Pasta0 The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me Review

The Devil in Me: In my playthrough, all characters made it out alive on medium difficulty, with around 9 hours played. 6.3/10 considering the whole game, 6.78/10 without considering the ending that I had higher expectations for. I wouldn't recommend this at the full 40 dollar price tag, get it on sale at the very least. This game's decisions require some attention to the subtext of the game, and I think a lot of the people who completely bombed this game in reviews probably weren't doing that. This game would've been much better if it were around 10 to 12 hours long, with a story that has a slightly larger scope. Having the portions about actually filming a documentary end after things kick off felt silly. It could've had a whole thing about how a crew of documentary creators being forced into the role of a more investigative journalist role, and filming and investigating the former detective. This would've also been more interesting narratively if it were a group of investigators or journalists investigating at the actual historical H.H. Holmes Murder Castle and unknowingly fell into his trap. Spoilers ahead: This game could have been larger in scope. For example, the fake “Du’met” leaving after only 15 minutes does not give the story enough time to develop in an interesting way. This could’ve been a 4 star game if the ending gave any interesting surprises or twists. The only thing we find out is that his mother lived in the lighthouse with him and that he preserved her body with animatronics, but with him attempting to do the same thing to his subjects, it isn't really a huge surprise. The other ending point was how each character learned something or bettered themselves due to the traumatic event, like quitting smoking or making big decisions, but a few of these felt like stretches. For example, with Jamie, the curator said that “Jamie learned that she had to trust other people and work with them,” which barely showed up in the story in terms of character traits, and the same thing with Kate. It would've been more interesting if the photos taken by Mark had more of an effect on the ending. The ending overall felt uninspired and didn’t really add anything to the story, just some one chance QTE to save each character. I also found a few plot points hard to ignore. There’s not much explanation for how Du’Met financed such an elaborate murder mansion, complete with moving walls, cameras, microphones, and other infrastructure. There was also no explanation for how Hector survived the fire despite the matching dental records the authorities found. The game also doesn’t really explain how he survives some of the more extreme injuries. Another oddity is how the island is never seriously followed up on by authorities, despite multiple survivors, a missing officer, and a trail of evidence. In the end, I think The Devil in Me is a decent horror game with a decent setup, but it doesn’t fully capitalize on its premise. It has good tension and some smart decision-based moments, but the story feels smaller and less memorable than it should have been. Though it does feel like I may have taken a campy horror game more seriously than it was meant to be taken.