Supermassive Games have come a long way since their inception and initial struggles to create an identity for themselves in the gaming world. Unfortunately, their initial offerings, such as the Start The Party! and Walking With Dinosaurs, were neither the gaming world deserved nor the one they needed.
However, they found their calling with their 2015 horror game Until Dawn. Combining the butterfly effect mechanics with the horror genre, Supermassive Games flew high into the spotlight as one of the few developers who could provide a horror game and an experience exclusive to those who play it.
8 Hidden Agenda - 2017
Supermassive Games’ most hideous attempt at making a horror game is undoubtedly Hidden Agenda. Before jumping to quick conclusions, it is safe to say that the game writers were not to be played, but the creative decision to host the game on a lesser-known platform like Playlink killed it.
Before Hidden Agenda, the studios enjoyed massive success with Until Dawn, one of the first few games introduced for the next-generation console - the PS4. The game was an enormous hit among the fans, and the thought of using the PlayLink that can utilize multiplayer plot-changing aspects was too greedy. A case of a prospective game buried dead by the wrong platform.
7 The Inpatient - 2018
2018 was a good year for the VR gaming experience, with two highly anticipated horror games making their debut on the platform. One was the Resident Evil Biohazard port, while the other was an exclusive from Supermassive Games - The Inpatient.
The game serves as a prequel to their 2015 blockbuster Until Dawn, but plays out in a different era and with a different setting altogether. Taking the role of an amnesiac patient, the player goes through the various mysteries and horrors in the Blackwood Pines Sanatorium to uncover everything about the eerie dread of Blackwood Mountain. However, Playstation VR games are tricky to work through, and despite a valiant effort from the studios, the game didn't sit well in VR.
6 Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope - 2020
The second installment of the Dark Pictures Anthology, Little Hope, could break the fan base in two. Some loved it, while others found its narrative to be a little disturbing. One of the most apparent criticism was its timeline jumps between the current period and 17th century New England and its inability to tie together a deserving climax.
The game follows a group of college students and their professor in the suburbs of the quaint little town of New Hope. The town has a horrifying backstory centered around or similar to the Salem Witch Trials. The narrative, the sound effects, and the jump scares all work collectively until a point when the game fails to end on a high note, leaving the players with a sense of unfulfillment.
5 Dark Pictures Anthology: Man Of Medan - 2019
Supermassive Games took a different route with their Dark Pictures Anthology. As the name suggests, the game was promised to be an episodic franchise with several different stories as told by The Curator. The first installment in the franchise was Man Of Medan, which made its way to the market in 2019.
The game follows a group of young friends who decide to go out to the open seas on a yachting adventure. Amidst the misty evening, they stumble upon a ghost ship, the SS Ourang Medan. The legend of the ghost ship intrigues the curious bunch to explore a little more, unraveling the thin line between folklore and the paranormal. The studio played to their strengths, although the characters and their traits could have been more diverse.
4 Dark Pictures Anthology: House Of Ashes - 2021
House of Ashes is the third installment of the Dark Pictures Anthology. It strikes a different chord with the gaming community. For people privy to the 1999 classic horror adventure The Mummy starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, this game is a major throwback.
The narrative picks up when a group of American and Iraqi soldiers set up in a war-ridden nation stumble further down deeper, only to find a mysterious chamber with no single way out. With no other choice left but to look for an exit, the group is forced to deal with the claustrophobic corridors, the booby traps, and freaky sinister supernatural beings lurking through the walls. Survival is not easy and is guaranteed to keep the players on the edge of their seats until the end.
3 The Quarry - 2022
The Quarry was released to much fanfare in 2022 and was a standalone game outside the Dark Pictures Anthology. Some might even consider it to be a spiritual successor of sorts to the studios’ previous game, Until Dawn, as it resembled a similar plot but with a more millennial twist.
The game follows a mixed group of teens gearing up for their summer camp in the middle of the woods. However, their perfect party plans go in for a toss, with the vile eyes hiding in the shadows of the vast forest. The game had a stellar cast and voice actors. The addition of digitally rendered well-renowned celebs such as Ariel Winter and Justice Smith spiced it up a notch, giving the players a true feeling of a true cinematic horror experience.
2 Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me - 2022
The fourth installment in the Dark Pictures Anthology - The Devil In Me released on 18th November 2022. The premise following a group of documentary filmmakers to the replica of the infamous H.H Holmes Murder Castle caught the gaming industry hooked.
Taking inspiration from real-life events, the game quickly puts the players in a fictional exploration of the nerve-wracking halls of the murder castle. Without wasting any time, the narrative picks off instantly, and the sense of solitude within the walls makes it as challenging as an open-world game to find an exit. Exploration is the key to survival in this horrid setting, but can one with a faint heart manage to?
1 Until Dawn - 2015
There are plenty more things that make Until Dawn the best horror game from Supermassive games, but the one that stands out in the light is its emotional value. When Until Dawn was released in the year 2015, it changed the way gamers looked at the studios. Despite the existence of previous decision-changing horror games, Until Dawn altered the perception of the genre to an extent.
If The Quarry was targeted at the modern generation Until Dawn was a complete homage to the 80’s and 90’s Cabin in the Woods (Not to be confused with the movie of the same name), horror slasher genre. Not only did it manage to create a cinematic experience, the addition of stars like Rami Malek, Hayden Panettiere, Meaghan Martin, Brett Dalton, Jordan Fisher, Nichole Bloom, and Peter Stormare made it impossible to forget.