The Dark Pictures is on a fairly decent streak right now. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Man of Medan, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Little Hope, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:House of Ashes have all delivered distinct takes ❀on the horror genre, exploring vastly different locations and supernatural threats with an abundance of creativity. While the technical and narrative execution of each entry hasn’t been perfect, it’s hard to fault Supermassive Games for trying its hand at something so ambitious.
For a series like this the possibilities are endless, and provide the studio with an opportunity to explore horror in a landscape that few others are afforded. Knowing this, it’s a little underwhelming to learn that the next entry - The Devil in Me - seems to be riffing on the likes of Saw and Hostel instead of trying something more novel. All we’ve seen is a brief teaser trailer so far, and the full experience is bound to be more nuanced, but it isn’t the direction I expected or hoped for, and I 🧸pray future games are willing to surprise us rather than fall victim to horror archetypes we’ve seen time and time again.
This brings me to the topic of alien abductions. Sure, this is also a familiar story we’ve seen the genre use time and time again, but in the world of video games, the paranoia of being snatched away by the unknown remains unexplored. Alien: Isolation did it best, but that relied on an existing property to exemplify the terror of being pursued by the Xenomorph - it’s also more of a creature feature than an abduction story, but still, it understood the paranoia of being alone in a sprawling environme💖nt where you must try everything to defend yourself and survive. If you die, you must get back up and try again. The stakes are even higher in The Dark Pictures, a series that rightfully robs you of that privilege.
Make a mistake when controlling a character in The Dark Pictures and it could be your last. Huge actors are murdered in a matter of moments, cementing the weight behind your decisions and that failing to abide by the ga꧙me’s strict narrative rules has consequences. At first this sudden shift felt unfair, especially in Until Dawn and Man of Medan, but Supermassive Games has since refined its formula so you know when to be alert, when to be keenly aware of your surroundings so quick-time events can be perfected. Accessibility options have further ensured everyone can get out alive, and those who might struggle with disabilities or anxiety associated with horror can still enjoy games like this with few obstacles. With the formula advancing, it’s time for the subject matter to follow.
I’ve always had a fascination with extraterrestrials, largely thanks to a spooky documentary I saw as a child that had aliens walk leisurely into a suburban home and adopt an entire family in the closing moments. The name escapes me (The McPherson Tape?), but given I lived in the middle of nowhere in Wales, the act of an alien abduction felt very, very real to baby Jade. She was a fool, but this interest in the unknown has stuck with me, which explains why I’m so keen for The Dark Pictures to venture in such a direction. There’s so much potential here. Have a collection of cocky teenagers gather amidst a luxurious lake house for aꦦ long weekend of sex, drinking, and gossip. For the opening hours all should seem perfect, but subtle environmental details and small snippets of dialogue hint that something sinister is afoot. We’re alone in the wilderness, even with a roof over our heads.
Suddenly, unusual lights in the night sky begin to attract attention, while animal carcasses begin to appear in the neighbouring farmland that🐭 couldn’t have possibly been killed by human hands. Small instances like this will begin to instil a sense of paranoia until the pin finally drops. People start going missing, or acting strangely like the small bubble they’ve created on this picturesque weekend is beginning to fall apart. Much of the game wouldn’t be punctuated by 𒆙jump scares or character deaths at all, characters instead needing to interact naturally and piece together the unfolding mystery that dares to remain a secret until the very last moment. Few pieces of media have done realistic alien abductions like this right, and Supermassive Games is the perfect studio to break new ground.
There’s a short film in horror anthology V/H/S 2 that features a story just l✨ike this, with grey aliens preying on a group of unsuspecting victims over the course of a few days. We catch faint glimpses of them throughout, but the priority remains on watching its small cast of characters fall apart as they come to realise something is wrong. They can’t defend themselves - all they can do is cower in fear and keep one another company as an inevitable doom descends upon them. The Dark Pictures will offer avenues of escape, violence, or an ability to outsmart these supernatural creatures as we’re pulled into their grasp, but we’ll never feel in control, and that’s where the true horror comes from.
Finally some characters will end up on an alien ship, while others are forced to seek shelter and formulate a plan away from their eventual captors. You could fight back or run away, putting your own survival ahead of those who might already be doomed to oblivion. I like to think the aliens would be aware of our every move, choosing to toy with our cast until they decide to pull us into the sky and away from everything we hold dear. Stories like this also focus on one of horrꦍor’s greatest strengths, which is keeping the visual appearance of our monsters a secret until the most opportune moment. Alien abductions can rely on subtle environmental storytelling and creepy clues towards what’s to come instead of throwing everything at us, something The Dark Pictures has 🐟been guilty of in the past.
The Dark Pictures has achieved so much in the ye🌼ars since its inception, and I’d love to see its ex🍸ploration of horror continue to major beyond expectant jump scares and a cliched perspective on the genre. This could come in the form of an alien abduction or something completely different. Whatever it ends up being, I’ll happily go along for the ride.
