Supermassive Games is soon continuing its interactive horror franchise with Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes. The title is the third in a planned string of eight games that play out as interactive movies, to a degree, and serve as the spiritual successor to Supermassive's Until Dawn. House of Ashes is making one pretty drastic shift away from its predecessors, and that could end up a defining factor the upcoming sequel.
Previously, the Dark Pictures games, and by extension Until Dawn, featured normal "everyman" characters as protagonists. This is a common move in a lot of horror media as a way to heighten the tension as average people without training are pitted against supernatural or otherwise dangerous threats. Games like Resident Evil, however, base scares on the idea that even military-trained combatants can still be overwhelmed by the sheer number or ferocity of its threats. Since the announcement, its become clear House of Ashes is apparently moving closer to Resident Evil, and farther away from its Silent Hill approach to the average protagonist.
Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Is Making a Big Move
The trailers for House of Ashes, including the new one released today as part of Summer Games Fest, have shown off a different type of cast than the previous games. In the new trailer, a group of military personnel aboard a ship are assaulted from the dark by an enigmatic threat. House of Ashes also confirmed its release date today, alongside the trailer that is capped off by the reveal of a bat-like monster. The creature is likely not alone as a threat, especially considering that the main characters are now all military. A larger threat likely looms over House of Ashes.
By bringing in protagonists that would naturally be more adept at combat and survival, House of Ashes is likely bringing in a larger threat for them to face. Danger commensurate to the protagonists' abilities will be a huge lynchpin for creating tension and fear in the new title. This is similar to what Resident Evil games do with enemies, especially in older entries. Chris Redfield is of course a very capable soldier and apparently capable of punching apart boulders, but even he can easily be undone by a large enough swarm of infected humans or a sufficiently monstrous bioweapon.
While some gameplay changes are coming House of Ashes it's likely to retain the core of its interactive movie style of play. This will likely help assuage some of the changes that come with a more combat competent cast of characters as players won't have the ability to become so highly skilled that enemies pose zero threat. This is a big shift for the franchise, and one that some longtime fans of Supermassive's games might have some concerns about.
The new trailer certainly speaks to the studio's ability to still create an atmosphere of fear, dread, and terror though. However, for fans excited about the upcoming game, only time will tell if House of Ashes will be able to balance its new direction with its signature style of horror.
The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes will release on October 22, 2021, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.