The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020 Reviews
At the end of the day, Directive 8020 is just the first game in the second season of the Dark Pictures games. My complaints about the ending could be resolved in future games, or it might just be a one-off issue. I would have liked to see the game have a bit more accessibility options.
Directive 8020 ends up being a solid adventure game overall. While the story is enjoyable, it is also heavily reliant on familiar ideas due to the popularity of the films that inspired it. The characters fit well within the narrative, and the series' foundation of exploration and difficult decision-making remains as strong as ever. The ability to alter your choices at any point can be a positive or a negative, depending on how strictly you want to follow the genre's traditional rules. The addition of stealth ranges from a welcome change to an unnecessary mechanic due to its limited execution and frequent use. Directive 8020 may not be the best entry in the Dark Pictures series, but it is encouraging to see Supermassive experiment with ideas that don't completely undermine the experience. Adventure game fans and those curious about the series' direction will still find enough to make it worth checking out.
Although Directive 8020 has an engaging and thought-provoking story, it significantly loses its value as an experience due to fundamental issues in level design and gameplay. If you're a die-hard fan of interactive drama and story-driven titles, there are still reasons to give it a try, but otherwise, you're better off just watching a walkthrough.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Directive 8020 is one of the better parts of The Dark Pictures Anthology, but don't expect it to be a major departure from the series or anything else. It has an interesting setting, an impressive atmosphere, good characters, and a functional story foundation, which creates the basis for a quality interactive adventure game, but at the same time it suffers from perhaps too forced and repetitive gameplay elements.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Quite simply, Directive 8020 is a paradox. For a developer like Supermassive Games, with years of experience creating interactive narrative games, such a decline in nearly every aspect is difficult to overlook, and while the game excels in its choice-and-consequence system, almost everything else, including poor pacing, forced stealth sections, pointless exploration, and weak visuals and animations, drags the experience down to a point where it becomes hard to recommend.
Review in Persian | Read full review
What if The Thing, but in space?
Supermassive Games has brought the Dark Pictures Anthology back with style and panache. Directive 8020 suffers from being a little too generic in concept and letting itself down with gameplay elements that are at odds with the cinematic quality, but the game does work as popcorn horror and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Supermassive Games takes the Dark Pictures series into space with Directive 8020, and with the introduction of new gameplay elements such as stealth, you're more immersed in the action than ever before. Add in its brilliant presentation and gripping story and you have one of the best Dark Pictures games yet, and a must play for fans of space-horror.
With its revamped stealth mechanics and refined aesthetics, Directive 8020 offers a clear evolution of the genre, but continues to reaffirm some of the limitations, particularly in terms of interaction, inherited from the first season of the anthology. With excellent references, the story (along with the excellent work of the cast) remains its best quality, with good pacing, great development, and important turning points that, while not escaping old cliches, still work very well.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Directive 8020 builds on the formula established in 2015, adding several gameplay layers (some more successful than others) to its narrative-driven core and butterfly effect mechanics. However, its greatest strength lies in the freedom it gives players to explore its complex tree of decisions and consequences. It is Supermassive Games' most complete and enjoyable adventure since Until Dawn.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A sci-fi horror adventure that wastes an excellent premise due to a lackluster narrative and gameplay that relies too heavily on hide-and-seek.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Directive 8020 is an ambitious sci-fi horror experience that attempts to evolve the formula of The Dark Pictures Anthology with stealth mechanics, co-op features, and the new Turning Points rewind system. While the game offers strong visuals, solid sound design, and a well-crafted cast, its story feels uneven and rarely manages to deliver genuine horror. Despite some interesting ideas, repetitive gameplay sections and a lack of originality prevent Directive 8020 from reaching the same impact as Until Dawn, resulting in a decent but ultimately disappointing experience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you’ve played previous The Dark Pictures Anthology games, you don’t really need to try Directive 8020, as it doesn’t offer anything new compared to the earlier titles. If you didn’t like the previous games, it’s better to avoid it as well. But if you enjoy the series, you might still like Directive 8020 for its mysterious story, although it’s considered one of the weaker entries.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Despite Supermassive Games' impressive pedigree, certain sections of the game drag the overall experience down. The stealth segments become so tedious at times that they can make you lose the desire to keep playing. Still, if you're a fan of the studio, you'll get the best of its signature horror style wrapped in a strong sci-fi setting. If you're looking for something fresh, however, it's best to keep your expectations in check.
Review in Unknown | Read full review
Space is already terrifying. Being trapped on a ship with an alien threat while your crew slowly falls apart makes it worse. Throw in a scattered story, broken tension, and some lacklustre gameplay mechanics… and that’s the icing on the cake.
Overall I had a blast with Directive 8020. I kept on wanting to come back for more, having been fully immersed in its story and setting. I can’t wait to dive back in to unlock all the endings, see every turning point and to find out who the O Death person is.
Directive 8020 is a prime example of a game that had all the makings of one of the best sci-fi horror games of recent years, but ultimately fell short. An excellent premise, an attractive setting, a decent atmosphere, and high-quality audiovisuals create a very strong first impression. Unfortunately, the longer you play, the more the script’s weaknesses, the shallow characters, the simplistic gameplay, and the underutilized potential of the entire premise begin to surface.
Review in Czech | Read full review
Directive 8020 delivers a gripping B-movie sci-fi horror experience with likable characters, welcome attempts at greater interactivity, and a strong paranoid atmosphere, even if technical issues hold it back from reaching its full potential.
Review in Czech | Read full review
Directive 8020 is still another good quality release from Supermassive Games, and if you were a fan of Until Dawn, The Quarry, and/or previous Dark Pictures Anthology games, you will definitely enjoy it; at least so long as the space-faring setting is of interest to you. There’s a lot to enjoy in the storytelling, and so long as you have the patience to put up with repetitive stealth scenes, I think it is a game worth playing.
Directive 8020 is a disappointing title from a studio that has a much stronger track record and potential. One-dimensional characters, weak writing, and boring, uncreative gameplay make you enjoy the game only in the moments when the characters are getting killed.
Review in Persian | Read full review