Directive 8020 Review – Supermassive Games Nails Sci-Fi Horror

Having performed all the Dark Pictures franchise to this point. It’s secure to say that ever because it was first teased on the finish of Dark Pictures season 1, I’ve been excited to play Directive 8020, the most recent Dark Pictures sport. Finally, Supermassive Games has taken the collection to house for a horrifying journey, and regardless of a number of oddities, it was properly definitely worth the wait after a number of delays.

Game Name: Directive 8020
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Reviewed On: PC
Genre: Sci-Fi Horror, Choice Based, Narrative Driven
Publisher(s): Supermassive Games
Developer(s): Supermassive Games
Release Date: May twelfth, 2026

What Is Directive 8020?

In Directive 8020, you’re taking management of a bunch of astronauts looking for a brand new place for humanity to stay. However, after their colony ship, the Cassiopeia, crashes close to the planet Tau Ceti f, they need to discover a option to survive an unknown alien menace.

As beforehand talked about in my preview of Directive 8020 from a number of weeks in the past, the sport continues Supermassive Games’ slate of choice-driven horror journey video games. It was initially deliberate to kick off season 2 of The Dark Pictures anthology earlier than evolving into an even bigger, extra standalone expertise inside The Dark Pictures universe.

Having now seen the total story by way of, I’ve to say sci-fi is ideal for Supermassive Games. Directive 8020 has the correct amount of style tropes to make you are feeling at house, whereas additionally providing sufficient originality in its narrative to face by itself two ft. While I received’t spoil the story on this evaluate, you will need to observe that narrative is the principle pillar of a choice-based sport like this.

What I’ll say is that Directive 8020 has a twist that I genuinely didn’t see coming, and that feels extremely uncommon within the horror style nowadays throughout any medium. Horror video games particularly typically really feel like carbon copies of each other, counting on acquainted story beats merely to maneuver gamers from one gameplay sequence to the following. That’s what makes Directive 8020 so refreshing. It feels deeply invested in its narrative from starting to finish.

And sure, surviving in house is troublesome. Several members of my crew died throughout my first playthrough.

Feels Like A Smoother Dark Pictures Game

Now, how does it really feel to play? Well, in reality, Directive 8020 feels extraordinarily just like Supermassive Games’ earlier titles. You stroll round exploring environments, discovering clues and collectibles whereas participating in a number of mini-games alongside the best way. Oh, and naturally, there are motion set items involving quick-time occasions (QTEs) as properly. Most vital of all are the dialogue selections, that are made utilizing the left stick throughout key moments. Sometimes the sport provides you limitless time to decide, whereas different selections solely permit a number of seconds to react.

Choices can change character personalities, which in flip impacts their destinies. Major selections are signified by the sport informing you that you simply’ve reached a turning level. Depending on the issue settings chosen earlier than beginning, you may also rewind these selections if desired. Personally, I’d advocate taking part in with out rewinds throughout your first playthrough, as you may revisit turning factors by way of the menu as soon as the sport has been accomplished.

If you’ve got performed these video games earlier than, all of this may sound very acquainted. However, a few issues assist set Directive 8020 other than its predecessors. Firstly, all the pieces merely appears to be like and feels smoother, with drastically improved animations all through. Secondly, Directive 8020 options way more lively gameplay than earlier Supermassive Games titles. This typically takes the type of stealth sections that contain avoiding threats whereas fixing puzzles or finishing particular duties.

None of those sections felt significantly troublesome, however they had been participating sufficient to interrupt up the same old stream of exploration and cutscenes. As a outcome, they really feel like a worthwhile addition to Directive 8020.

Atmosphere Enhances Everything

Being such a narrative-driven sport, it’s honest to say that presentation is essential to the success or failure of Directive 8020. Thankfully, Supermassive Games completely nails the presentation throughout each visible and audio design.

From using lighting and shadows to the altering colour palette throughout the varied time jumps, Directive 8020 persistently creates the proper ambiance for each second. The identical will be stated of the audio design. In horror, silence will be terrifying, however unsettling atmosphere can generally be even worse, and that’s earlier than we even get to the bounce scare-enhancing sound results.

The use of audio particularly, and the way it works alongside the visuals in any given second, creates a continually unnerving ambiance all through the expertise. Directive 8020 as soon as once more proves that Supermassive Games are masters of the horror style. However, there may be one small blemish on an in any other case top-tier presentation.

That blemish is the character fashions. Lashana Lynch appears to be like unbelievable as Brianna Young, which solely strengthens what I’d describe as the most effective efficiency in Supermassive Games historical past by a rustic mile. Facial animations have clearly improved dramatically over the previous few years, serving to convey her efficiency to life in a much more plausible method. Unfortunately, the heavy reuse of character fashions from earlier Dark Pictures video games can generally distract from the in any other case robust chemistry shared by the remainder of the forged. This is particularly noticeable as a result of lots of these returning fashions merely don’t look as superior as Lynch’s character mannequin.

Surprisingly Solid Performance

You could recall from my preview that I had main questions surrounding the technical efficiency of Directive 8020 heading into launch. Thankfully, I don’t know what magic Supermassive Games has been working behind the scenes, however each situation I encountered through the preview interval has been cleaned up right here.

Across the 6 hours it took me to finish my first playthrough, I didn’t encounter a single bug or crash. Performance was additionally extraordinarily stable general, with solely very transient drops beneath 60fps whereas taking part in at native 4K on the best obtainable settings with Ray Tracing enabled.

The sport additionally provides Path Tracing, which I examined at 4K max settings utilizing DLSS Performance Mode. Unfortunately, I used to be solely capable of keep a secure 30fps. While that’s nonetheless playable in a slower-paced cinematic sport like this, the visible enchancment over commonplace Ray Tracing merely isn’t vital sufficient to justify the a lot decrease framerate, no less than for my part.

Jordan’s PC Specs: AMD 9950X3D, RTX 5090 Founders Edition, 96GB DDR5 6000MHz Corsair RAM

Summary

In the tip, because of an attention-grabbing story crammed with real alternative and consequence, Directive 8020 was a real blast to play. Despite the reused character fashions barely hurting the in any other case vastly improved presentation, I’ve little or no unfavourable to say about Directive 8020.

Directive 8020 represents the most effective that The Dark Pictures video games have needed to supply to this point, proving that Supermassive Games is true at house inside sci-fi horror. If you’re a fan of the studio’s earlier video games, that is an absolute must-play.

I’m additionally hopeful that we ultimately get a extra direct sequel to this sport in some unspecified time in the future. Until then, I already can’t wait to leap again in as soon as the web co-op mode arrives in a post-launch replace.

If you loved this evaluate, discover extra of our in-depth online game opinions throughout PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

Review Disclosure Statement: A duplicate of Directive 8020 was offered to us for evaluate functions by Supermassive Games. For extra info on how we evaluate video video games and different media/expertise, please evaluate our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more information.