries. Stealth has featured in the studio’s games before, but here it leans more towards a third-person survival horror style reminiscent of the Dead Space games, but not quite hitting the same mark.
The game also introduces the ability to rewind and explore different paths for each character. While this allows players to experience more of the story’s branching outcomes, it does take away some of the sense of a uniquely personal narrative shaped by your choices. The shift in direction does make Directive 8020 more accessible to a wider audience, though it arguably strays a little too far from the original concept of the series.
For all intents and purposes, Directive 8020 feels more like a standalone feature than an episodic entry. This shift in direction makes sense from a marketing perspective, especially given the uneven reception of the anthology format, the annual release schedule, and the four-year gap since the previous instalment. It’s a little disappointing, though, as the overarching subplot involving the Curator seemed to be building towards something significant at the end of the last game.
Like Until Dawn and The Quarry, I’ve always thought of The Dark Pictures Anthology as “event” games, closer to interactive films or TV series than traditional games. Because of that, I tended to set aside my usual expectations and focus on the cinematic experience. Directive 8020, however, makes a stronger push to appeal to a broader audience and feel more like a conventional game, and as a result, it doesn’t quite benefit from the same leeway.
There are plenty of quick-time events and split-second decisions, often with little warning, which can feel unfair compared to other survival horror games, but they suit the tone of a Dark Pictures title. These choices also influence how the other characters feel and react, helping to shape the player’s unique version of the story.
Directive 8020 will appeal strongly to fans of sci-fi horror. It offers plenty of replay value and works especially well as a shared experience with friends. The format will feel familiar to players of Until Dawn and The Quarry, delivering cinematic, interactive movie-style gameplay enhanced with more modern mechanics. It may not be for the faint-hearted, but it comes highly recommended.
Rating: Very Good