by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $15.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Lashana Lynch, Danny Sapani, Lotte Verbeek, Colin Bates, Anna Leong Brophy, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Philip Arditti, Kathryn Wilder
Intro:
… a galaxy of terrific entertainment.
Supermassive Games burst onto the scene in 2015 with their breakout hit Until DJohn Ce mission to save a dying earth. However, something goes tits up, Cassiopeia crashlands on the unfriendly planet, and some of the crew members are acting very strangely indeed. And that’s when the bodies begin to pile up…
Can the crew find out just what the hell is going on, who or what is offing them and how to escape it? The answer to that question very much depends on you.
So, in practical terms, Directive 8020 plays out across eight episodes, each approximately an hour long. You’ll switch between five characters and experience a tense, survival horror/sci-fi that wears its love for John Carpenter’s The Thing, Alien and Event Horizon on its sleeve with pride. Although the story gets off to a bit of a slow start, things pick up quickly and the second half of the game is genuinely tense, with some showstopper moments. Gameplay is divided between making decisions, light puzzle solving and stealth sequences. The game is a tad fond of this latter option, but it’s undeniably an effective way of ratcheting up the tension. Your humble scribe, a genre veteran through and through, will happily admit to being pretty creeped out on a number of occasions. Exploration of tense, tight corridors, investigating slimy organic growths and never knowing which character to trust, combine to create the best narrative Supermassive has penned since Until Dawn.
On the downside, the presentation, while decent, does slip into the uncanny valley at times and there are a few moments of jank here and there. To draw a cinematic comparison, Directive 8020 feels a little more Galaxy of Terror than Event Horizon at times, but that comes with its own charms for lovers of B-grade entertainment. Slightly less forgivable is the fact that a couple of the game’s more compelling plot strands aren’t paid off in a satisfying way, making some of the choices feel a little unimportant. Which is a pity because, damn if this yarn doesn’t get right under your skin, even when you’re occasionally snorting at a ropey line of dialogue or genre cliche.
Still and all, Directive 8020 is without a doubt the best Dark Pictures title and it’s not even close. It’s also, honestly, pretty close to being Supermassive’s best game, at least vying for equal first place with Until Dawn. The voice acting is superb, the animation pretty good and the story is a compelling, occasionally downright terrifying, blast. There’s also a third act rugpull that is genuinely clever and wonderfully executed, giving the final few episodes a real boost.
It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s a bit grim and nasty for that, but for genre-loving weirdos who miss Choose Your Own Adventure books, Telltale Games and dodgy ‘80s sci-fi/horror, Directive 8020 offers a galaxy of terrific entertainment.
