Directive 8020 is a disappointingly mid return to the Dark Pictures Anthology

I want to talk about Directive 8020, the newest interactive horror game from Supermassive Games. But in order to talk about Directive 8020, I need to take a second and talk about the larger Dark Pictures Anthology project. Because if Directive 8020 was a stand alone project, I wouldn’t be so disappointed. But this is meant to be the start of the anthology’s second season, and through that lens, the game’s failings just feel all the more dreadful.

If you’re not aware, Directive 8020 is a fresh start for the Dark Pictures Anthology, launching the series’ second season. The Dark Pictures are horror movies following a small cast of characters making their way through some kind of terrible scenario like an abandoned ghost ship, a small town haunted by the Salem Witch Trials, or a loving recreation of H.H. Holmes’ murder castle. Depending on the players’ choices, the characters can live or die.

Directive 8020 breaks the mold in a few ways. For one, it’s a far future sci-fi story, as opposed to taking place in the current day. The crew are aboard the Cassiopeia, a ship that has been launched to explore the planet Tau Ceti f. A second colony ship will follow the Cassiopeia, and perhaps this new world will prove more prosperous than the currently dying Earth. Unfortunately, the crew find themselves awakened from cryosleep and stalked by a deadly mimic, The Thing style.