If you've already burned through all the best space horror games available at the moment, don't worry, as The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020 is entering our orbit in the not-too-distant future.
First unveiled in 2022 with a post-credits teaser at the end of The Devil in Me, Directive 8020 will be the fifth installment of the Dark Pictures anthology series and marks Supermassive Games' first venture into outer space. It seems greatly influenced by horror classics such as The Thing and Prometheus, and while there's a real risk of it turning out a bit too derivative, we're excited to see what Supermassive can pull off with this sci-fi horror adventure.
Want to grow your wishlist as we look at 2025 and beyond's biggest releases? These are the upcoming space games you should keep an eye on. We've also got franchise-specific video game lists for all the big names, including Alien, Star Trek, Warhammer 40K, and Star Wars.
Directive 8020 release date
As far as we know, Directive 8020 has been in development for over two years, with full production likely kicking off after The Devil in Me launched in late 2022.
For now, all we know is that Directive 8020 is slated for a 2025 release window, which gives Supermassive plenty of time and space to polish the game before it launches.
The waits between past Dark Pictures installments were noticeably shorter, but Directive 8020 is meant to start Season 2 of the anthology series and introduce a more ambitious approach to the moment-to-moment gameplay — on top of a switch to Unreal Engine 5 — which explains why Supermassive is taking extra time with this one.
Directive 8020 platforms
Directive 8020 is confirmed to be releasing on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5.
Directive 8020 — and season 2 of The Dark Pictures Anthology as a whole — will be leaving the past generation of consoles behind as it finally transitions into Unreal Engine 5, which allows for denser visual details and improved illumination across all characters, objects, and locations, but also far more complex level structures and overall game design. That means it won't be showing up on the Xbox One or PS4.
Directive 8020 trailers
Marketing will surely ramp up in the coming months, but for now, only one Directive 8020 trailer has been released to the public. It arrived on August 20, 2024, during Gamescom 2024, and it introduced both the game's protagonist and the basic premise (as well as the spooky tone).
Watch it below:
We'll keep this article updated with more trailers and gameplay previews as they come.
Directive 8020 plot & setting
Straight from Supermassive Games and physical distributor Bandai Namco, here's the official plot synopsis for Directive 8020:
"Hunted by an alien organism capable of mimicking its prey, the crew of the Cassiopeia must outwit their pursuers to make it home alive. To help them survive, the choices you make are more important than ever! Evade real-time threats where any step could be your last. Decide who to trust in a world where anyone could be a deadly alien impostor."
The developers have described the new game as "The Thing in deep space" in the past, which signals the studio is wearing its influences proudly rather than shying away from space-themed horror movies we all know and love. As for the setting, the main location is Tau Ceti f — a real exoplanet in the Tau Ceti star system.
In an interview with FandomWire, we learned that in the timeline of the game, the Earth is dying and the Cassiopeia is a reconnaissance ship sent out to explore potential new homes for humanity. "Of course, as this is a Supermassive Games story, things don't go to plan, and your crew ends up crash landing. This is where their expertise, relationships, and trust are truly tested." Creative director Will Doyle also teased that all characters can die, with the story moving forward in a similar fashion to what happened in previous Dark Pictures entries.
We expect more light will be shed on both the plot and cast of characters as we approach its mysterious 2025 release date. For now, only Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel, 007: No Time to Die) has been confirmed to star as Brianna Young, an astronaut and pilot who serves as the main protagonist. That said, expect more playable characters like in past Dark Pictures games.
Directive 8020 genre & gameplay
While past Dark Pictures installments already gave players some degree of direct control over the characters, Directive 8020 plans to take things a bit further, giving players total control. That means fewer 'quick-time events' to get out of dangerous situations and more abundant 'hands-on' sections that land closer to classical survival horror titles than the studio's past narrative-centric games.
"That said, it is still very much a narrative game! Everything you love about Dark Pictures is still present: cinematic sequences and pacing, QTEs, meaningful choices, secrets to find, and narrative branching," said Doyle. Past Dark Pictures games (as well as several other Supermassive-developed titles) were defined by their unique brand of flexible and highly replayable cinematic storytelling, ideal to approach as an 'interactive horror film night' with friends, and Directive 8020 isn't dropping all that despite its evolution.
