When Supermassive Games‘ formally announced Directive 8020, it looked more than just another entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology. With its official title deviating from the series’ typical naming convention, it seemed the developer was going in a new direction for the series. This looks to be the case according to a statement from the developer.
Does Directive 8020 tie in to previous Dark Pictures games?
Directive 8020 looks to be a new beginning for the series. In a recent Eurogamer interview with the game’s creative director Will Doyle, he explains that they do not want to be contained to the anthology format, or yearly releases.
“There is a mythology here [with The Dark Pictures] that this game expands upon, but we don’t want to contain ourselves to this being, necessarily, part five of the anthology,” Doyle says. “We don’t want to be tied down to a game every six months or one every year or anything like that. This game’s big, and we want it to be treated as such.”
While each of the previous Dark Pictures games have standalone stories, there always seems to be small story beats or Easter eggs that connects each entry. They also released annually, beginning with Man of Medan in 2019. The period between Directive 8020 and the previous Dark Pictures game The Devil In Me (2022) will be its longest without a release.
The most prominent connection between Dark Pictures games is the Curator, voiced by Pip Torrens and modeled after the late Tony Pankhurst. The host will be in Directive 8020, but possibly in a different way as Doyle teases the character’s return.
“He’s a mysterious guy, and we’re gonna have to remain mysterious about him for the moment,” Doyle says. “There is more to come on that.”
Doyle also mentioned there are Easter eggs in Directive 8020 that reference previous Dark Pictures games. However, he assures players do not need to play any of those games to enjoy the upcoming sci-fi horror game.
(Source: Eurogamer)
