The Dark Pictures Anthology

The Dark Pictures Anthology is an anthology series of interactive drama survival horror video games developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The series premiered with Man of Medan in 2019, which is followed by Little Hope (2020) and House of Ashes (2021).

The Dark Pictures Anthology
Series logo
Genre(s)Interactive drama, survival horror
Developer(s)Supermassive Games
Publisher(s)Bandai Namco Entertainment
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
First releaseMan of Medan
30 August 2019
Latest releaseHouse of Ashes
22 October 2021

Games

As of 2019, the series was planned to consist of eight games, of which three have been released.[1] The upcoming fourth game, The Devil in Me, is planned to be a finale of the first "season" of the anthology.[2] In February 2022, Supermassive Games filed trademarks for five potential future entries.[3]

Season 1 (2019–2022)

Season 2

In February 2022, Supermassive Games registered five different game titles and logos for The Dark Pictures Anthology series (and one potential spin off), suggesting these could be season two.[6] [7]

  • The Craven Man
  • Directive 8020
  • Intercession
  • Winterfold
  • Switchback
  • Presents: O Death

Common elements

The games in the series are horror-themed, and have players making decisions for their characters and watching their consequences play out. The games have support for co-operative multiplayer play, where each player controls one character.[8]

All games are linked through The Curator, a character present in each installment who introduces each individual story and occasionally converses with the player in his mysterious and strange place called The Repository.

Development

The series is developed by Supermassive Games. In 2020, publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment described the series as difficult to market as a series, as it was called an "anthology" while only having one entry; they considered it a long-term investment, that they thought would make more sense to players and would get a larger audience as more games become available.[9]

Reception
Aggregate review scores
Game Metacritic
Man of Medan (PC) 75/100[10]
(PS4) 69/100[11]
(XONE) 69/100[12]
Little Hope (PC) 73/100[13]
(PS4) 71/100[14]
(XONE) 65/100[15]
House of Ashes (PC) 73/100[16]
(PS4) 74/100[17]
(PS5) 72/100[18]
(XSX) 74/100[19]

During its debut week, Man of Medan was the third best selling physical game in the UK,[20] and the best selling in EMEAA territories,[lower-alpha 1][21] and reached one million copies sold worldwide after a year on sale.[9] Little Hope's physical sales for its first week in the UK were 47% lower than Man of Medan's; GamesIndustry.biz commented that this may in part be due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a larger number of players buying digital versions of video games than in previous years.[22]

Notes
  1. Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia

References
  1. Murray, Sean (15 July 2019). "Man Of Medan Will Be First Of Eight In Dark Pictures Series, Will Introduce Multiplayer". The Gamer. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  2. Yang, George (21 October 2021). "The Next Dark Pictures Anthology Game Has Been Revealed". GameSpot. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  3. "Supermassive Games trademarks multiple new Dark Pictures titles". Destructoid. 1 February 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  4. Gerblick, Jordan (8 July 2020). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope gets a new trailer and October release date". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  5. Yang, George (30 October 2020). "House of Ashes, Third Entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology, Releases in 2021". The Escapist. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  6. Nelson, Will (31 January 2022). "'The Dark Pictures Anthology' potential season two titles and logos registered". NME. Retrieved 10 February 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. "EUIPO Search Query: "THE DARK PICTURES"". European Union Intellectual Property Office. Retrieved 01/05/2022.
  8. Bolding, Jonathan (31 October 2020). "House of Ashes is the next Dark Pictures Anthology game, here's the trailer". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  9. Dealessandri, Marie (13 August 2020). "Bandai Namco: How long can we sustain working with independent studios?". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  10. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  11. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  12. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  13. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  14. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  15. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  16. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  17. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  18. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  19. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  20. Dring, Christopher (2 September 2019). "PlatinumGames scores first UK No.1 with Astral Chain". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  21. Handrahan, Matthew (6 September 2019). "Supermassive Games' The Dark Pictures tops EMEAA chart". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  22. Dring, Christopher (2 November 2020). "Soft opening week for Watch Dogs Legion and Pikmin 3 | UK Physical Charts". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
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