Directive 8020

This review is not negative because of the lack of shared story. It is not negative because I thought the story was bad, in fact, I thought it was pretty good and made better by having played all of the other games in the series. It isn't even negative because because they went more experimental with this one. It's negative because this game has the same copy/paste stealth gameplay that you will do for the 6 out of 9 hours it will take you to beat this game. It doesn't iterate, it irritates. The game, sadly, just isn't fun.

It started off good, but took a turn. I’ll keep this spoiler-free. [h1]I wanted a paranoia-driven social horror mystery, but the game gradually pivots into more conventional monster horror, and that’s where it lost what made it interesting for me.[/h1] The early chapters were genuinely strong because they played on trust, fear, and uncertainty—not just fear for the characters, but fear for [i]you[/i] as the player. [i]"But I saw so-and-so over there... so who the hell is THIS?"[/i] That kind of tension is awesome. Rarely do games really lean into social fear like that—questioning who you can trust, whether people are actually who they say they are, and letting [i]you[/i] piece that together instead of shoving giant neon clues in your face like [b]"GUYS THIS PERSON HAS A THIRD LIMB I THINK SOMETHING IS WRONG."[/b] And I was [b]LOCKED IN.[/b] I was actively tracking how characters talked, how they thought, how they reacted under pressure, what they believed in, and how they made decisions. I knew what kind of horror game this was supposed to be, so I was in full counterintelligence mode trying to figure out the rules. How does this thing spread? Air? Touch? How fast? Can people be cured? What are its limits? If someone says or does X... does that actually help the alien? That’s fantastic player engagement. The problem is: the game teaches you to engage with it that way, then eventually stops rewarding that engagement. [h2]The core tension shifts from:[/h2] [b]"Who are you really?"[/b] to [b]"OH GOD THERE IS A HUGE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ THING RUN."[/b] Now, that kind of horror is fine. Plenty of games do it well. But for me, it replaced the more interesting horror instead of building on it. And once that happened, I stopped caring as closely about the characters. When the threat is social, the characters matter—you care about what they say, how they act, whether they’re lying, whether they’re still themselves. When it becomes immediate survival horror, that dynamic changes hard. Cooper was actually a standout for me. "Marine turned doctor" sounds weird on paper, but honestly that made her more interesting, not less. The messaging system was also a genuinely cool addition. Optional, but useful if you paid attention, and it rewarded observation—which is exactly what I wanted more of. [hr][/hr] [b]Overall:[/b] I still had an enjoyable time gameplay-wise because I generally like these kinds of games. But I’d issue some caution before buying, because this really depends on what kind of horror experience you want. If you’re expecting paranoia, suspicion, subtle social horror, and psychological tension, just know the game eventually shifts away from that. If you already enjoy games from these developers and this style of interactive horror, there’s still enough here to have a good time. I’m still a fan of the Dark Pictures creators and absolutely want to see what they do next.

8 hours of the same sneak and stealth event. They didn't add any breathing and aiming sections, so every level feels like a never-ending stealth tutorial. The design is cool, but the story somehow manages to be both painfully predictable and completely incomprehensible at the same time. The ending felt less like a conclusion and more like the writers just gave up halfway through. ( I liked all the previous games, just not this one. )