Directive 8020 Review – A Hit And A Miss

Supermassive Games, the studio behind the very famous Until Dawn and the Dark Pictures Anthology, just released their new project, Directive 8020.

The studio seemed to struggle these past years, as their previous efforts did not live up to the players’ expectations, with their last two titles, Little Nightmares 3 and The Casting of Frank Stone, receiving mixed reviews on Steam and overall low sales.

It is also worth mentioning that Directive 8020 is the company’s first title to be self-published by Supermassive Games, with all that comes with it, such as budgeting and development freedom.

TL;DR

Directive 8020 sticks to the classic Supermassive Games’ formula with little to no innovation. Even though the story is very interesting and complex, with strong turning points and plot twists, the game’s poor gameplay structure is repetitive and dull, making some sections feel extremely boring. Although the graphics and the overall animations look impressive, there are certain sections during the final chapters that look a bit sloppy and rushed. The combination of all of the above makes Directive 8020 a hard choice to recommend, but for the reduced price it comes with, it is worth the time to a fan of the genre.

Story – A New Chance For A New Life For Humanity

After the 2070’s, Earth is struggling and is currently on the brink of destruction, and with Mars already gone, the only option for humanity is to travel 12 light-years to a planet called Tau Ceti F, hoping to make it their new home. The story follows Cassiopeia, the first colony ship, whose mission is to orbit the planet’s surface, collect as much data as the crew can, and return to clear the way for the main colony ship, Andromeda, which will land and set up.

That’s when all hell breaks loose as an asteroid hits Cassiopeia right as they’re about to reach the planet, endangering the whole mission. What no one else knows yet is that the asteroid contained an extremely dangerous alien life form that hides many secrets. The story of Directive 8020 is the best part of the game, with interesting turning points and great plot twists, but it is not without flaws either.

Directive 8020 is a game taking inspiration from great horror sci-fi movies like Alien or The Thing, but there is an inconsistency around the alien life that gets even more confusing towards the last chapters, which, in my opinion, feel like they were a bit rushed, as the plot moves way quicker and the chapters feel shorter. Overall, Directive 8020 has an interesting plot worth experiencing, but not enough to revisit to watch the other choices and endings.

Acting and Directing

I feel in games like Directive 8020, where the player’s choice impacts the plot, acting and direction have an important part to play as they immerse players into the game’s world. For the most part, it succeeds in the above. The acting is really good, especially the facial expressions, and the direction is impressive, slowly setting up the story and the danger creeping up, making the tension higher, but it all comes crumbling down in the end once again.

In the last three chapters, everything is going so fast, scenes are cut short, and actors have way less dialogue. I personally think the game needed at least 3 more chapters in order to conclude its story. It seems like it is either that the company ran short of time or funds.

Gameplay – The Least Interesting And Fun Aspect Of The Game

Directive 8020 tries some new things in the gameplay sector, compared to their previous entrances, but nevertheless, they still disappoint as the gameplay gets tedious, repetitive, and boring. The most controversial addition of all is the rewind button, allowing players to reverse back to every turning point they want and change their decision.

I think that this addition hurts the game as it removes the feeling of being careful not to kill your characters; as a result, the game loses its horror and thriller elements. Some might disagree with saying that this choice adds replayability to Directive 8020. Still, the story and the different variations are not so special that they will make you replay the whole story from the beginning.

The trait system has also been updated this time around. With each character you play, every decision you make shifts the personality of the player, like their humanity and their rationality. Ultimately, each character you play as in Directive 8020 closes towards two sides that unlock different endings depending on their character. The trait system was the only gameplay aspect that felt fresh and improved.

Tedious Gameplay System

This time, the game is more interactive. The player controls a character by walking around and interacting with items such as books or computers that provide more information about the character or the game’s lore. Directive 8020 also features some stealth gameplay, having the player escape from the entity.

This gets boring very fast, as it is the same loop every time, and with little to no punishment, as you can escape by completing a quicktime event. Last but not least, there is a lockpicking ability and some puzzles with the electricity in Directive 8020, which, if they were not recycled about 100 times in each chapter, would be fun additions.

Graphics And Sound – A Very Beautiful Game With Amazing Sound Quality

This section of Directive 8020 is the most well-worked on. The graphics are amazing, giving immense detail in each character’s facial details and expressions. The cutscenes are amazing, and the sound quality, along with them, make some perfect horror scenes. There were some facial bugs towards the end, where characters sometimes did some weird facial expressions, but nothing important that threw me off.

The sound quality of the game is also very impressive. You can hear everything inside the ship, dripping from pipes, weird metal sounds, and screams. The only thing that disappointed me was the soundtrack, or more likely the lack of it. There is only music at the end of each chapter, but it is some generic electronic ambient music, nothing that sticks with you after you finish the game.

Conclusion – Is Directive 8020 Worth Your Time?

As far as Directive 8020 goes, it is a decent story with good intentions, some ideas, and some very scary horror scenes, but for me personally, it did not click as much as I was hoping it would. The rewind feature was very unnecessary and put me out of the mood, as it made me lose any stress and feelings I had for the characters. I believe that this genre needs something new and fresh introduced to the gameplay, but what Supermassive did is neither fresh nor fun to play.

As for the gameplay itself, it was very repetitive and boring, made just to prolong the game for a couple of hours. So, if you are a fan of the Dark Pictures horror series, try it for yourself. But if you are new and looking for a place to start, I would suggest checking out some older titles.

A big thanks to Bandai Namco Europe for providing us with a key for the review!