'The same old taste'—at first glance, it sounds like a compliment. It implies familiar flavors, consistent quality, and proven entertainment. In gaming, it’s the same; if it means the series has maintained its essence, it’s a positive assessment. However, it can also be used in the opposite sense: that it’s not much different from its predecessors and ultimately fails to offer anything beyond that familiarity.
Supermassive Games' interactive horror movies are exactly that. From Until Dawn in 2015 to The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Quarry, and The Casting of Frank Stone, Supermassive has spent the last 11 years establishing itself as the definitive developer of the genre. Yet, a recurring criticism has always followed them: that their games feel the same every time.
This is precisely why there were such high expectations for 'Directive 8,020,' released on May 12. As the title that kicks off Season 2 of 'The Dark Pictures Anthology,' all eyes were on whether it could break the formula repeated over the last 11 years and show a step forward in evolution.
However, the results fell short of expectations. To put it kindly, it is a familiar taste; to put it bluntly, it is the same old dish we have been served before.
A Variation of 'Control' Added to the Recipe of Choices and QTEs
While I described it as a 'familiar taste' at the outset, that doesn't mean absolutely nothing has changed. True to its role as the start of Season 2, 'Directive 8020' does feature differences compared to previous Supermassive games. Specifically, the areas where the player can intervene have been slightly expanded.
The interactive movie genre has always been this way; the proportion of direct player control is not high. This has been true for every Supermassive title from Until Dawn to the present. To put it positively, they are faithful to the identity of the genre; to put it negatively, they have failed to move beyond the grammar established by the genre.
Supermassive has attempted a slight shift in its established grammar with the release of 'Directive 8020.' By increasing the focus on stealth and exploration, they have shifted the balance—which previously leaned heavily toward film—a bit closer to the 'game' side.
Of course, this does not mean the player can do anything dramatic. If it had reached that point, it would be an action-adventure game, not an interactive movie. Ultimately, this change is more about slightly increasing the player's area of intervention within the limits allowed by the genre to address the inherent drawback of interactive movies, where choosing options is all there is.
The changes aren't particularly extensive. Most interactive movies follow a structure centered on choices and QTEs with minor gameplay elements added, and 'Directive 8020' is not much different. The changes are limited to things like stepping off the main path during investigation segments to gather clues and uncover secrets, or, when being chased, having to physically hide and avoid an enemy's line of sight rather than just selecting an option or inputting a QTE.
These changes appear to be an attempt to compensate for the limitations of the interactive movie genre—namely, the drawback that the player remains a passive observer. The attempt itself is not bad, but the problem is that the result is not as satisfying as expected.
Ultimately, the core of 'Directive 8020' still hinges on the choices you make. Because finding clues and uncovering secrets during gameplay rarely leads to significant branching or meaningful changes to the choices themselves, the key factors determining the game's most important branches and endings remain tied to those choices and QTE success.
As a result, the exploration, stealth, and hiding elements touted as differentiators from previous works feel like secondary features that have little impact on the drama. While the attempt at change is real, the depth felt by the player is more limited than expected.
This isn't the only disappointing aspect. While the new attempt to increase the weight of manual control feels negligible, the fact that the structure remains nearly identical regardless of which character you play feels like a fatal flaw rather than a simple disappointment. 'Directive 8020' features a diverse cast—a captain, pilot, engineer, doctor, and scientist—and the playable character changes with each chapter, allowing the player to experience events from different perspectives.
Facing a single event from different angles and uncovering hidden secrets has been the core appeal Supermassive has pursued since Until Dawn. The problem is that there is no differentiation in the actual gameplay structure they experience. Of course, given the genre, one cannot expect completely different playstyles for every character. It is closer to a movie with choices than a game with direct control. Nevertheless, the fact that only the character's skin changes while the flow of avoiding enemies and solving puzzles repeats identically every time is too disappointing to dismiss simply as a genre characteristic.
Since it is not an action game, direct combat with monsters might be difficult, but that does not mean there were no ways to attempt differentiation. For example, there was plenty of room to leverage individual traits, such as an engineer utilizing surrounding equipment or a doctor using medical knowledge to overcome obstacles. Had they done so, the characters' personalities and the aforementioned limited control elements would have felt much more impressive.
