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The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me

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The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me
The cover art for The Devil in Me. In the foreground is the logo of The Dark Pictures Anthology, a skull facing the left side of the image. The skull in question has a metal wire over its teeth with hooks from the wire going into the skull's lip area. An image of Kate Wilder with a frightened expression and Granthem Du'Met holding an axe, while standing in front of the H. H. Holmes "Murder Castle" replica, are overlaid on the cranium.
Box art featuring Kate Wilder, one of the game's five protagonists
Developer(s)Supermassive Games
Publisher(s)Bandai Namco Entertainment
Director(s)
  • Tom Heaton
  • Will Doyle
Designer(s)
  • Dan Saxon
  • Dave Grove
Programmer(s)
  • Prasanna Jeganathan
  • Romain Toutain
Artist(s)David Hirst
Writer(s)
  • Andrew Ewington
  • Paul Martin
  • Alex Farnham
  • Seth M. Sherwood
Composer(s)Jason Graves
SeriesThe Dark Pictures Anthology
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
Release18 November 2022
Genre(s)Interactive drama, survival horror
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me is a 2022 interactive drama and survival horror video game with slasher horror elements developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the fourth installment in The Dark Pictures Anthology, after Man of Medan (2019), Little Hope (2020), and House of Ashes (2021). It is also the final game in the anthology's first season. Continuing the series' premise, the game features a cast of five playable protagonists and a multilinear narrative influenced by player choices. Its decision-making scenes can significantly alter the trajectory of the plot and change the relationships between the main characters; some can lead to the permanent death of the protagonists.

Staple mechanics of The Dark Pictures Anthology, such as quick time events (QTEs) and "pictures", collectable items that allow players to see visions of possible future events, appear again in The Devil in Me. The game also introduces new features, including an inventory system for the characters, tool-based puzzles, and new movement capabilities, including running, jumping, and climbing. Jason Graves, a long-time collaborator with Supermassive Games, returned to compose the game's soundtrack, having created music for the earlier games in the series.

The Devil in Me takes inspiration from H. H. Holmes and his "Murder Castle". The plot follows five members of a documentary film crew who are invited to a replica of Holmes' hotel on an island in Michigan so that they can film an episode of their series. It's not long before they discover their lives are at risk due to traps placed throughout the hotel and they must escape the island before Granthem Du'Met kills them. Jessie Buckley was marketed as the game's leading actress, marking the fourth time Supermassive Games cast a high-profile actor to portray a character for the series.

The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 18 November 2022. Its sequel, Directive 8020, was announced without a release date and will be the first instalment of the series' second season. The Devil in Me garnered mixed reviews from critics.

Gameplay

The Devil in Me is an interactive drama and survival horror game with slasher horror elements that is presented from a third-person perspective, and claims to take place at a replica of H. H. Holmes' "Murder Castle".

The game introduces multiple new gameplay features that are a departure from the previous entries in The Dark Pictures Anthology. There is now an inventory feature for the characters, tool-based puzzles, as well as new movement capabilities including running, jumping, and climbing.[1]

Players must make several choices that can have long-term consequences on the narrative's progression and the character's perceptions of each other. In these scenarios, there is a limited amount of time in which one can choose an action or a line of dialogue with which to respond. Protagonists may choose to say or do nothing when they are prompted to make a decision. An anatomical drawing of the brain and heart accompanies every choice in The Devil in Me, indicating that the player character may choose actions based on either rationality or emotion.

To track the narrative branches in one's playthrough, the game's menu has a butterfly effect system called "bearings", which lists all consequential courses of action associated with each branch and their eventual outcomes. The story is interspersed with cutscenes featuring an omnipresent observer called the Curator (Pip Torrens), a character who converses with players about the choices they have made and provides clues about what will happen next in the plot. The survival of all five protagonists depends on these critical decisions, and the game continues without the deceased characters.

Synopsis

Setting and prologue

H. H. Holmes' "Murder Castle", where hearsay suggested he would lure unsuspecting visitors to murder them.
Most of the game is set in a recreation of H. H. Holmes' "Murder Castle", with the original as the main setting of the prologue.

