Previews
‘The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes’ Sees a Significant Revamp to the Horror Game Anthology Series [Preview]
After getting the first real look at House of Ashes, the third entry in the narrative horror game series The Dark Pictures Anthology, Supermassive Games have clearly listened to player feedback on what does and doesn’t work with it. As the anthology makes the jump to next-generation consoles, it transforms into a truer evolution of the Until Dawn formula.
Gone are the fixed cameras outside cutscenes and conversations; now, exploration is encouraged with a player-controlled 360-degree camera. The complaints about the ‘threats’ players faced in previous games? It’s been addressed with a genuine, very monstrous danger to the latest cast of potential victims. Along with some general tidying up of QTE mechanics and new difficulty settings, this is already a major departure from 2020’s Little Hope.
What does stay the same is thematic. House of Ashes blends evils of the past with a fairly modern cast. Set in 2003 Iraq during the war, a team of American operatives (including Ashley Tisdale as CIA operative Rachel King) is sent in to uncover a possible weapons silo in search of Weapons of Mass Destruction. After a firefight with Iraqi soldiers at the site of this silo, an earthquake causes the ground to collapse, trapping both sides underground in a long-buried temple built by real-life historical figure Naram-Sin of the Akkadian Empire.
So no WMDs, but a long-lost temple is surely a juicy discovery? Sure, if said temple wasn’t built as a failed attempt to appease the Gods and rid Naram-Sin’s people of a curse. The big discovery these unwitting intruders will make is that the ruins are overrun with some ferocious subterranean monsters out for their blood. The reassurance is there from Supermassive; this is no illusion; these bastards are real.
So the two warring human factions must team up to survive this hellish descent into history. As in previous entries in The Dark Pictures Anthology, the player switches between five different characters throughout the story (with alternate perspectives also available in the returning Curator’s Cut). There are no fail states if a character dies; the story continues without them. You can finish the tale with everyone alive or none of them; it all depends on the player’s decisions along the way.
The anthology structure has allowed Supermassive to have a healthy selection of horror sub-genres and influences to pick from. Not to mention the hook of each episode is based on some historical mystery or event. The most obvious nod in House of Ashes is towards Neil Marshall’s The Descent, but the developer notes Aliens, Predator, At the Mountains of Madness, and the historical fall of Akkad as the historical context also being key elements in House of Ashes‘ structure.
In a short gameplay segment shown to us, we got to see two American soldiers, Jason and Nick, as they first wandered the newly-discovered underground caverns. Nick is the character in the player’s control, and he tries to reunite with Jason at the start (with a subtle nod to the infamous Heavy Rain ‘Jason!’ shout). Jason spots an inhuman shape in the gloom of the cavern, but the creature skitters off before he can get a good look at it.
Once reunited with Jason (Nick’s superior), the pair bicker about what Nick thinks he saw but are interrupted by a scream. It turns out it’s one of their squadmates, tangled up in wires and bleeding profusely while his colleague stands by helpless. As Nick and Jason try to cut the poor sap down, the other squad member is dragged into the darkness by an unseen force. It seems the entity Nick saw earlier has brought some friends, and they’re quite hungry.
The remaining trio escapes for a moment, and what follows is a tense QTE where Nick tries to stifle the screams of the injured soldier while Jason attempts to stem the bleeding. All the while, the creatures are screeching away, clearly still hunting for them. There seems to be an implication these creatures are either blind or poorly sighted, relying on sound to hunt, which could throw up some interesting encounters and moments of tension.
I’m intrigued by the changes made in House of Ashes to the formula of The Dark Pictures. While Supermassive clearly has a vision for this ongoing project, it’s admirable that it is open to tweaking it on a game-by-game basis. One of my small issues with the previous entries was that the exploration felt limited by the fixed camera system. Here in House of Ashes, Supermassive’s decision to fluctuate between tight claustrophobic spaces and wide-open explorable caverns gives a best of both worlds approach.
With Frictional Games tackling desert caves, lost temples, cosmic horror, and screeching beasts lurking in the shadow in last year’s Amnesia: Rebirth, I’m curious to see a different take on it with a more cinematic effort. We’ve seen relatively little of House of Ashes so far, but it is already showing promise as the entry that sees The Dark Pictures hit its stride.
The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes is out on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S, and PC later in 2021.
