The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me

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After going back and experiencing the previous entries of Supermassive Games famed Dark Pictures Anthology, it’s hard to believe we’ve reached the end of the first season with the latest entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me. It tends to go on a little longer than it should and has quite a bit of filler, but it’s easily the most feature-filled and gruesome story of the series.

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The plot follows a crew of five people who are doing their best to keep their true crime TV series from becoming history. They decide to do an episode on America’s first known serial killer, H. H. Holmes, and as (bad) luck would have it, they get a call from a secret benefactor that invites them to a recreation of the hotel that Holmes filled with deadly traps to kill his victims, known as the “Murder Castle”.

Seeing this as the perfect place to film the episode and possibly save their show, they’re all aboard to head there. Of course things seem fine at first, until they quickly learn there’s a Holmes copycat killer looking to lure them to their deaths via the many traps throughout the hotel, and the killer isn’t above getting their hands bloody by killing them with good old fashioned stabbing, slashing, and more disturbing ways as well.

As with the previous entries, I had a good time with this one as it features mainly all of the things that made the other episodes good, aka loads of dialogue choices, quick-time events and such, but now there’s some new elements thrown into the mix. Returning players will notice there’s a bit more puzzle-solving this time around, along with an inventory system as well as new movement actions such as being able to run, jump or climb at times.

Notice how I stated “at times” as you’re not always able to take these actions. You’ll have to be in certain situations or places for the actions to be used, but they’re welcome all the same and definitely add some more realism to the gameplay. I can’t tell you how many times in the other episodes that I said out loud “Why can’t I just run here, or climb there?”, and it’s good to know us fans have been heard. There’s a slight downside to these new features as they’re often used to pad out the game length with solving puzzles, collecting items, running around and climbing things between the scary action moments more often than you’d like.

The graphics and sounds are also on point as the characters look nearly photorealistic. So much so, I was able to tell the one of the main leads is played by Jessie Buckley of HBO’s Chernobyl series, and the films Men, and Women Talking. She as well as the other cast do an amazing job bringing these characters to life, making you care about them, and sadly making you feel bad when you lose one of them to a nasty death.

Speaking of which, that’s another plus to the graphics as they don’t skimp on the blood and gore here, and it doesn’t help that a lot of the traps are clearly inspired by the Saw franchise. So expect to see (and wince at) a lot of unique and gruesome deaths during your playthrough.

If you’re a fan of the previous entries, chances are you already have The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me. If you’re new to the franchise, this season finale will have you going back and picking up the other three games. This season goes out with a beautiful yet gory bang thanks to interesting characters, new gameplay elements, and terrifying kills that bring the chills.