The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me - Review

The Devil In Me is the fourth and final entry of the first season of Supermassive Games’ cinematic horror games. One that does away with the far more supernatural and cosmic parts of previous games and attempts to capitalise on the modern day fascination with true crime, and in particular, Serial Killers.

The Devil In Me takes place in the modern day, in a recreation of H. H. Holmes world famous Worlds Fair Hotel, or as it was later christened upon the discovery of his grisly crimes; the ‘Murder Castle’. Unlike previous entries, The Devil In Me has strayed away from the ideas of curses, supernatural horrors and cosmic horrors beyond the human understanding. Instead it focuses on what is truly the most horrific thing in most people’s minds. The human monster.

In a preview earlier this year, I got to go hands on with one of the early chapters in the game and was interested to see the differences that occurred to get to this point. A smart inclusion is the opening chapter of the game. As it common with these cinematic horror experiences, the opening chapter takes place outside of the main game and has a fixed ending; designed to lead you to an understanding of the content and what the gameplay itself will involve.

The opening sequence consists of the a couple of honeymooners checking in to the World’s Fair Hotel; the infamous murder castle of H. H. Holmes. A short 15 minute section sets the tone for the overall game. A hotel filled with movable walls and rooms, a series of traps and dangers, as well as the most terrifying of monsters, a human danger. Nothing mystical or magical, just a man with the ability to kill.

The touch of reality that is given with the opening sequence is somewhat betrayed by the remainder of the game. The antagonist, Granthem Du’met is far less of a terrifying figure and more of a bizarre figure piece for a gross misunderstanding of criminal profiling. Whilst The Devil In Me attempts to paint a strong narrative, with key world elements explaining the transformation of a person into the would-be Holmes incarnate of Du’met; it’s almost forced attempt of humanising the figure betrays the overall theme.

There is series of information littered through the game that talk about childhood abuse at the hands of an overbearing mother, which is common attributed to the creation of many serial killers. For true crime buffs however, The Devil In Me falls short in truly articulating the truth of the situation. It would have proved to be far more effective and true to the style of The Dark Pictures series to remove the human and steeped in real world logic; and use the existing idea of supernatural themes throughout the series. More literal use of the idea of ‘The Devil’ would have accentuated the supernatural idea and given them an out from attempting to be so dramatically true to the overall story.

Further to this, the fetishisation of H. H. Holmes’ and serial killers as a whole is a bizarre step for the series. Rather than attempting to stay true to an audience, The Devil In Me is likely to ostracise those who enjoyed previous entries and is unlikely to attract in many people who will stick with the series going forward. As the game that is meant to be the climax of the first season of games, The Devil In Me falls very short of previous entries.

Filled with a cast of largely unlikable characters, the idea is the development and growth that these characters would go through in a high stakes and high tension environment. Instead we get half baked back stories, seemingly missing segments of development and only a few characters who remain truly likable throughout the experience. Mark and Charlie are the two characters I found most enjoyable throughout the experience. For the most part, Mark is the character you will play the most alongside Jamie, and this is smart. Mark is easily the most enjoyable character. Problematically, Charlie and Mark experience the fewest number of danger sequences and as a result their sections feel far less horrifying.

The most interesting aspects of the game come in the form of news articles and recordings of Hector Munday (an FBI agent referenced throughout the game) being talked to by the ‘Beast of Arkansas’ and his talking about his crimes. Interestingly, this is an inclusion that is both accurate and inaccurate in the same vein. Most killers will talk about their kills, but not in such a perverse way as the Beast does. The interviews themselves however paint a stark idea. They give leverage to the idea of a ‘honey-pot’ or in this case the recreated Murder Castle. They run on a bit longer than they should and splitting them up more throughout the game would have been a far more enjoyable experience.

On the point of things running long, the sequences in the game are offensively over padded. Whilst there is a few chapters that are shorter, most exploration sections are filled with empty space, a lack of collectibles and seem to drag on. After learning early on that you aren’t really in much danger in these sections, these serve as little more than padding for a game that realistically isn’t going to take you longer than six or seven hours on a first playthrough. Difficulty settings are linked to the speed at which QTEs expire, and I couldn’t find them making anything much more difficult. Quick Time reaction being linked to difficulty is a pretty weak attempt at extending gameplay, as reaction speed is a poor judge of skill in most single player narrative games.

There are moments of success through-out. The chase sequences in the end game are exciting, but don’t ever feel that dangerous. The real problem is that most choices feel very obvious. The previous titles have done a good job of making it difficult to work out what the correct response to a situation would be for survivability. There was only one section where I had a character die due to a previous action choice. Problematically as soon as I was in the death sequence I knew exactly what the correct option should have been. One that makes very little sense, but it was starkly obvious. This seems to be a dramatic step backwards from previous titles and I would encourage the developers to go back to a much more illusive choice system in terms of success.

The Devil In Me is an unfortunately weak close to the first season of the Dark Pictures series. A cast of weak characters, a straying from the themes of previous titles that made them a stronger experience. A lack of understanding of the topic at play, which is likely to upset many ‘true crime buffs’. There was a chance here to make a far more trap heavy, danger around every corner experience. Instead we’ve got a very streamlined experience, with a horrifically uninspired cast, poor dialogue and a generally tepid horror experience. There are sections of smart set design, but they are far and few between. The Devil In Me is a decent one off experience, and may be fun for a couch night session with friends; but truly lacks the essence of the series.

The Score

5.0

Review code provided by Bandai Namco

The Pros

+Charlie is redeemable

+Inclusion of tools for environmental interaction is interesting

+The Curator is always cool

The Cons

-Genuinely boring antagonist

-Poor story development that feels disjointed

-Generally unenjoyable cast of characters

-Real World Crime does no favour for this style of game