{"id":1564142,"date":"2026-04-27T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/directive-8020-dark-pictures-preview"},"modified":"2026-04-27T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:00:00","slug":"after-an-hour-with-directive-8020-i-worry-the-latest-dark-pictures-game-feels-a-little-flat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/after-an-hour-with-directive-8020-i-worry-the-latest-dark-pictures-game-feels-a-little-flat\/","title":{"rendered":"After an hour with Directive 8020, I worry the latest Dark Pictures game feels a little flat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/after-an-hour-with-directive-8020-i-worry-the-latest-dark-pictures-game-feels-a-little-flat.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p>Supermassive&#8217;s &#8220;party horror&#8221; games, as I like to call them, have become a guilty pleasure of mine. This series famously began with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/until-dawn-review\">Until Dawn in 2015<\/a> and peaked with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/house-of-ashes-review-the-dark-picture-anthologys-best-entry-yet\">House of Ashes in 2021<\/a>, if you ask me. (Although I enjoyed the schlocky <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/the-quarry-review-sumptuous-slasher-horror-digs-its-own-grave\">Quarry in 2022<\/a> as well.) It&#8217;s a series pitched like an interactive horror movie, where you try to shepherd a group of ill-fated characters through a slasher by making various important choices for them, hoping they don&#8217;t get shredded as a result.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/directive-8020-dark-pictures-preview\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/directive-8020-dark-pictures-preview\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supermassive&#8217;s &#8220;party horror&#8221; games, as I like to call them, have become a guilty pleasure of mine. This series famously began with Until Dawn in 2015 and peaked with House of Ashes in 2021, if you ask me. (Although I enjoyed the schlocky Quarry in 2022 as well.) It&#8217;s a series pitched like an interactive horror movie, where you try to shepherd a group of ill-fated characters through a slasher by making various important choices for them, hoping they don&#8217;t get shredded as a result. Read more Source<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1564143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[259,963,8711,8673,59,54,4194,13763,3987],"class_list":["post-1564142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-action-adventure","tag-bandai-namco-entertainment","tag-multiplayer-competitive","tag-multiplayer-cooperative","tag-pc","tag-single-player","tag-supermassive-games","tag-the-dark-pictures-anthology-directive-8020","tag-third-person"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>After an hour with Directive 8020, I worry the latest Dark Pictures game feels a little flat | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Supermassive&#039;s &quot;party horror&quot; games, as I like to call them, have become a guilty pleasure of mine. This series famously began with Until Dawn in 2015 and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/after-an-hour-with-directive-8020-i-worry-the-latest-dark-pictures-game-feels-a-little-flat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After an hour with Directive 8020, I worry the latest Dark Pictures game feels a little flat | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Supermassive&#039;s &quot;party horror&quot; games, as I like to call them, have become a guilty pleasure of mine. 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