Directive 8020 Review

Supermassive Games’ signature choose-your-own-adventure games have taken us to a lot of places, but they’ve never put us in space. Until now. Directive 8020 is the latest entry in the studio’s Dark Pictures anthology, a series that has provided fun, and often campy and/or schlock horror. This time around, Supermassive has attempted a more serious tone, but not only that, they’ve endeavoured to make more of a video game (for a lack of a better term), adding more gameplay to the equation. But sadly, this venture into space didn’t launch Season 2 of The Dark Pictures as I was hoping.

Directive 8020 is set in the distant future and sees a crew of specialists on board the Cassiopeia en route to perform a recon mission of Tau Ceti f – a planet identified as having the potential to be humanity’s new home. Earth no longer has the longevity required to sustain the human race. I’d like to think that it’s a result of all the AI data centres gobbling up Earth’s resources – this is a choose-your-own-adventure after all. Four years into the journey, the ship is hit with a meteorite that sees an alien lifeform infiltrate the ship, with the kicker that it can imitate the humans on board. As the crew awaken shortly after, they sense something is off, and it’s not long before they’re questioning each other’s identity and motives.

Before the shit hits the fan

The crew is made up of eight different characters, all of whom you’ll play at various stages of the game. Supermassive has always utilised Hollywood talent for its cast and performances, which it does once again. Headlined by Lashana Lynch (playing Brianna Young) and Philip Arditti (as Josef Cernan), and a few returning Dark Pictures faces, Directive 8020 isn’t short on talent. Which makes it frustrating as to why the performances are poor. Occasionally you’ll get a line that is delivered with the vigour that is expected in such a situation, but the majority of the voice work is flat and lifeless. I feel like you can get away with it when it’s a bunch of teenagers as it fits in with the vibe, but when you’re aiming for something more serious, the deadpan delivery doesn’t do it any favours.

It doesn’t help that the characters are all quite boring as well. Each character is one of the best, if not the best, in their field of expertise, so maybe the uber smart people of the future spent all of their skill points on knowledge rather than personality. It doesn’t do them any favours when they make basic mistakes and are fighting for their lives, and there were times when I thought I might just see what happens if I killed them. Ultimately, the good Samaritan in me won out.

Directive 8020’s narrative influences should be fairly obvious to anyone who has seen the trailers (and the movies I guess), with the studio borrowing heavily from Alien and The Thing to tell its story of deep space horror. But rather than always focusing on the now, Supermassive has you playing events that occurred days before the mission’s launch and hours after the accident occurs. It’s an interesting choice, because it does take some of the tension away as you realise that some characters simply live through whatever is playing out hours before. While some parts are predictable, it’s a decent enough narrative, just don’t expect to be blown away.

The shit has hit the fan

Choices are at the heart of all Supermassive games, and naturally, there are plenty of decisions you’ll need to make on board the Cassiopeia. Some have consequences, some change your character’s destiny, while others are merely part of the conversation. Thankfully, some decisions really do make you clench your cheeks in anxiety because you’re conflicted as to what to do. I mean, do you try to save someone locked in a room or prioritise the room with a fire breaking out? It’s in these moments that I’m reminded at how good The Dark Pictures can be.

Where this anxiety has been alleviated is through the introduction of Turning Points, which are pivotal moments in the story that can be replayed if you decide that you made the wrong choice (or got someone killed). I’ll be honest, I used this feature twice during my playthrough, both times because I killed someone. The first time I fucked up and chose wrong, while the second time I chose the opposite of what my partner told me to select. Ok so both times I fucked up. Still, I was able to go back and redeem myself, which is neat. The only issue is that the Turning Point screen can inadvertently show spoilers, and the ability to rewind does feel a little bit like cheating at times. Live or die by your decisions I say (except for those two times…).

Supermassive has done a great job with the environmental design, and visually it’s super impressive. Exploring the halls of the Cassiopeia and checking out all the technology and gadgets was interesting, the design of the enemies felt straight out of a sci-fi horror, and the character models were incredibly lifelike.

As mentioned in the opening, Directive 8020 is more of a video game than any Supermassive game to date, with the studio attempting to get players more involved in the moment-to-moment gameplay outside of decisions and QTEs. This really boils down to stealth sections that require you to avoid a character or enemy to access the next area, or to follow someone else to see where they’re off to, which simply requires you to wait until their back is turned. Now and again you’ll need to crawl through a vent, replace a missing power cell or complete a mini game to open a door. It’s hardly scary or innovative stuff, and while it’s Fine, towards the end of the story it does start to wear thin.

Hide and seek

Final Thoughts

I always look forward to The Dark Pictures games, and while I don’t think Directive 8020 is the studio’s best work, I found enough enjoyment in the roughly 7-hour runtime. That being said, I do hope that Supermassive learns from its decisions here for whatever else it’s working on. A more serious choose-your-own-adventure with more gameplay can work, it just needs a little refining.

Reviewed on PS5 and PS5 Pro // Review code supplied by publisher

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