Ever since Until Dawn launched back in 2015, I’ve been a big fan of Supermassive Studio’s horror games. I don’t have as much time to play games as I used to, and find these games easy to pick up for quick sessions, they don’t require too much from the player, and they’re pretty entertaining. It’s also fun to watch other people play, knowing what’s around the corner, and seeing the outcome of the decisions they make.
With that in mind, I thought I’d give a quick rundown of my favourites. I haven’t included the VR titles as they’re more on-rails – plus I don’t have a headset!
7th place – Hidden Agenda (2017)
This is a bit different to the rest of the games, as you use mobile phones to control the game via PlayLink functionality. As a multiplayer group, you decide on story choices and investigate crime scene environments, similarly to point-and-click games, whilst searching for a copycat killer. It is also very short, about just 2-3 hours. It’s decent, but it feels like it’s forcing a game to use the PlayLink system, rather than a game designed for it. 5/10
6th place – The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope (2020)
The second DPA game initially seemed to be an improvement on the first. The story is set up nicely, with a bus crash in the mysterious location of Little Hope – a ghost town reminiscent of something out of Silent Hill. There are some interesting time jumps back to the witch trials, but boring and underdeveloped characters, a disappointing ending, and a lack of replayability have shunted it down the pecking order for me. 7/10
5th place – The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man Of Medan (2019)
Following a hit like Until Dawn was never going to be easy, but Man of Medan stood out by being claustrophobic with its unusual nautical setting. With regards to branching, replayability was high – probably more than any other title in this list. However, once you discover the story twist, I found that it affected replayability in a negative way too. Average characters and some stiff animations seemed like a step down in quality, but it laid the groundwork for what was to come. 7/10
4th place – The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes (2021)
I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this one. I felt the military cast was out of place in a game that relies so much on character development. However what started with a group of identical uniformed individuals, simply evolved so naturally, and the cast was absolutely spot on. The big bad was generally terrifying, and not a simple twist as I bemoaned with the previous titles. The tension ramped up early and never let up. The addition of a fully controllable camera only added to the immersion too. You can read my full review in Fusion #38 and a condensed review here. 8/10
3rd place – The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me (2022)
The newest title, also the DPA season finale, introduced a number of navigational controls which made traversing environments a bit more natural. But what really made this stand out, was an actual human threat. We had the clever twists and the supernatural, but now the threat was real. Characters seemed real, there were many more ways to perish, albeit at the expense of having a slightly more linear storyline. It is also well worth killing off all characters with the exception of Kate & Mark to get a very different final chapter and a better understanding of the story. 8/10
2nd place – Until Dawn (2015)
Featuring Hayden Panettiere and Rami Malek, Until Dawn was a bit hit when it first launched. Sure, it was your teen typical horror story, but the threat that any of the cast that you controlled could die at any time – whether that was from a direct choice you made or by missing a QTE, was quite groundbreaking for 2017. Sure it’s looking a little dated, with clunky controls and static cameras, but it still holds up, and it’s still a great story with characters that you really care about and invest in. 9/10
1st place – The Quarry (2022)
There’s a lot wrong with the Quarry. The lack of a proper PS4 to PS5 upgrade path, easy QTEs, an abrupt ending, and a completely idiotic saving system with no proper scene selection. However, it does everything else brilliantly. The large cast is wonderful, the script and characters genuinely feel real, the plot and twists were interesting, and the environments are very pretty to look at. Every part of the story even came together at the end. Now if they could just get another patch, as the negatives are easily fixable. 9/10
The next DPA game, Directive 8020, takes the series in a completely new direction. Being set in space, this seems more akin to the likes of Alien than anything so far. We’ll discover more in the run-up to its release later this year.
