Directive 8020 review: Alien-inspired horror game can't transcend B-movie thrills

I was skeptical before playing Directive 8020, because I didn't think it had the power to surprise me. The pre-release marketing material all seemed to spoil what the main threat in the game is: an alien life form that can either corrupt, or mimic, you and your crew. And while that is true, I was not prepared for the rest of what the game had to throw at me.

Going into too much detail would consist of serious spoiler territory, but there's one key element to take away: if you're an Alien fan, there's a lot to love here. However, when it comes to the alien threat, it draws directly from H.P. Lovecraft, as opposed to anything reminiscent of a Xenomorph.

If you've played a game from Supermassive Games before, you know what to expect with Directive 8020. The UK-based developer is known for developing what are essentially interactive horror movies, such as Until Dawn, The Quarry, and all the previous Dark Pictures Anthology games. They all have a core mechanic in common: one wrong step or missed button press can result in the death of any playable character. And in this instance, you're in control of five characters aboard the Cassiopeia, a space-faring shuttle on a mission to scout out Tau Ceti f, a planet identified as potentially being humanity's next home.

As expected, though, things take a serious turn for the worse when a meteorite embeds itself in the ship. And despite your best efforts, circumstances don't get much better. This is a story about survival and perseverance. Throughout the game's roughly eight-hour runtime, your choices help develop the personalities of the crew, but the performances are, unfortunately, incredibly hit-and-miss.

For example, Young and Cooper, played by Lashana Lynch and Anna Leong Brophy respectively, deliver captivating, emotive lines. Oftentimes, the character they'll be conversing with will respond in a much less convincing manner, taking the shine away from a game that relies on its storytelling and character development.

Image: Supermassive Games via Polygon

A large portion of the game is made up of cutscenes as a result, and while previous games in the series have left the "playable" aspect solely to quick-time events (QTEs), on-foot exploration for items, and dialogue choices, Directive 8020 introduces pseudo-combat in the form of stealth sections.

This is mostly where the game falters, because while these parts are heavily inspired by mechanics such as evading the Xenomorph in Alien: Isolation and sneaking past clickers in The Last of Us, they're much more rudimentary. Playing these sections is akin to looking at the game's systems, and it means it's fairly immersion breaking.

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For example, you're given control of a character at the start of a stealth section, and the foe you must avoid is pottering around maybe 15 feet away. While crouching behind cover, you can spend as long as necessary watching and memorizing their exact pathing. Perhaps there's a second route, though, where you may find a collectible or mandatory power switch to open the door at the other end of the room.

Image: Supermassive Games via Polygon

The immersion falls apart as soon as you head to this other area of the room, because the enemy will somehow know you've moved, despite never seeing you, and it will start patrolling this different section. So you can gamify it by going in one direction and passing the invisible trigger point to cause the enemy to leave the main path, then turning around and sprinting past them because they're still locked into exploring the other area.

That said, as long as you nail a single-button QTE if you're caught, you can escape the enemy's grasp anyway. Once you realize this, the lack of proper combat and unkillable foes become a cakewalk, which is a shame, because atmospherically, they're implied to pose a real threat. Skulking around this slowly decaying spaceship, while this alien lifeform envelops every visible surface and turns the entire hull into its breeding ground? I'm here for it. But Directive 8020’s ultimate toothlessness undercuts the tension.

Image: Supermassive Games via Polygon

If you do lose a character — there are 44 possible death scenarios in total, the most in any Dark Pictures game to date — it's not the end of the world. You can rewind to pivotal moments whenever you like thanks to the introduction of "turning points," so exploring every eventuality and consequence no longer requires replaying entire episodes. This means it's way easier to finish the game with every character still alive, but if you fancy that challenge like in previous games in the series, a separate survival mode removes that freedom.

Where games such as Alien: Isolation thrive by giving the player control and subsequently heighten the horror and tension, Directive 8020 doesn't reach that same level of terror. It's glaringly obvious when you're safe from any potential threat, because even the stealth sections are broken up with constant cutscenes between every room. There's the odd jump scare, but even then, you know it's all set dressing.

There are other minor inconsistencies and bugbears that prevented my time with Directive 8020 from being as positive as I was hoping for. On two separate occasions, I unknowingly skipped an interaction because I knew what the game was asking me to do next, softlocking myself out of progressing. This was easily fixed with a rewind, thanks to the turning points, but frustrating until you realise that's what's happened.

Image: Supermassive Games via Polygon

You can also converse with absent crew members via text, which is excellent for learning more about each character, but in turn, when you then control the character you were texting, it bugs out and redoes the same conversation you've already had... except you'll be texting from the point of view of the character you were playing as before. (If you miss a text conversation, two characters may have it much later on, too, when it isn't applicable to the ongoing events in the game anymore.)

These small inconsistencies mean Directive 8020 doesn't hit all of its marks. In terms of the setting and plot, along with some late-game story beats, this is arguably the most interesting Dark Pictures game yet. Mechanically, with the stealth sections, it's also the most ambitious. However, in both areas, it also feels like untapped potential — a missed opportunity for the series to prove it's more than just a B-movie in video game form.

Directive 8020 will be released May 12 on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PlayStation 5 using a prerelease download code provided by Supermassive Games. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.