- Directive 8020 will feature “real-time threats” that will ramp up players’ fear
- Creative director, Will Doyle, says the game’s Turning Point narrative system will allow players to explore the story’s branching outcomes
- Doyle explains that these two changes to the Dark Pictures formula are “critical” to how players interact with the story
Supermassive Games has introduced two “critical” changes to Directive 8020 that will affect how players interact with the game’s branching narrative.
Speaking in an interview with TechRadar Gaming during Summer Game Fest, Directive 8020‘s creative director, Will Doyle, explained that the team has switched up the survival horror aspect for the next Dark Pictures anthology entry by implementing “real-time threats”.
“There are two big things that have fundamentally changed what this game is,” Doyle said. “One of them is the real-time threats, the effect that that’s had on changing the control system, and the fear that it puts into you when you’re playing it really, really gets your heart pounding.”
The Until Dawn creators have also changed how players make important story choices by introducing something called the Turning Point system. This mechanic allows players to rewind at certain points in the narrative, which Doyle says will allow players to explore different outcomes, unlike in any other Dark Pictures entry.
“The other is the turning point system and the ability to explore our branching story. Because for me, that’s kind of two critical aspects of what we’ve done,” he said.
“We’re a narrative game, and you’ve got a new system that lets you explore the narrative in a fun way, and we are a game that lets you move around and have action in it, and we’ve pushed that forward as well.”
Directive 8020 is the fifth entry in the eight-planned Dark Pictures series and arrives on October 2 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.
In the game, a colony ship called the Cassiopeia has crash-landed on the planet Tau Ceti f in the middle of an expedition to save Earth. The crew soon discovers they aren’t alone and must survive being hunted by an alien organism capable of mimicking its prey.
Leave a comment