The Devil in Me's plot begins in Chicago where H. H. Holmes runs the World's Fair Hotel, which is full of traps for his unsuspecting guests. Construction on the Hotel began in 1887 and was completed in 1892.[2] After Holmes was caught, he confessed to his murders by saying "I was born with the devil in me" and that he couldn't help the fact that he murdered people as a result. The game follows the myth of Holmes, as his crimes and story were likely exaggerated. His victims also weren't strangers that he lured to him, but instead they were people he befriended or romanced. The "Murder Castle" wasn't truly a hotel, as the first two floors (of three total) consisted of shops and long term rentals.[3]

The prologue takes place in the time of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where newlywed couple Jeff and Marie Whitman check into the World's Fair Hotel to celebrate their honeymoon. However, soon after the check in, both are murdered by the hotel's proprietor, Henry Howard Holmes.

Characters

A photo of actress Jessie Buckley in 2019
Jessie Buckley (pictured 2019) voices Kate Wilder.
A photo of actor Paul Kaye
Paul Kaye (pictured 2018) voices Charlie Lonnit.

The game's five protagonists include Kate Wilder (Jessie Buckley),[4][5] an investigative journalist and the host of the documentary film show Architects of Murder. Also in the ensemble is Charles Lonnit (Paul Kaye), the director of Architects of Murder and the founder of Lonnit Entertainment. Rounding out the film crew are Kate's ex-boyfriend, and cameraman Mark Nestor (Fehinti Balogun), chief grip Jamie Tiergan (Gloria Obianyo), and intern sound engineer, Erin Keenan (Nikki Patel).[6]

Main plot

The present day is set in October 2022 and focuses on the film crew Lonnit Entertainment, which consists of director Charlie Lonnit (Paul Kaye), reporter Kate Wilder (Jessie Buckley), cameraman Mark Nestor (Fehinti Balogun), lighting technician Jamie Tiergan (Gloria Obianyo), and intern Erin Keenan (Nikki Patel). The crew are desperately searching for ideas to finish their first season of a series about famous murderers, the success of which has begun to wane. They plan for their season finale to cover Holmes, but are disappointed with their current progress. A mysterious benefactor, claiming to be a certain Granthem Du'Met (Abdul Salis), invites the crew to shoot at his estate, a perfect replica of the Murder Castle with several artifacts related to Holmes' series of murders. While the rest of the crew is cautious, Charlie readily agrees, convinced it will save their show.

They are taken to the estate, located on an island in Lake Michigan, via ferry. The crew takes notice of Du'Met's suspiciously hasty behavior; Jamie witnesses him and a little girl hurriedly leave on the ferry, effectively stranding them on the island, and Erin finds herself in a life-threatening situation when a mysterious figure traps her in a dusty room. Conflict arises between the crew, with Charlie refusing to cancel their shooting and Kate insisting they leave the island for their safety. The same figure starts building animatronics that resemble the crew members, as the crew set up their equipment and decides to begin shooting in Du'Met's absence. In a search for him, Charlie and Jamie stumble into a booby trap. They encounter a man dressed as Holmes, surmising that he was behind the trap, he is the real Du'Met, and the man from the call was an impostor.

Shortly after, the estate is locked shut. The crew is separated, forced to avoid Du'Met, and survive his traps, including a set of mannequins arranged to gouge someone's eyes, chambers that can be deprived of air or set ablaze by a mannequin, and a moving glass wall that can crush one of two people. Along the way, characters can uncover clues revealing that Du'Met's original identity was Hector Munday. Munday was an FBI agent tasked to profile a serial killer, Manny Sherman, who convinced him to become a serial killer himself. They can also discover that the impostor and the little girl was the true crime author Joseph Morello and his daughter. Morello, similarly fixated on Holmes, was part of the previous five-person group that became trapped in the estate.

