The Dark Pictures: Little Hope - Review

“Hello… And Welcome. I don’t believe we’ve met before have we. No matter, welcome to my repository. I am The Curator.”

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope is the second game in The Dark Pictures Anthology. Does this game match Man of Medan in quality? Does it exceed it, or does it fall flat on its face?

Well, you are in luck. Little Hope is as close to a masterpiece in interactive cinematic gameplay as one could achieve. Little Hope takes you down a constantly changing, turning and unnerving pathway into this creepy world of Witch Trials, Visions into the Past and a town that seems to hold evil around every corner.

You are in control of a group of college students and their professor. Andrew, 18, an anxious and seemingly detached fresh adult. Andrew acts as the perfect empty shell character. He reacts like a real human in most interactions and allows the player to really put themselves into his shoes. Next we have Taylor, 22, a brash and headstrong character that out of the cast is probably the least enjoyable. This isn’t to say that she is a bad character, but of the cast her interactions are definitely the weakest and overall is a somewhat unlikable character.

Next is John, 43, the college professor. Rational, skittish and maybe a little overbearing, John is endearing almost instantly. Easily my favourite character of the cast, he is so human in his reactions, his struggles with feeling responsible for everyone, being the leader whilst also fighting his own fears really endears him. John goes through some of the biggest character development through. Our remaining characters, Angela, 48, and Daniel, 20, are two of the most interesting characters. Initially I had a dislike for both of them. Daniel was very much the John Everyman jock-like character, and Angela was a hard-headed, brash and nasty Karen like character.

Daniel grows to be a deeply empathetic character, a good middleman in most situations and easily relatable, becoming increasingly more relatable through the game. Angela reveals her insecurities and her pain through the game and in subsequent playthroughs I found myself really loving of her sarcasm and attitude, because of how aware I was of its origins. The cast of characters in Little Hope are light years beyond the cast of Man of Medan in quality. They are relatable, lovable, show great character development and come across as incredibly human. A great ensemble perfectly crafted for the experience in Little Hope.

Some of the big complaints in Man of Medan related to the lack of warning before QTE, a severe lack of atmosphere and lacklustre gameplay with clanky controls. Little Hope whilst a little intrusive at times with tutorial text, improves in all of these areas. Movement, bar very select segments in small areas, is wildly improved. These sorts of games tend to suffer from robotic janky movements. In Little Hope the character movement is generally fluid. Everything flows well, interactions with items feels good, and moving interacted items is accurate to input. Hugely improved.

The new indicators before a QTE, whilst I wasn’t a fan of at first, I became heavily grateful for as the game went on and there was quicker QTE responses required. A small tweak over the first game, but a much appreciated one and very handy.

What we really need to talk about is the atmosphere of Little Hope. This is where the game shines. The atmosphere from the moment you start the game is perfect. It’s eerie, it’s uncomfortable. It keeps you on your toes. The story of the game is uncomfortable. It’s unnerving, and the atmosphere the game produces further accentuates this. It builds your confidence with tropes not being acted on. Being able to cross rickety bridges without any event, but the music making you think something is coming. Heartbeat monitor sneaking sequences that pay off to just a Stranger on his bike, or a cat having knocked stuff over. It lulls you in, so when there is a scare, it really gets you. There is never a point in which you can truly feel safe, and it really gets the atmosphere of fear across.

The demons are incredibly well designed as well. They directly link to events of the game and make complete sense in relation to their related character. Without spoiling the demons, they are possibly some of the most unnerving creatures I’ve come across in a scary game, since the days of the first Silent Hill games.

What makes this game the masterpiece that I see it to be, is the story. Every decision invokes a completely different response. It can alter what happens. Across a few playthroughs I made slightly different interaction decisions and discovered completely new conversations between characters, discovered new scenes I hadn’t previously, saw characters die in ways I hadn’t previously. At times, the story can feel a little convoluted, but it always does a really good job of explaining things. The world is full of lore about the town, and why it is the way it is. Outside of the main cast of characters, there is very few other characters, attributing to wanting to ensure this cast gets along, because without them you have nothing.

The ending I got on my first playthrough, blew my mind. It is a mind-blowing ending, with almost no way to anticipate it coming. You could wrack your brain for the solid 8 hours it’ll take for a single completion and discover that you were nowhere near the mark, because of how well put together the story is. I cannot stress enough how important multiple completions are, to experience everything the game has to offer. Decisions made in the first few hours can have drastically dire consequences towards the end of the game. You can effectively ensure the death of a character in a very early decision and not be aware of it until the final sequences. The replayability in the game is huge. There is easily 30+ hours of game here for a completionist, and a solid 16 hours for a person who wants to see if they can save people they failed to the first time around.

However, I did have one gripe with the game. A small one, but I do have to mention it. There is QTE sequences where you have to aim a crosshair into a circle. This crosshair has some drift to make it a little bit harder to get it inside the crosshair. I failed a couple of these and found myself frustrated with the consequences. Particularly when some of the time for getting them is quite tight. The crosshair moves too slowly, and if you get a slight amount of drift, you can accidentally activate it without being aware that you are no longer inside the circle. It only happened a couple times, but it sort of took me out of the game. Particularly when the game makes a habit of auto-saving the instant you fail the action. Losing a character to one of these really bothered me. It wasn’t a bad decision made, it wasn’t a panicked response to the heartbeat sequences, it was just a poor design option. It’s a tiny thing, but one to be aware of. Try and ensure that your crosshair is always in the middle in the sections. I would have preferred another QTE input rather than this “aiming” style one. A small gripe, but one worth mentioning.

I spoke highly of the character interactions and the effects this has on the story, and I truly do believe it is incredibly well designed. However, some interactions… Defy logic. There is just really odd one-liners that come out, and then it snaps back. A character will be smiling after a joke they have made, and then suddenly they are sad faced and sombre. These are few and far between, but there needs to be a filler line between these events. They just prove to be a little jarring. Particularly when most of the characters seem ready to snap and bite each other’s throats out for the smallest thing.

On that, I didn’t really understand the emotional responses. Very rarely was an emotional response I would think valid in response. A playful or dismissive response, both of which result in a bad outcome in the interaction, just blow the mind. There is an option to say nothing, but there was never a single point in which I felt saying nothing was the correct response. It can be a little jarring at times.

In and all, I think the developers have really stepped up their game with Little Hope. It plays well, the atmosphere and sound design are fantastic. The characters develop and almost all of them are endearing in some way. I always felt connected to them. The Dark Pictures Anthology if it follows the groundwork laid down by Little Hope will be a series of interactive cinematic games that no person should pass up. Little Hope is without a doubt, one of the best versions of these styles of games to play. If you are looking for something to play, this is it.

The Score

9.0

Review code provided by Bandai Namco

The Pros

+Great atmosphere and Sound Design

+Incredibly relatable and human characters

+Great replay value

+A compelling story comparable to Psychological Thrillers

The Cons

-Unnecessary emotional responses

-Intrusive tutorial messages

-Difficult to move in small areas

-Crosshair QTE handles poorly