Directive 8020 Review

Supermassive Games takes The Dark Pictures formula into space with a larger and more cinematic sci-fi horror story built around paranoia, branching choices, and survival aboard an isolated colony ship.

Following the success of Until Dawn, Supermassive Games gained a reputation for producing cinematic horror titles in which your actions would drastically alter the narrative. This formula was further developed in their The Dark Pictures Anthology franchise, where they produced shorter horror tales with branching paths, multiple endings, and characters dying depending on your actions.

Though it enabled the company to produce its titles much quicker, some of the anthology releases had limited scopes compared to Supermassive Games' earlier hit. Compared with Directive 8020, it is evident that the studio sought to break free from the constraints of the anthology formula it was following.

Rather than producing yet another horror title, Directive 8020 is an expansive title with more depth than one might expect from the company. The developers decided to embrace the game's serialized format to make it feel like a sci-fi show, and one can sense that they put in more effort than before to create a refined product.

The setting immediately helps Directive 8020 stand apart from previous entries in The Dark Pictures Anthology.

Unlike other games that take place in a town or a standalone building, this game is set on a spaceship called Cassiopeia, which will travel towards Tau Ceti. Earth will die, there won’t be any more resources, and the mission will be the only way for humans to survive.

Since the very beginning of the game, the player gets the impression that it is hard to survive on board, even without any horror elements. This is where the story starts. There is a crash landing of a meteorite on the ship. At first, everything is alright, but then it turns out there is an infection on board that started with aliens and has imitated humans.

The inspiration for the game comes from such films as Alien and The Thing, and it is hard not to notice this while playing. It is difficult to find a trusted person at all because everyone can get infected. Despite its flaws, the initial chapters create an excellent atmosphere. In the first hours of gameplay, you follow the ship's sleep technicians around as everyone else on board is in cryosleep.

This helps build up an atmosphere that makes the Cassiopeia a believable ship until it falls apart. Wandering through maintenance corridors, examining broken machinery, and discussing it with the Oracle AI creates a very realistic atmosphere that enhances the following horror experience. As with any other Supermassive production, players must remember that every choice they make in Directive 8020 has consequences.

From dialogue options to small conversations and emotions, each action might play a significant role later in the game. Depending on your actions, certain characters may either live or die, while others will receive some special information or even take a different storyline later in the game. Furthermore, listening carefully in every corner will yield clues about the infection and the fate of some characters.

Another intriguing element of Directive 8020 is its episodic nature. Rather than being one long horror story, the plot unfolds as if it were an eight-part sci-fi show. In some chapters, the game starts with a cold open that shifts time and points of view, adding to the mystery of Cassiopeia. This technique is used effectively at the beginning of the game, with each chapter ending in a way that builds anticipation for the subsequent events.

The characters are rather good for the most part, yet a few have left no lasting impression on the audience. For example, Briana Young is played by Lashana Lynch, who is one of the ship's pilots. She improves as the game progresses, becoming one of the people involved in the most dramatic parts of the plot after the infection takes root among the crew.

At the same time, some characters feel underdeveloped despite the game’s longer runtime.

Another memorable character is Noah Mitchell; at first, he seems rough and tough, but later reveals himself to be more complex. Because you mold characters based on your decision to communicate with them, some of them may end up seeming more like a blank slate than actual people. However, there is more to discover about these characters by participating in optional talks and reading their diaries.

Unfortunately, not every storyline resonated with me emotionally. The paranoia element in the gameplay creates the most memorable experience of playing Directive 8020. There are instances when I could not distinguish the infected person from others, which creates a perfect atmosphere as advertised. Members start accusing one another, trust is lost immediately, and every encounter begins to feel awkward as the presence of mimics grows.

When all is said and done, it turns out to be a thrilling experience. Unfortunately, though, Directive 8020 does not always utilize this dynamic to its full potential. Sometimes, certain scenes resort to typical body-snatcher tropes, having characters suspiciously dislike each other for no reason, purely to add an extra dose of conflict.

Overall, the premise certainly held enough promise to make the game much more psychologically horrific throughout the entire experience, but it was only sometimes achieved, not all the time. Gameplay in Directive 8020 should be quite familiar to fans of Supermassive Games’ earlier works.

A lot of the game is spent exploring environments, interacting with items, having conversations with characters, and responding to actions in cutscenes. Most of these elements are very similar to the studio’s earlier projects, but a few new gameplay elements have been introduced to keep things interesting.

The biggest gameplay addition is stealth.

There are many instances in Directive 8020 that require you to avoid mimics by either hiding, sneaking through corridors, or navigating your way through perilous areas unseen. In its early stages, these segments prove very effective because of the spaceship's cramped setting, which inherently induces tension. Creeping through vent ducts while the creatures crawl about outside is an excellent example of achieving the desired sci-fi horror gameplay effect.

Unfortunately, the stealth gameplay quickly becomes dull due to a lack of variety. Although initially thrilling, these segments quickly grow boring as they repeat endlessly. Because the enemy mechanics are quite basic, these stealth elements gradually lose their thrill factor once players learn how to navigate them effectively.

Fighting is deliberately kept sparse in Directive 8020. The developers opted for creating a tense survival scenario rather than a run-and-gun shooter. Players need to react to dangerous situations fast enough to get away from them in order to survive. 

