When The Darkish Footage Anthology was revealed, its promise was instantly apparent: Take the group that gave us the superb Till Daybreak and have it sort out new horror subgenres at a clip of about as soon as per yr. Outcomes have been blended throughout the 4 launched video games, however on a gradual upward trajectory that doesn’t falter with the newest effort. The Satan in Me is Supermassive’s newest slasher, and it outshines its predecessors–with a extra cohesive plot, best-in-series characters, and a little bit of intelligent gamification injected into the cinematic expertise.
The Satan in Me takes us to Chicago, first on the flip of the 1900s to introduce–or, for horror fanatics, extra seemingly remind us of–H.H. Holmes, typically dubbed “America’s first serial killer.” Holmes’ “homicide citadel” was the truth is a lodge that he had outfitted to function as extra of a maze of horrific contraptions that would make Jigsaw’s works appear like Mouse Entice. After a brief flashback, the sport jumps to the current day and follows an indie movie crew making a documentary about Holmes.
To their pleasure, they’re invited to a scale duplicate of the killer’s ghastly lodge that doubles as one thing of a museum the place they’re promised footage and unique background data. Because it seems, the curator of the grounds is lower than well-hinged himself–who may’ve guessed?–and what unfolds from there may be roughly 5 or so hours of high quality slasher materials.
Every sport within the sequence has put a well-recognized face in its small solid, and for The Satan in Me, it is Jessie Buckley, contemporary off the polarizing Alex Garland body-horror movie, Males. Whereas that might be known as “elevated horror” by those that just like the time period, The Satan in Me is–like all of The Darkish Footage–a extra conventional blood harvest, and it really works as a result of Supermassive understands that.
The Satan in Me solves for a lot of points its predecessors struggled with to various levels. Its characters are likeable, which hasn’t all the time been the case, and extra vital than that, they’re given time to breathe early on within the story. By the point their lives are threatened, I discovered myself caring for them for causes that went past simply eager to go the sport’s many quick-time occasions. The sport’s demanding determination factors carry extra weight consequently. It is one factor to unlock a Trophy for protecting everybody alive. It is extra fascinating and rewarding to persevere since you genuinely want them nicely.
The Satan in Me additionally expects you to remember what you’ve got discovered about every character in ways in which convey you nearer to them. One character’s bronchial asthma is used to nice impact a number of instances and in several methods, all the time demanding that I reminded myself of her ailment and understood how which may uniquely change any given life-or-death state of affairs for her. There are some actually intelligent kill scenes on this sport, and Supermassive continues to make them really feel truthful. An excellent horror story most likely would not see everybody surviving, so after I did lose characters, I used to be glad to really feel as if they have been my errors, not the results of murky win eventualities.
One other enchancment is available in how The Satan in Me unexpectedly takes a step again from the sequence’ usually stringent movie-like qualities. It is nonetheless a extremely cinematic sport the place the majority of the gameplay is available in making decisions with little time to suppose issues by and succeeding at blink-and-you’ll-miss-it QTEs the place failure usually means demise.
Nevertheless, there are just a few puzzles blended into this one which give it extra conventional gameplay, and there is selection in the way you clear up issues, like scavenging for objects which may save lives in some unspecified time in the future within the unknown future. Every character even has a number of distinctive objects, just like the audio technician having the ability to use a conveyable growth mic and headphones to listen to issues higher, or the digicam man who can {photograph} crime scenes to–ideally–turn into the cops when he survives.
The sequence took a half-step away from its movie-like origins with final yr’s Home of Ashes when it moved to a typical over-the-shoulder digicam, so this yr’s installment within the creepy sequence seems like the opposite half of that step, embracing extra video game-like qualities with out dropping its filmic intentions. Nevertheless, it is beginning to present its age. Given the visible feat that’s The Quarry, Supermassive’s 2K-published horror sport from earlier this yr, The Satan in Me is actually much less beautiful to have a look at, so it is laborious to return to The Darkish Footage’ less-detailed world. That is to not say it appears dangerous, however taking part in on PS5, solely the choice of a better framerate gave me the impression that the sport is current-gen. For its second season, The Darkish Footage would profit from a technical improve.
That is true not simply in the way it appears, however the way it performs. Easy actions like opening a drawer utilizing a lockpicking minigame newly seen on this newest sequel are nearly comically sluggish in how they break down actions right into a sequence of smaller actions. Opening a drawer, for instance, entails grabbing the drawer’s deal with, then pulling on it to search out that it is locked, then slowly equipping the unlocking gadget, utilizing it, then returning to a free hand, then pulling on the drawer once more. It makes me really feel like a laundry-folding robotic finishing up blatantly segmented instructions.
Typically hesitating is critical, like when your finest technique to outlive is definitely inaction, however these sluggish interactions are all too widespread. Supermassive needs to make its characters really feel weighty, and I believe that is the suitable name as a result of with it comes vulnerability, however there is a center floor that may salvage that obligatory vulnerability whereas nonetheless making the sport really feel higher to manage general.
Whereas this sequel would not repair these long-standing points, it does inform a greater general story than those who got here earlier than it. I’ve loved every of those video games to this point, however the Satan in Me actually has the very best lore of the sequence. As standard, you may miss quite a lot of that should you do not tread down peripheral pathways earlier than mainlining it to the following killing stage, however gamers who do discover themselves selecting up each frantic notice, police report, or cryptic recorder they’ll discover will come away with an added layer to the story that elevates it past a easy slasher. As a giant horror fan, I like that.
With so many branching pathways, I’ve discovered that some video games like this, even inside this sequence, can really feel disjointed by the tip, like the sport’s modular components aren’t all the time sufficiently versatile, and your ending can really feel prefer it comes out of nowhere consequently. Whereas I have never gone down each path, I used to be pleased to search out that this wasn’t in any respect the case in my time with the sport. A couple of lingering threads I left behind really feel extra like lore I neglected, whereas in previous video games, it was complete character arcs or motivations that usually had me scratching my head.
The Satan in Me is the very best sport within the sequence. Supermassive delivered an ideal script this day out, and whereas it is extra simple than some others that are likely to lean on a mid-game twist, it is not with out surprises. I strongly really feel the second season of The Darkish Footage each wants and deserves a technical overhaul, and I believe if that may align with one other story as enjoyable as this one, The Darkish Footage may have lastly achieved its full potential. For now, it is nonetheless climbing towards that peak, but it surely’s stepping into the suitable route.
