The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me

The Dark Pictures Anthology continues to deliver intriguing stories told through a well-written narrative. Only this time, it feels like we have even less control over the flow of the story. Whether the controls are to blame, weird choices or an even more present army of bugs and glitches, The Devil in Me remains an excellent addition to the franchise, but the next one should be better.

The Devil in Me is certainly the best game of The Dark Pictures Anthology thanks to its antagonist, to this hotel full of traps and a scarier experience than before. At the same time, this episode has the same flaws than its predecessors.

The captivating story is what keeps The Devil in Me going, thanks in part to the atmospheric setting. Were it not for the fact that the characters can be a bit annoying on their own and that it does start to feel a bit outdated technically. It's a more than fine game on its own that gently tries to offer a bit more interactivity, making it enjoyable. At the same time, though, it is time for innovation and improvement in several areas.

Easily the best of The Dark Pictures anthology series, with a horror story that is deliciously chilling, surprisingly well acted, and far more interesting to play than its predecessors.

While staying true to The Dark Pictures franchise, The Devil in Me attempts to innovate by incorporating an inventory system and characters with real-world expertise. By taking on America's first serial killer, the game manages to instill an interesting vibe with its "Castle of Murders." Unfortunately, and although we are curious about the fate of each of the protagonists, the title struggles to convince completely. The story takes a long time to start, the pace is a little too slow – despite some nice finds – and we feel little empathy for the characters, stereotypical as possible. If we add a gameplay that accumulates clichés seen and reviewed, The Devil in Me does not have the content of The Quarry or even of a House of Ashes. Despite everything, the formula works thanks to the place inspired by a real event and a finale rich in tension.

The Devil in Me is an enjoyable horror experience, particularly with friends, but definitely not a step forward in the series.

The Devil in Me gives us more of the compilation's typical gameplay. However, its visual aspect feels neglected, and its story takes several hours to start.

The Devil in Me brings a very uneven first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology to a close, and I’m left a little ambivalent from the experience. I enjoyed all four of these games to some extent, and I’m curious as to what they’ll do with the next game, Directive 8020. But it’s clear after playing The Devil in Me that Supermassive needs to give these games a little more breathing room. While it’s certainly impressive that they’ve maintained a yearly release schedule for the Anthology, games like The Quarry show that these experiences could be made so much more. I genuinely hope that The Dark Pictures one day become truly great horror games rather than just novelties.

Compared with the previous episodes, The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me doesn't seem so special, old problems are still there. what's more, its selections and plot are bad, which may greatly affect players' experience. Therefore, I think it is the worst episode of the series so far, and it's not a good end to the first season.

The Devil in Me is the best installment in the series, but its technical problems keep taking away from the otherwise good horror.

The Devil in Me is like the first season of The Dark Pictures: perfectible. If some ingenious shots attest to the developers' love for horror cinema, the stiffness of the facial animations and the lack of relief of the characters prevent any form of empathy, even in the face of a choice with irremediable consequences.

By tentatively introducing new concepts, The Devil In Me at least sets up an exciting cliffhanger for a second two, where we hope to see their potential fulfilled. [Issue#380, p.118]

Supermassive Games’ The Devil in Me lays some new ideas for the Dark Pictures franchise’s future. While well-intentioned, the implementation of these new gameplay ideas isn’t quite there yet. Lacklustre new mechanics and a bloated runtime do more harm than good. The Devil in Me would’ve been better off as a shorter, more refined experience. Great visuals, a solid cast, and a fun slasher premise can only take it so far.

After Supermassive Games promised us an anthology that celebrated all the different kinds of horror out there, what they’ve given us instead is a stagnating series of sequels. Do I hope The Dark Pictures continues? Yes. Very much so. I still believe we need an anthology of horror in the vein of Cabinet of Curiosities to explore a wider range of horror in video games. But come the second “season”, Supermassive Games needs to start delivering an anthology.

Horror games, at their very core, are all about the fear factor. Developer Supermassive Games did a fantastic job of sustaining the unpleasantness in certain sequences, but couldn’t maintain it for the entire length of the game. I come away from The Devil in Me with a new-found fear of seeing button prompts pop up at every available opportunity. That being said, there’s still a lot to like about this game, particularly if you’re a fan of the previous instalments. I particularly enjoyed the different modes available. There’s a single-player mode which offers different perspectives, as well as a multiplayer mode if you’re not feeling particularly brave that day.

The Devil in Me is another competent and enjoyable enough entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology, but it fails to reach the heights of House of Ashes or even Little Hope. With a lot of potential squandered, it's left to the familiar gameplay loop of past instalments to deliver a robust title. With some new features, the season one finale offers just enough to make the deadly trip worthwhile for fans.

While we felt like we had less agency and influence as a player than in earlier chapters of The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Devil in Me is still a worthy addition to the Curator's library – and our own. While we appreciate the experimental nature of the chapter, the direction of creative travel did worry us at times. However, there's no denying that Supermassive is still the best at what they do, and we look forward to season 2 of The Dark Pictures Anthology, and beyond.

The Devil in Me served as a pretty poor ending for the first "season" of The Dark Pictures Anthology. Mobility mechanics and inventory management were fine additions, but they did little to elevate the game and mostly made it apparent that somewhat basic things like that were absent from previous installments. The next Dark Pictures game awaits regardless of the pitfalls of this one, however, so hopefully, Season 2 will be off to a better start than the end of Season 1.

The final title in the first season of this anthology is a mediocre experience worth trying, but one you'll probably only feel the need to go through once.

The Devil in Me disappoints as the finale of The Dark Pictures anthology's first season and proves that Supermassive Games still can't successfully replicate the success of Until Dawn. The gameplay model is now seven years old and needs a major overhaul. Without it the second season may be just as average.