The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020 Reviews
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 a step in the right direction for The Dark Pictures, giving its choices more weight, its cast stronger performances, and its horror more room to breathe. While the later episodes drag and a few clichés and visual issues hold it back, the journey aboard the Cassiopeia is still worthwhile.
I am trying to avoid spoilers for the game, but like their Until Dawn and The Quarry games, I was happy to see and play another great title from Supermassive Games, as it is one that players will not want to miss.
Directive 8020 is a solid cinematic sci-fi horror experience, building an atmosphere of paranoia, mystery, and constant danger that evokes classic alien movies. Despite this, the game stumbles in some key areas. The stealth sections are overused and often feel forced, especially in the final stretch, making parts of the campaign feel repetitive.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
If you enjoy a good narrative or any other Dark Anthology Picture games then I’m sure this one will magnetise you to your seat. However, if you expect some decent gameplay or a high octane ride, then you may be disappointed. Whilst the ending and revelations during the story are much better than those of the earlier games, it takes too long to get there with a lot of filler on the way. The characters don’t make you feel connected to them so if any of them die it has little to no effect. This is even doubled down by the fact you can now rewind your choices immediately if you didn’t like the initial outcome.
By trapping a stellar cast in a gorgeous, terrifying nightmare of paranoia and survival, it redefines what The Dark Pictures Anthology is capable of and propels the anthology series into new territory.
Directive 8020 is a game I’d recommend with caveats—which is, I suppose, the honest review for what it is. It’s a step up from the Dark Pictures Anthology’s more rushed entries, ambitious in its sci-fi premise, and it genuinely delivers on atmosphere and tension. The performances are good, the production values are decent, and there are sequences aboard the Cassiopeia that may rank among Supermassive’s most unsettling work. But it falls short of the emotional stakes that made Until Dawn or The Quarry compulsive viewing. Its characters don’t burrow under your skin the same way. Its stealth, while conceptually excellent, is mechanically frustrating. And its choices, despite the gleaming new Turning Points system, still feel more illusory than transformative. If you’ve been craving a Supermassive game with a fresh coat of paint and a sci-fi setting, Directive 8020 absolutely scratches that itch. Just don’t expect to feel it the way Blackwood Pines or Hackett’s Quarry once did.
Directive 8020 is a love letter to iconic sci-fi horrors that terrified us in years gone passed. While certain aspects could be improved for example the efficacy of the Turning Point System, the real meat and bones of the game, the environments, the audio, the graphics, are outstanding and easily the best that SuperMassive Games has ever brought us. I enjoyed nearly every minute of my time with the game, and it succeeded several times over in scaring me. It’s the best that SuperMassive Games has ever given us.
Directive 8020 isn’t the scariest game I have ever played, but it has an astonishing handle on atmospheric tension. You don’t really know what’s coming next or what will hurt you. As an evolution of what Supermassive has done up to this point, it might be the most complete version of a choose-your-own-adventure. When you are eager to explore different routes and find the option at the tip of your fingers, it matters.
Directive 8020 isn’t a failure, but it’s also not the comeback that some were hoping for from Supermassive Games. The game offers a few notable improvements, particularly in terms of narrative structure and replayability. However, these strengths are constantly undermined by uneven execution, a plot that lacks restraint, and gameplay that struggles to justify its existence. More broadly, the title confirms a worrying trend for the studio, which seems to be finding it increasingly difficult to match the quality of its best productions.
Review in French | Read full review
Directive 8020 delivers a tense and entertaining sci-fi horror packed with tough choices and enough creepy moments to keep pushing to the end.
Directive 8020 is Supermassive's boldest step yet — the paranoia mechanic delivers genuine psychological pressure, and the story twists in the final act are the best the Dark Pictures anthology has ever produced.
Review in German | Read full review
Directive 8020 is frustrating because all the right ingredients are in place, but they never fully come together. The paranoia, mistrust, unsettling body horror and occasional bursts of genuine tension all hint at something special. When the game commits to its identity, it delivers some of the strongest moments Supermassive has produced in the series. However, the central setting lacks personality, and some characters rarely leave a lasting impression, holding the experience back. The stealth mechanics also fail to develop, limiting the overall tension they are meant to create. There is still plenty here for Supermassive fans to enjoy. The branching choices lead to entertaining moments of panic, and the latter half of the game does show flashes of the tense sci-fi horror experience it is aiming for. Directive 8020 is a solid sci-fi horror adventure built on strong ideas. These ideas never fully evolve into something exceptional. Despite this, it delivers enough tension, intrigue and cinematic spectacle to comfortably earn the Thumb Culture Silver Award.