Supermassive Games just announced Directive 8020, the fifth part of The Dark Pictures Anthology.
After the first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology ended with Devil in Me, Supermassive Games just announced the second season's first part: Directive 8020.
Cinematic, Choice-Based Horror
The Dark Pictures Anthology by Supermassive Games, the studio that brought us Until Dawn and The Quarry, is a series of shorter cinematic, choice-based horror games where players swap between multiple characters and have the responsibility to get them through the game alive. You alter between exploration, cutscenes and quick-time events and never know if your next move could lead to a character's irreversible death.
Contrary to Supermassive's full-length games, The Dark Pictures Anthology is available in both single-player and multiplayer mode. If you play the game with a friend, both of you experience different game segments and cutscenes, which is why your story's success depends on your cooperation.
Every part of the anthology has its own story. The first season started with Men of Medan in 2019, was followed up with Little Hope and House of Ashes and ended with The Devil in Me in 2022. Now, the studio announced the first game of the second season and the series' fifth part overall, Directive 8020.
A First Look At The Game
The game already has its own Steam page, where it's described as a "cinematic sci-fi horror adventure that blends intense survival gameplay with meaningful choices and a branching storyline".
The story revolves around a dystopian future where the Earth is dying, which is why colonizing other planets is humanity's only hope. But the colony ship "Cassiopeia" crash lands on a strange planet and is soon hunted by an alien creature that's capable of mimicking its prey – so, from what it sounds like, this game combines Supermassive's trademark game mechanics with the concept of John Carpenter's The Thing.
A story reveal trailer has also been published:
A deadly mission to save humanity, coming October 2nd 2025 #Directive8020 #TheDarkPictures pic.twitter.com/X7DkyLSZVl
— The Dark Pictures (@TheDarkPictures) February 12, 2025
The official release date is October 2 but you can pre-order from June on – if you decide to preorder, you immediately get access to the Curator's Cut, which is usually only available three to four months after the game's release. The Curator's Cut is a single-player mode that allows you to replay the game from the perspective of different protagonists at different times after your first run. It is a multi-platform release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
A Brand New Multiplayer Mode
Directive 8020 is also supposed to be the first game in the series with a 5-player online co-op mode. Previous games only had a 2-player online co-op mode and a local multiplayer mode with up to 5 players where every player would pick at least one character and then reach the controller around every time their chosen character(s) came up.
So it looks like Supermassive Games is experimenting with new modes and various horror subgenres, specifically body horror and space horror in Directive 8020.
Are you excited about the anthology's newest part? Are you planning to play it alone or with friends? Tell us in the comments!
