Directive 8020 Enhances Gameplay, Putting The Stealth (And Scares) In Players Hands
I’ve been a massive fan of Supermassive games since Until Dawn and with every new title iterating on gameplay, scares, and ways to experience the horror with my friends, I was very excited to sit down and get my hands on a small portion of Directive 8020 and talk with Executive Producer Dan McDonald.
My gameplay demo began with a tense but hopeful conversation between a new astronaut Young talking with her mission direction Stafford. During the conversation there are hints about the declining state of the world, how Young’s father died four years prior, and that they would be ready to head to the stars once again to visit a planet that could inhabit life.
McDonald explained to me that this mission is one to visit and gather information about this new planet and how it might be habitable. The plan is to just fly by, but one thing leads to another and the crew needed to land.
After watching the cutscene, a discussion that McDonald said would continue to be flashed back to over the course of the story, the gameplay demo leapt ahead to Chapter 6 of the 8 Chapter story.
Friends Or Enemies You Can’t Trust
Two Astronauts, Sermon and Stafford, were in the hydroponics lab aboard the spaceship. Canisters were broken and a strange organism was growing over them. From the darkness a humanoid figure steps forward, a perfect clone of one of the Astronauts until his face ripples unsettlingly.
Attacked by not just one, but two clones (one of which shapeshifts into a horrific alien creature), I was in control. Playing as Sermon, I was skulking around the service tunnels underneeth the main hydroponics area. The giant hunter seeking me out, I was able to try to crouch walking by it to make my escape.
Failing that I was thrown into a QTE, quickly mashing the X button I was able to turn my stun baton on the creature and get away while it writhed in pain. The Stun Baton was a multi-use weapon with a brief recharge (luckily, it charged again in time before I needed it once more).
In these tunnels, there were also other options to distract or make my way past the creature. Running was an option, but McDonald also showed me that there were a variety of interactable objects that could take the Hunter’s attention as well as a radar system that allows the player to briefly see the creature through walls.
Shortly after escaping, the two astronauts returned to the rest of the crew with a new fear that one of the party members was not what they seemed.
While the horror of other Dark Pictures games from Supermassive have been about a very recognizable foe, the thought of an enemy that could be one of the players (even one being played by a character) is a fantastic approach to horror. As well as being inspired by The Thing McDonald highlighted other sources such as Event Horizon, Alien, and specifically called out the purples and greens to add that eerie Color Out Of Space vibe to the game.
While I didn’t see too much, what I did see spoke wonders about the game. After getting to play through the game and understand more of the tense nature of the plot I got to talk with McDonald more about gameplay elements, multiplayer, and how the shift away from only walking and reactions to active stealth and combat will remain accessible to all skill levels.
An Overall Upgrade
In terms of gameplay all of the movement has been overhauled to align with a more traditional 3rd person horror title. McDonald highlighted the experiences working on Devil In Me, specifically the clamber mechanic, with how they could continue to reshape their movement.
It’s not just movement related to stealth that’s been improved either as changes have also been made to allow for more puzzle systems to be used in the game.
Highlighting a few of the choices that were made over the course of gameplay McDonald pulled up a detailed path showing where events you encounter are intended, and where they can split. He explained that with every choice you make you can then easily revert back to the choice right before.
They wanted to make sure that anyone playing the game could play it in a linear fashion, or they could go back through and retry choices over and over again to get the whole scope of the game without needing to replay it from scratch.
Another important change was that instead of building the game for a three act structure, like a movie, instead each chapter followed the structure of a TV show episode. Understanding that as their games were becoming larger and more involved, it would be harder for players to complete them in a single sitting. By swapping to an episodic structure there are more places for players to conclude a single session, but be excited to pick up when the story continues.
Accessible To Everyone, No Matter Your Skill Level
The last important piece of information that I got about Directive 8020 was that Movie Night mode is not only returning but has been improved. Movie Night, a mode where each character in the story can be assigned to a different player in your party, now functions not only with local play but over the internet, creating a fun group experience.
Additionally, while the game was becoming more mechanically complex in Movie Night mode you can adjust the difficulty and accessibility per player. This means someone who is familiar with video games and the Dark Pictures games can have normal QTE timing and stealth modes, while the senses of the Hunter can be turned down for a player less familiar with the controls.
As a game series that I love to play with friends of all different skill levels I was so happy to hear that a custom experience could be created to allow for everyone to have just as fun a time.
Directive 8020 is certainly one of the most anticipated releases for me coming out to Summer Game Fest and with the developments to the gameplay, and the understanding of the audience and wanting to include as many players as possible the team at Supermassive have really demonstrated an understanding for fans of their games.
Directive 8020 was previewed at Summer Game Fest 2025.
