Directive 8020 Review
A Supermassive step in the right direction
Supermassive is back after about a little over a year and a half break with their next big game. I say big game because the last two games released by the studio (Casting of frank stone and The devil in me) were not big hits with most of the fans of the team and their games. While still technically a part of “The Dark Pictures” universe of games that they have been making, you would be hard pressed to find that connection anywhere except for in the collectibles you get in the game. I find the attempt to distance it from the franchise very interesting as the game doesn’t have a classic intro by the Curator character from the other games and instead jumps right into the story with it split across 8 episodes. The episodic nature as well as the new rewind feature in this game helps makes this a perfect point to get into these games. Directive 8020 also has a notable step up in performance quality of the game and its clear that taking the time to get this right was precisely what Supermassive needed to do.
I’ve delayed my review for this as i wanted to do a couple playthroughs of this game before i wrote this. In my two playthroughs, i did one on survivor where whatever happened was permanent, I then restarted and picked different choices and killed all of the characters to see the difference. Despite only getting 2 survivors out in the first one, i felt wildly different in my reactions to the scenes and performances across the 2 sessions. In my first session a high ranking Character dies in an early episode, losing that character helped to make the panic and distrust between characters feel elevated with later moments in the game hitting harder with characters stepping up to the plate and the performances and writing was excellent as well. However in my second playthrough that character survives and their tone and writing was just not nearly as interesting. It also made some scenes just not feel right with some characters just tonally all over the place despite the choices i made and the game telling me that the choices mattered.
The biggest weak links in the game are the length and attempt to make it more than just a narrative focused game where you make choices and see consequences. With the game being about 8-9 hours for a playthrough that’s a hard ask to go back and do it again to see the other endings, a problem that the turning point tree helps with but doesn’t fully solve. The part that REALLY drags down the game are the tedious and far to often stealth sections that have to be played each time. While its fine in the first playthrough, it is just a dreadful time to go back and have to do them again in a second playthrough. They are not fun and they take away from what makes the games so fun for it players as it brings the game to a halt at points and slows it down when the pace desperately needs to be picked up, especially near the end. Overall if you live Sci-Fi horror/thrillers, then this is a great get and you should give it a chance.
What I Liked
The voice actor performances were great for the most part with only a couple lacking
The music, sound effects, and general ambiance truly makes it feel more immersed in the story and world than other games in the series.
The choices felt like they mattered and were very clear in what they would do
The Turning point tree allowing you to easily rewind and change your choice
The story and trademark twists in the story worked great for me, thrilling me to the very end.
The episode structure is the best way to do a longer story like this
The game performance is a giant step up for Supermassive, especially after the mess of the DBD game they released
What i didnt like
THE STEALTH IS SO BAD
Depending on the path you take, the writing can suffer greatly with some questionable Voice Acting takes. It was greatly felt in my second play through.
A couple of characters were just not likeable at all
The length is not player friendly for a game that wants multiple playthroughs. 5-6 hours is the sweet spot for this type of game.