The survivors decide the best way to survive the night is activating the island's lighthouse to signal for help. What happens next is determined by player choice. If Kate and Mark are the only survivors and are captured by Du'Met, he shows them a video of Morello explaining his modus operandi of baiting groups to the island, and instructs Mark to pose as Du'Met and lure the next group to the island in exchange for their freedom, lest they die from their trap. Whether Mark complies or refuses, Du'Met has him and Kate killed. Otherwise, a policeman arrives on the island to search for the survivors, only for Du'Met to promptly kill him. The survivors attempt to escape the island by boat, but Du'Met sneaks onboard for a final showdown. Any surviving crew members are rescued by a truck driver after swimming to shore, and the authorities begin investigating Lonnit Entertainment's disappearance.

Development and release

Gameplay and story

The Devil in Me is the fourth game in a series of eight planned for The Dark Pictures Anthology.[7] The game was released on 18 November 2022.[8]

Reception

The PC and PlayStation 5 versions of The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me received "mixed or average" reviews on Metacritic,[9][10] while the Xbox Series X version has received "generally favorable reviews".[11]

Sequel

The next game in the series was a spin-off titled The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, which was announced in November 2022. The game is a fast-paced roller coaster action-horror shooter and a spiritual successor to Until Dawn: Rush of Blood.[19][20] It features locations and elements from the four games comprising the first season of the anthology.[20] Switchback VR was released on 16 March 2023 for PlayStation VR2.[21]

The series' next main entry game is The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020, which will be the first game in The Dark Pictures' second season. The first trailer was shown at the end of The Devil in Me. Directive 8020 will feature a science fiction theme and will be set in outer space. No release date or platforms have been announced.[22]

References

  1. ^ "The Devil in Me: 4 New Features to Help You Survive". Bandai Namco Entertainment. 25 August 2022. Archived from the original on 26 August 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  2. ^ Simelane, Smangaliso (22 November 2022). "Dark Pictures: Devil in Me - The Real History of H. H. Holmes". GameRant. Valnet Inc. Archived from the original on 22 November 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  3. ^ Solly, Meilan (7 May 2021). "The Enduring Mystery of H.H. Holmes, America's 'First' Serial Killer". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  4. ^ Dedmon, Tanner (31 March 2022). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me Adds Actress Jessie Buckley". ComicBook.com. Paramount Global. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  5. ^ Stewart, Marcus (28 March 2022). "Jessie Buckley to Star in The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on 28 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  6. ^ Wilson, Mike (6 November 2022). "Get to Know the Rest of The Crew in The Latest The Devil in Me Trailer [Watch]". Bloody Disgusting. Cinedigm. Archived from the original on 6 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  7. ^ Skrebels, Joe (11 July 2019). "Until Dawn Developer's Dark Pictures Anthology Is Planned for 8 Games". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  8. ^ Dinsdale, Ryan (24 August 2022). "The Dark Pictures: The Devil In Me Arrives this November". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  9. ^ a b "The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  10. ^ a b "The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  11. ^ a b "The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  12. ^ LeClair, Kyle (17 November 2022). "Review: The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  13. ^ Ogilvie, Tristan (17 November 2022). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  14. ^ Blake, Vikki (17 November 2022). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me Review: A Deliciously Macabre Tale". NME. BandLab Technologies. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  15. ^ Croft, Liam (17 November 2022). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me Review (PS5)". Push Square. Hookshot Media. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  16. ^ Triezenberg, Peter (13 December 2022). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  17. ^ Bell, Larryn (18 November 2022). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me Review: Checked out". Shacknews. Gamerhub. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  18. ^ Raynor, Kelsey (17 November 2022). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me Review – A Thoughtful, but Janky Dive into the Fetishisation of Serial Killers". VG247. Gamer Network Limited. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  19. ^ Barker, Sammy (2 November 2022). "The Dark Pictures Brings a Fresh Rush of Blood to PSVR2". Push Square. Hookshot Media. Archived from the original on 2 November 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  20. ^ a b Benson, Shawne (2 November 2022). "11 new PS VR2 games announced: The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, Cities VR – Enhanced Edition, Crossfire: Sierra Squad and more". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2 November 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  21. ^ LeBlanc, Wesley (23 January 2023). "PlayStation VR2 Launch Window Game, The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, Delayed To March". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  22. ^ Castellaw, Christopher (17 November 2022). "The Dark Pictures Anthology Takes on Sci-Fi Horror With Directive 8020". GameRant. Valnet Inc. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
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