If you don't like Dark Pictures games, Directive 8020 might still be for you

Cinematic narrative games like Dark Pictures Anthology is another kind of animal that just isn't for everyone. While the primary purpose of the game space is to turn digital entertainment into an interactive experience, narrative games find a middle ground between active interaction and passive observation, where players spend most of their time watching the story unfold and only occasionally pressing a button on the controller or clicking a mouse to make a choice or try a QTE. Because of that, these experiences don't appeal to the wider gaming audience. However, Supermassive Games hopes to change that with Directive 8020 and a series of new features that it believes will expand its reach beyond its current niche.

GameRant recently spoke with Directive 8020 director Will Doyle on the game's attempts to expand the franchise's reach—specifically, its space setting, live gameplay sequences, and the developer's decision to market it as a standalone game. During the interview, Doyle was very candid about the developer's desire to see more players introduced to the series through these methods, and judging by what the latest installment has in store, Dark Pictures Anthology never felt so accessible.

Directive 8020 aims to be the most accessible Dark Pictures game to date

Directive 8020's space environment gives it a wider appeal

The first element Directive 8020 has gone for it in terms of attractiveness and accessibility is its space environment. Previous Dark images games leaned heavily on niche horror subgenres like maritime ghost stories and witch trials. But sci-fi horror taps into something broader by sharing a setting with popular movies like Foreign and The Thing. It drops immediately Directive 8020s barrier to entry, because even if they've never played one Dark images game, they already understand its premise.

“We have this cool sci-fi horror world,” Doyle said, “which is quite attractive to people.” And he's not wrong. Many people are fascinated by space, and that alone can increase interest in the sci-fi horror genre. But there are a couple of other reasons people might be more interested in Directive 8020 that goes a little deeper than “space is cool.”

First, in most horror environments, there is a sense that people in danger can still escape. In space, on the other hand, there is no way out. If a group of scientists are trapped on a ship with an alien threat on board, their only choices are generally to defeat it or survive until help arrives. But sci-fi horror also mixes fear with curiosity. Space is something that many people want to explore, but the fear of the unknown can simultaneously drive them away from that wonder. Directive 8020 draws from all these elements, giving it a chance to reach a wider audience than any other Dark pictures game so far.

In fact, according to Doyle, Directive 8020 has already seen an increase in interest compared to before Dark images game, even before interested parties have had a chance to play it. When asked if he anticipated a large group of series newcomers thanks to Directive 8020he answered:

We hope so. It's one of the things that has worked well for us. There aren't many horror shows out there that get 5 submissions. And one of the things that we always notice is that when one of our new games comes out, there's a spike in the others. So, yes, that's our hope, of course. But we've definitely seen, just with this one, the interest in it has been off the charts compared to the previous ones, and I really think we're consciously trying to broaden the audience a little bit.

Directive 8020's Live Gameplay sections make it more interactive than previous entries

But Directive 8020 can't hope to expand the series' appeal through its setting alone, and that's where one of its most defining qualities comes in. Previous, Dark images Games have largely been passive, cinematic narratives where players occasionally engage to make plot or character-altering choices and attempt QTEs. However, Directive 8020 aims to bridge the gap between those experiences and the modern gaming audience that prefers a little more action. While Supermassive has a great appreciation for narrative games, it also understands that not everyone does. Doyle even confirmed it, as well as how Directive 8020 plans to solve that problem:

I strongly believe that narrative games are really, really special. Telling stories is just amazing, isn't it? And being a part of these playable stories is really, really unique. But I think a lot of players, for various reasons, will dismiss it and say, “These games aren't for me.” So, we're kind of trying to push it a little bit and bring in some of those players with some more “on the sticks” features, so they can say, “Oh, yeah, okay. I can relate to that. I can play that.” And then they experience the wonder of narrative games, and they go, “Oh, this is a huge branching story. Oh, wow, it has characters I like.” Things they might not have seen if they hadn't seen the new features.

These “on the sticks” moments that Doyle referred to are regular live stealth sections sprinkled throughout Directive 8020s story. Previous, Dark pictures stealth has been limited to simple actions and QTEs, but i Directive 8020players will be given direct control of characters and tasked with avoiding patrolling threats as they would in another horror game such as Resident Evil Requiem. According to Doyle, that's not all Supermassive aims to increase interest in Dark Pictures Anthology but in narrative games overall, if not just to show the current unreached audience what they've been missing out on all along.

However, there are concerns that these moments could alienate those who are just in it for the classic Dark pictures movie experience, where they don't have to do an extensive amount of manual heavy lifting. Bark Directive 8020 lean too far into the action, those who have followed the series up to that point may lose interest, and while the game may bring in newcomers, it may lose just as many veterans. However, Doyle said that Supermassive anticipated this push and pull and accounted for it:

The big new thing we have for direct control is real-time threats. So monsters are roaming around the environment and you have to avoid them. Again, another feature that has brought a lot of attention to the game, and I think everyone who has played it has really enjoyed it. But when you encounter these creatures in the environment, it's up to you to survive, and we know that some people among our players are in it for the choices, they're in it for the narrative stuff, and that worries them a little bit. So one thing we've done is we've put in a whole bunch of settings. You can tailor it however you want by difficulty level. You can make these moments really, really easy, or you can make those moments where you can't die in them.

That's really the trade-off that Supermassive is trying to navigate. If players can set up these moments to be easier or even remove the threat of failure altogether, then the worry of alienating long-time fans starts to fade away. At the same time the same system and even Directive 8020s space setting gives new players something to grab onto in a way that previous games didn't. It is that balance that creates Directive 8020 feel different. It's still built on the same cinematic foundation, but for the first time it feels like the series is actively trying to meet players halfway instead of asking them to fully buy in up front.