However, in the actual game, no matter who you control, the characters repeat the same routine: crouching to avoid monsters, moving through maintenance tunnels, opening doors, and interacting with terminals. The characters change, but the experience itself feels like a copy-paste job, leading to boredom. Consequently, even the few systemic changes made are overshadowed by this meaningless, repetitive structure.
A Decent 'Movie-like' Story, Disappointing Twists
In the interactive movie genre, which aspires to be a cinematic experience, direction and story are arguably the core and the entirety of the game. In that sense, the direction and story of 'Directive 8020' are worth the price of admission for a horror title. However, it is not perfect. It may be a matter of personal taste, but looking back, there are several shortcomings.
For starters, there is the structure of the early chapters. The story of 'Directive 8020' follows the classic tropes of the 'shape-shifting monster' subgenre, made famous by films like The Thing. It offers psychological horror by trapping players in a confined space—a spaceship equivalent to an Antarctic base—with a monster that perfectly replicates human memories and behavior, creating a situation where you can't trust anyone and must remain constantly on guard.
The problem is that the pressure characteristic of this psychological thriller is not felt very strongly in the actual game. As the story is important, I cannot reveal the details, but there are moments where clues about who the monster is are given somewhat too explicitly. Because of this, the compelling premise that a monster is hiding among the crew loses its power from the very beginning.
Ultimately, instead of a psychological battle that traps everyone, most of the game is occupied by one-dimensional elements like jump scares. For players expecting heavy psychological tension, this is inevitably disappointing. They expected a high-quality horror thriller, but upon opening the lid, it feels like a predictable B-grade horror movie that relies too heavily on jump scares.
Don't misunderstand—I'm not saying the story or direction is bad. It's just a disappointment stemming from the fact that I expected a tense horror thriller based on the 'who is the monster' trope, and it didn't quite deliver on that front. The story and direction themselves are perfectly adequate for a horror game.
The way the core twist is handled is also disappointing. The Dark Pictures Anthology series has always had a hidden truth behind the surface story, but in this work, the core twist is revealed too early. The major twist that should explode at the end with a "Wow, so that's what it was?" is already revealed in the middle. This narrative approach will likely be divisive and acts as a factor that drains the momentum of the struggle for survival in the latter half.
The system that allows you to undo choices is also a point of regret. As I have said repeatedly, in the interactive movie genre, the user's choice is the most powerful weapon. The frustration that comes when a character dies or the story heads toward a bad ending due to a wrong choice acts as the driving force that makes you want to play the game again. Overcoming that failure to finally find the good or true ending in the next playthrough is the core fun the genre pursues.
However, the branch-reverting feature introduced in this work destroys this genre-specific motivation. Like a save-load exploit, it is now possible to time-loop back to a previous branch immediately even if a character dies by mistake. While not having to repeat the game from the beginning might be an advantage in terms of convenience, it inevitably dilutes the tense, high-stakes atmosphere where every choice had to be made carefully.
Returned with the Same Unchanging Taste
Clearly, 'Directive 8020' is a game that received a lot of effort, fitting for the start of Season 2. Developed with Unreal Engine 5, the graphics and visuals have seen noticeable improvements, and character modeling and facial expressions are also much better. While it's a shame that the story's plot twists are revealed a bit too early, it sufficiently proves its fundamentals as a horror title.
The real problem is that all of this ultimately fails to escape the category of 'a familiar taste.' Even though the player's area of intervention has been widened, the most important branches still rely on choices and QTEs. The story and direction are solid, but they stop at 'interesting' and fail to provide any fresh, unexpected shocks. Furthermore, given the genre's inherently short playtime, the full-price tag is inevitably a burden.
In summary, 'Directive 8020' attempted changes to break away from its rigid formula, but ultimately failed to produce a shift significant enough to shatter the genre's mold. Nevertheless, the know-how and baseline quality that Supermassive has built as a horror interactive movie developer remain intact. Fans who have enjoyed the developer's previous works will likely find themselves fully immersed in this one—even if it is that 'same old taste' we know all too well.
- Well-executed jump scares
- Visuals and direction improved by UE5
- Somewhat ambiguous optimization
- Expensive price point for a 'movie'
- Stealth sequences that feel tedious
Review Platform: PC (Launch Version)
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