The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me is the fourth installment of Supermassive Games’ hit anthology series, and is referred to as the “season one finale” of the batch. In a lot of ways, its premise is the most traditional of the anthology: a group of five big personalities are cryptically invited by a mysterious person to stay in a creepy hotel in the middle of nowhere. And to up the ante, the hotel is replicated to match the site of serial killer HH Holmes’ “Murder Castle”…what could go wrong?
The classic horror formula is there, which is no surprise given that Game Director Tom Heaton has previously mentioned that classics like The Shining and Halloween (1978) have heavily inspired the Supermassive team this time around. And based on the hour-long preview I had with The Devil In Me, Supermassive proves that it knows the genre inside and out, and how to send a chill down even the most avid of horror fans’ backs.
Tensions immediately flare among the game’s cast of five main characters–a group of filmmakers–who have arrived at the hotel to film a documentary on HH Holmes in a last ditch effort to save their company, Lonnit Entertainment. For those unfamiliar, many dub HH Holmes as “America’s First Serial Killer”, and he’s famous for declaring that he was possessed by the devil shortly before being executed for his crimes. It’s clear that Charlie Lonnit (Paul Kaye), the head honcho and namesake of the group of filmmakers, is the central source of conflict among the group–his hotheadedness and obsession with perfection puts a strain on the group’s dynamic. Like any bright cast of characters in a horror movie, they decide to split up upon arriving at the hotel, despite not being greeted by the owner who invited them.
As soon as I gained control of Charlie as he searched the hotel for a pack of cigarettes, one thing immediately became clear to me: Supermassive has continued efforts of listening to fan praise and criticism. While previous games in the anthology felt a bit linear, The Devil In Me plays like you finally have breathing room to really explore your surroundings.
Games like Man of Medan and Little Hope sometimes felt like you were on a carnival ride track that’s constantly moving forward while things jump out at you, and while House of Ashes began to rectify this with a more free-moving camera, The Devil In Me is the first in the series that really feels like you can be in the environment. Even though the hallways of the hotel are narrow, you can still run down them (yes, run, not speedwalk), retrace your steps, pop into optional rooms to investigate, and advance when you like. It establishes the feeling that you’re really playing the game and not simply watching things unfold.
Additionally, it’s clear that Supermassive was also heavily inspired by classic horror games in addition to films. While there were some instances in previous games that can be looked at like “puzzles”, The Devil In Me goes classic Resident Evil/Silent Hill style with puzzles that require you to observe and immerse yourself into the environment to move forward. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia during the preview with something akin to a moving block puzzle that you’d see in a classic Resident Evil game to retrieve a key needed to advance forward.
There’s also a new simple inventory system which also strengthens the immersion factor–if you walk into a dark hallway, you have to manually pull out Charlie’s lighter or Jamie’s flashlight to illuminate the way. If you find a locked door, you have to select the key you picked up to unlock it. It’s a simple touch that, going back to my previous point, really drives the point that you’re playing the game and not just watching it. I will caveat that while this will likely appeal to those who critiqued the linearity of The Dark Pictures, I can also see how this may deter some players who may feel it disrupts the pace of the game; but I’m hopeful based on what I’ve played that it will mostly strike a medium between both groups.
Thankfully, where The Devil In Me adds in more flair, it doesn’t sacrifice the more fun aspects of its predecessors in the process. The cast is just as tumultuous as previous groups, if not more, and your decisions still clearly affect who hates each other, who would sacrifice themselves for another, and who will survive the night. Charlie is the perfect manifestation of the hardass, overbearing boss that everyone has had at some point in their lives, and seeing how he impacts the bonds of everyone in the group (especially through the dialogue choices that you make) makes it all the more thrilling as shit starts to hit the fan and tensions reach a breaking point.
Despite having played all previous entries in The Dark Pictures Anthology, I still ended up making a poor decision that resulted in the brutal death of a member of the group in the short preview period I played. I couldn’t deduce who the mastermind is spying on the crew and luring them into traps, but the hotel is creepy and chock full of mannequins and animatronics that look a bit too real for comfort. While previous entries have dabbled in the supernatural, I don’t think it’s going to be the spirit of HH Holmes attacking the characters, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a copycat killer of some sort. One thing’s for certain–in the context of a choice-based narrative horror game, a hotel littered with booby traps that’s based on the home of one of history’s most notorious serial killers is the perfect setting for it.
Overall, the preview of The Devil In Me really achieved exactly what a good preview should–I have an appetite now to see the other ways that Supermassive Games has strengthened the latest entry in the series and the choice-based narrative format. I’m once again impressed to see how, despite repeating many of the same tropes and gameplay elements of previous games in the anthology, it still feels like an inspired and original experience that I haven’t encountered before. And while I said it before about House of Ashes (which ended up being the most critically acclaimed of the anthology), if you’ve previously played games in the series and felt that it was lacking in some ways, rest assured that Supermassive has listened and taken new and much needed steps with this new entry.
So get ready for your stay in the Murder Castle if you aren’t already.
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