The Dark Pictures is a horror anthology video game series, with The Devil in Me being the final game in the first season. When I played spin-off title, on-rails shooter The Dark Pictures Presents: Switchback VR, I got to experience two levels based off of this game. Due to how fun that part of the game was, I had some unfair expectations of what to expect here. Sadly, the game as it was, just couldn't live up to what I had created in my mind, so I couldn't help but be a little disappointed by the rather straightforward story to be found here.
A struggling true crime documentary film crew need something big for the final episode of their first season. They have decided to do an episode on H.H Holmes, America's first serial killer, but have to find an angle that will get them noticed. The shows director, Charlie (voiced by Paul Kaye - Anna and the Apocalypse), receives an email from a rich man named Granthem Du'Met, he tells Charlie that he has a fascination with the killer, and not only is his mansion built as an exact replica of H.H Holmes murder hotel, but he also is in the possession of several items that belonged to the man. Du'Met invites the director and his people to come stay at this island based mansion in order to use it in their episode. So Charlie and his crew, who include among them reporter Kate (Jessie Buckley - Chernobyl TV series), cameraman Mark (Fehinti Balogun), lighting technician Jamie (Gloria Obianyo - Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One), and intern Erin (Nikki Patel - Coronation Street TV show) head to the island. Things begin to get strange when their nervous host is seen hurriedly leaving the island on the only boat, and then Erin gets attacked by a masked assailant who has modelled themself on the style of H.H Holmes. Soon the crew discover the hotel is recreated a little too faithly, with the place full of booby traps designed to kill them. With a masked killer on the loose, and traps everywhere they turn, the group decide they must find a way to escape both the hotel and the surrounding island.
Coming off the high of House of Ashes, I had big hopes for this latest title, despite hearing that it wasn't as good. I would probably rank this up there with Man of Medan, it was perfectly fine, but wasn't amazing. Previous games have usually had some sort of big twist where it is revealed that things are not exactly as they appear to be. Because of this I was constantly second guessing what was happening, with wild theories running through my brain. It turned out however that it is exactly what it does seem to be this time around. The identity of the killer is revealed relatively early on, and I wouldn't say it is that exciting. Rather than have the killer be a proper character, they are only someone who appears as the style of slasher that is strong and silent, their backstory is revealed via clues found around the levels, items and letters, some of which trigger flashback cutscenes. Of the four titles released as part of season one, this was the most grounded. If it were a film it would have been a slasher, albeit one with a very low body count. Sustaining a five or six hour game around the idea of a serial killer was interesting, but it made some of this feel strangely threat free. Not that everyone survived. As always, the cast of five protagonists all have opportunities to end up dead, whether due to decisions made, or quick time events failed. By game's end, two of my five characters had been killed, both killed within trap rooms in the hotel.
I wish the protagonists had been more likeable, as it was, I found it hard to take them too seriously when they were all working for a low quality online true crime series. Charlie was the most interesting of the bunch, due to him having a bit of a dodgy vibe to him, unfortunately he was also the one I managed to accidentally kill off earliest, leading to one of the subplots indicating he may have been working with the killer falling a bit flat. Kate and Mark being ex-lovers had potential, but again, due to one of these characters accidentally being killed off, meant that their story didn't really progress anywhere interesting. That leaves Jamie and Erin who are secretly having a fling. I made them into my priority due to being the only characters left who felt like they had a goal outside of purely surviving the island. The antagonist was fine, but being silent, there wasn't much to them, though the tendency for them to create gruesome animatronics partly made out of body parts of previous victims was a nice touch.
As always, the game looked fantastic, with the characters all resembling their real life voice actors. The central hotel location was pretty decent, I enjoyed all the moments when characters manage to get 'behind the scenes' and search the killer's private locations in the building. There was also a fair amount set outside, with a large part of the second half of the game being set out in the rain. Being an interactive drama, there is a lot of walking around exploring locations, this was all mostly fun. There were plenty of chase sequences, and some of the quicktime prompts took me by surprise. It culminates in a fashion that felt right out of a slasher, so that part was fun. For me though, as stated earlier, I expected the story to be far more clever than it appeared to be, and it just wasn't. I will say that the prologue set in the 19th century, in which you play as a couple going to the actual World's Fair Hotel was neat, created a hope for the whole game to be set during that time period, even if that didn't end up being the case. Anyone who knows the real truth of H.H Holmes will know the murder hotel wasn't really an actual thing, something wildly exaggerated by the press of the time, so this prologue, as neat as it was, was a little distracting with its fabricated elements.
House of Ashes was the game that really drew me into Dark Pictures. These are games I would never pay full price for, but I think I am always going to be interested in seeing what comes next. While The Devil in Me was a step down from the highs of season one, it was still overall better paced than Little Hope, so I still have positive hope for the future of this varied horror series.
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