Pitting an already stressed out TV crew against a wannabe serial killer, The Devil In Me shares its ambition with its antagonist and it might be a fitting finale for the first season of the series. That being said, there's a possibility for this lofty goal to be its undoing.
Check out the trailer for the game here!
Lonnit Entertainment, comprising Charlie, Mark, Kate, Erin and Jamie, has been invited to Granthem Du’Met’s faithful replica of the infamous serial killer H. H. Holmes’ “Murder Castle.” Some bird-watch, some stamp-collect, and then there’s this guy with his hobbies. Anyway, it’s a chance that this down-on-their-luck documentary crew can’t refuse, however it soon transpires that Du’Met took a lot more inspiration from Holmes than just his taste in interior decor.
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The additions to this entry in the Dark Pictures Anthology are the ability to run, crouch and jump over obstacles - an important thing in any murder hotel - and the specific gameplay advantages that each of the characters have. Intern Erin (say that three times fast) has a microphone that can track sounds through the walls to identify a potential threat before they locate her. Jamie, on the other hand, is the chief grip and able to rewire fuse boxes and restore power to downed areas of the hotel. Is it the storm or is it the wannabe serial killer stalking the halls? It doesn't overly matter, really, all that matters is that she can fix it.
Our cameraman Mark uses his digital camera to collect evidence of the crimes carried out at the hotel, and Kate has a pencil that she can shade over scraps of paper to see the messages hidden underneath. And cantankerous Charlie Lonnit, the Lonnit Entertainment’s namesake, carries his business card at all times. You can't miss out on a moment to promote your work (rest in peace Charlie you would have loved Twitter)... or slide it into a lock and loot the goodies within.
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As the times in the chapters when you play each character are very structured, I'm seeing these abilities as less of a "play your way" feature and more of a "survive, else you'll be without a fix to switch the lights on and the killer's going to jump out and stab your manager." Using the premonitions in the pictures, too, this should help players work out what they should and shouldn't do in those moments, and place even more pressure on all of our characters’ survival. In previous Dark Pictures Anthology titles, sometimes it was enough that there was someone else there to haul the imperiled hero out of harm's way - this time, it might have to be Mark, or Charlie, or Kate, thanks to their specific skill.
Of course, three-quarters of the fun of a Dark Pictures Anthology experience is the (s)laughter all the way. Ha ha ha.
Man of Medan was a haunted shipwreck, Little Hope was all about witchcraft, House of Ashes uncovered an ancient curse - all of the games pull our favourite horror films and novels and melt it into a schlocky marvel, much like the love child of Willy Wonka and Eli Roth would do. Hypothetically.
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In our latest outrageous outing, The Devil In Me draws on true crime, classic slashers, the Saw series and Resident Evil, yet with its determinant dialogue, relationships and exploration systems, I imagine that there will be much more to sink our teeth into in the diverging outcomes. Remember the moment when you had to choose between Ashley and Josh in Until Dawn? I hope that we’ll be indulging in more of these moral quandaries. It's known that Supermassive's games are better shared, and as fun as it has been to accidentally screw over each other's characters in earlier chapters, placing two of them in immediate danger and asking another to seal their fate as the time ticks away might be an ideal evening's entertainment. Your mileage may vary.
The one thing it's got to nail is pacing. And I wonder, as I've only played a small slice of this game, if it's bitten off more than it could chew. There's something deliciously meta about a TV crew trapped in a murder hotel where said murderer watches them through camera, and you're the one directing these characters to their salvation or death.
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Those aforementioned traversal additions and the ability to explore the winding halls of the hotel might decelerate the scenes into a precarious suspense... or a frustrating stop-start when contrasted with the buttery-smooth scares of the cutscenes.
Additionally, I realised I was spoiled with the visuals of The Quarry and I was brought back down to Earth with a bump with the doll-like characters chewing their lines to a coarse paste. This is a preview and represents an earlier stage in the game’s development, so we will expect the graphics and gameplay experience to be improved in its final version. All in all, like a homicide detective leafing through case files in the dim light, poring over the evidence for a lead, there’s something special here. As a longstanding fan of the series, I hope that I reach the game’s conclusion satisfied with another case closed, and not staring down a jammy carcass of what made the other games so much fun.
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