Previews
‘Evil Dead: The Game’ Looks to Be Raising the Bar for Asymmetrical Horror [Hands-On Preview]
The idea of synthesizing all of the moving pieces of the Evil Dead series into one cohesive package is one vicious, behemoth Deadite in itself. But on top of that, transcending the medium of film and television and adapting it into a gaming genre as volatile as asymmetrical multiplayer? One would naturally question how Saber Interactive could possibly appease every possible audience with EVIL DEAD: THE GAME, from veteran film fans to savvy gamers who want a unique and engaging experience. But as someone who fits into both camps who recently spent an hour with the developers kicking Deadite ass (and kicking ass as Deadites), I can happily report that Saber Interactive has pulled it off. EVIL DEAD: THE GAME is asymmetrical multiplayer at its best.
For those unfamiliar, asymmetrical multiplayer is a gameplay paradigm that heavily skews the power dynamic between two opposing teams. In the case of EVIL DEAD: THE GAME, four players select a character from the roster of Ash Williams and his cohorts from across the Evil Dead franchise (the “Survivor” team) to face one player who controls the all-powerful Kandarian Demon (the “Killer” team).
The survivor team is packed with familiar faces, including multiple iterations of Ash Williams as he appears throughout the Evil Dead series, meaning if you want to play Avengers multiverse style as a team of four different Ashes, the choice is yours. Just expect to hear a lot of quips from Bruce Campbell, who returned to reprise his role along with almost all of the original cast members from the films and television series. If you’re feeling a bit more sadistic, you can opt to play as The Kandarian Demon, which gives you the ability to control and summon Deadites to hinder and destroy the survivor team before they have a chance to use the Necronomicon to open a portal and excise the evil.
One important question I had when going into the preview was “How is this game going to stand out from its peers in the asymmetrical multiplayer space?” The genre is already well-known for hits like Behaviour Interactive’s Dead By Daylight, and is becoming further saturated with upcoming titles like Gun Media’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre game. Walking out of the preview, I felt that Saber Interactive knocked it out of the park in multiple ways, but my biggest takeaway was the sense of agency that the gameplay provides on both the survivor and killer sides.
For starters, on the survivor side, you’re given the option to select a character that fits into one of four categories: Leader, Warrior, Hunter, or Support. Each character in their respective class holds certain abilities that fit their archetype–for example, Cheryl in Support has an ability that heals the team as they converge around her. This system immediately establishes an element of complexity to the gameplay: how do you build synergy based on these classes? Do you want to be in the fray battling it out, or would you rather scout out objectives and rally the team to success? Additionally, you have the option of upgrading your abilities via cans of Pink-F scattered throughout the map, and have access to an expansive list of weapons to choose from shotguns to Medieval swords.
On the other hand, as the Kandarian Demon, you’re given free rein to zip across the map and collect Infernal Energy, which is used for all sorts of offensive options from summoning Deadites, to conjuring up traps, and my favorite, possession. Think of it like the survivors are in one big haunted house, and you’re the one with the master switch that controls everything that happens, from jump-scare traps to possessed trees and cars. Survivors themselves can even become possessed once their fear meters max out, giving you the option to take control of their characters to lay the smackdown on their team members, waste all of their ammo or separate them from the group. It’s as chaotic as it is a genuinely unique and a fresh take on the genre that’s never been seen before.
These factors of complexity and agency are so important because it counteracts an issue that often presents itself in asymmetrical horror: redundancy. Continuously playing matches can grow stagnant quickly if the gameplay isn’t complex and the same objectives need to be completed over and over again. The one hour I played of EVIL DEAD: THE GAME left me hungry to explore more. How does the gameplay differ between survivors? What are the other weapons like? How can I best optimize my team? And more importantly, I was excited to try out playing as the killer again. Like many other folks who play asymmetrical multiplayer, I tend to favor playing as the survivor over the killer, but playing as the Kandarian Demon was such a blast that I could see myself defecting to the dark side with EVIL DEAD.
EVIL DEAD: THE GAME truly offers something for everyone. Those who have stuck with the franchise since Sam Raimi’s first film in 1981 will love the homages and faithful adaptations, and those new to the series will love the blend of action, horror, and humor. People familiar with asymmetrical multiplayer can expect a fresh and innovative take on the genre, and if you’re new to asymmetrical multiplayer? I can confidently say EVIL DEAD: THE GAME will set the bar high for you.
EVIL DEAD: THE GAME will release on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Series X/S, and PC via the Epic Games Store on May 13th, 2022.
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