Back in August, we were invited to take part in the hands-off preview for the Season one Finale of The Dark Pictures Anthology. The Devil in Me is the last of the season, developed by Supermassive Games and Published by Bandai Namco, and now, we’ve been given the opportunity to play about an hour’s worth of the game as part of their press review.

While the hands-off session was creepy, and you can read about that here, actually having a chance to play a press release was absolutely haunting, and I often found myself wanting to nope my way out of continuing with the title. Something is unsettling about wandering through dark and dusty hallways with nothing but a flickering flame to guide your path or the slight glimpse of something moving in your peripherals.

The story follows a film production crew after they are invited to experience a recreation of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes’ World Fair Hotel, more affectionately known as the Murder Castle once its secrets had been revealed and Holmes was convicted. Hidden Passages, trap doors, vats of acid, and all manner of strange and dangerous contraptions accounted for at least 27 deaths, though it is rumoured there were many more. Struggling to gain any traction with their American Serial Killer docu-series, the Lonnit Entertainment film crew jumped at the chance to film a documentary about one of the cruellest serial killers in American history, and what better way to do it than in a one-for-one replica of his business.

I mentioned in my hands-off preview write-up that the development team had worked tirelessly to recreate the hotel in digital form, perfecting shadows, torn wallpaper, and sinister lighting effects. They wanted to push home the feeling of the film crew being isolated, and that same feeling is pushed onto the player taking control of the characters as the experience switches from one perspective to another. Even while sitting at my PC with all of my lights on, I still felt like someone was standing right behind me, breathing down my neck.

Supermassive Games have really listened to players when developing this title, allowing for extra mobility, more freedom in exploring, and tools with which you can attempt to unlock the secrets of the Murder Castle while attempting to keep the crew alive. Players can now climb or duck under obstacles, run and jump, or use tools specific to each character, amongst the numerous ones you’ll find along the way, but being a pre-release, there were a number of small issues I encountered, and I truly hope these don’t translate into the release.

Plugging in my trusty Xbox controller, I set to work moving around, exploring every nook and cranny the hotel had to offer, collecting as much evidence as I could, and solving the puzzles The Devil in Me had to offer. Items and locations of interest were highlighted on the screen, with handy prompts telling me which buttons I needed to press to interact with them, though I found the stock camera controls to be a little more sensitive than I would have liked, particularly when trying to focus in a way that allowed me to interact with smaller details. Fortunately, this could be adjusted using the settings menu, which also happened to contain a lovely little surprise.

They’ve included some features that I really appreciated, and I’m sure many others will as well. Being a thriller-themed interactive narrative, you could imagine that things will get quite tense while playing through the story and trying to keep up with what button you need to press during a certain event.

If you’re the type of player who would prefer to experience the story without having to worry about the consequences of your miss-clicks, the Accessibility option in the menu has you covered, allowing you to adjust the settings so that performing an action only requires a single button, holding a button down will complete a button-mashing sequence, or even going as far as turning off the timer for quick-time events. Supermassive Games want everyone to be able to experience their stories at their own pace.

Drawing inspiration from real-world events and cult classic films such as The Shining, The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me is set to be the most gruesome story in the series to date. The hour-long experience I had with the press release was enough time to know that there are many more horrific things to come, and if I can talk them into it, I know the perfect person to review it once the full release drops.

Written by: Mathew Lindner