Such elements allow the horror theme to remain intact while sacrificing some gameplay variety as players explore longer parts of the game. The wedge device is used extensively in gameplay as a puzzle-solving item to open locked doors, manipulate certain systems, and repair the ship.

Puzzle solving plays a larger role than direct combat.

It does work relatively well, but it can become predictable. Playing the game makes the player feel rather helpless since there is not much that can be done aboard the Cassiopeia. As you progress through the ship, you will have to redirect energy, fix things, open up locked passages, and solve environmental challenges.

While none of the puzzles pose much difficulty, they serve as a welcome respite from all the dialogue and fit perfectly into the game's universe. Moreover, past choices may shape future events, allowing certain segments of the game to be replayed multiple times. In terms of replayability, Directive 8020 stands out among other games.

Many endings, branching conversations, multiple character death moments, and shifting relationships contribute significantly to the game's overall playability. Sometimes the results are influenced by your actions a few hours ago; playing through the storyline again would help uncover scenes you may have missed.

Perhaps the most polarizing element in the formula is the addition of the Rewind feature. With this, you can turn back the clock on major decisions or quick-time-event failures based on the outcome of your actions. Players who hate losing characters due to confusing choices will love how this enhances their enjoyment.

You can try out more parts without having to keep replaying the entire chapters just to do it. Unfortunately, the Rewind system removes a portion of what made these games thrilling and emotionally engaging. One of the key things about The Dark Pictures Anthology is learning from and accepting the repercussions of your actions and decisions.

Visually, Directive 8020 is one of the strongest games Supermassive Games has made so far.

Once you know, you can simply go back to the way things were before making these choices, and the pressure is reduced. Fortunately, Directive 8020 provides a survival mode in which rewinds cannot be performed. Characters are modeled in greater detail than before, while the facial animation is more lifelike. The lighting used in horror sequences provides an effective atmosphere throughout the game.

The game's cinematic nature is a strength the studio has maintained. This is evident when the main narrative sequences and monster appearances occur. It is important to recognize the mimic monsters for their terrifying designs. Their disfigured limbs, odd movements, and human-like form are obviously inspired by The Thing, yet they remain scary whenever they appear.

There are a couple of transformation sequences towards the end of the game that are extremely uncomfortable to watch, and this is meant in the most positive sense possible. The Cassiopeia itself is not quite so straightforward aesthetically. There are certain portions of the ship that generate intense feelings of claustrophobia, particularly once the infection starts spreading throughout the ship's walls and passages.

The later levels, which are filled with naturalistic growth and organic infections, become some of the most vivid scenes in the game. Sadly, the early environments are relatively nondescript and fail to match the level of uniqueness found in other sci-fi horror titles. A large portion of the ship's space consists of dull gray hallways, average futuristic rooms, and interior architecture that lacks a distinctive character.

Unlike the memorable science-fiction ships such as the Nostromo from Alien and the Ishimura from Dead Space, the Cassiopeia lacks its own character. After spending hours on board the ship, its architecture remains frustratingly bland. Technically speaking, however, Directive 8020 performs very well. The game runs well on any platform, without the problems seen in some Supermassive titles.

Visual errors occur occasionally and sometimes affect how players' characters crawl around, but nothing that will significantly impact the gameplay experience. Extended development obviously greatly improved the game's performance.

The sound design in Directive 8020 works hard to keep the player tense at all times. The constant hum of the spaceship, the clanking of the metal, and the monsters' sounds are excellent examples of creating fear even when the characters move slowly.

Voice acting is consistently solid throughout the experience.

The lack of action in some scenes becomes disturbing precisely because of effective sound design. Music plays quite rarely in this game since silence adds its share of horror. By far, the best acting among the cast comes from Lashana Lynch, especially when things become increasingly dire and dramatic in the latter stages.

There is a tendency for some dialogue to fall back on clichés often seen in horror films, but the acting remains authentic enough to anchor the plot. One of the major letdowns of Directive 8020 is the absence of online co-op play at release. Previous games in the series used online co-op in their anthology style, allowing players to experience the story with friends and family over the internet.

The game does feature a local multiplayer mode called Movie Night, but it feels like a step back for the franchise. Uneven pacing becomes more noticeable as one moves through the later chapters of Directive 8020. While the lengthened game structure makes things feel grander and more filmic, moments near the end are bogged down by stealth missions and exploration.

Even though the plot becomes more tense narratively, there are some places where the pacing is not very good, despite the urgency of the situation. There are still some great moments towards the end of the game, despite the flaws discussed.

In the end, Directive 8020 feels like Supermassive trying to evolve beyond the smaller anthology format while still carrying some of the studio’s older problems.

There are moments when plot and game elements mesh intelligently, rewarding players for keeping up with everything that happens throughout the game. While the ambitious scope, visual effects, and storytelling make it clear that Directive 8020 was made to deliver on its promises, certain shortcomings, such as repetitive stealth sequences, inconsistent pacing, and poorly developed characters, prevent the game from realizing its full potential.

That said, if one is already a fan of the horror storytelling method used by Supermassive in their other titles, they should have no trouble finishing Directive 8020 right until its final scene. There are many memorable horror sequences that unfold once the infection takes hold of the entire ship, making the game quite entertaining even on a second playthrough.