The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me (2022)

I will start this off by saying that I got the ending in which everyone died and I think that factored into my lack of full enjoyment of the game as it meant so much content was cut off from the early going and was unintentional on my part. I think that’s what particularly weakens the story for me in that it doesn’t feel fully fleshed out in playing the game that way but the elements I did get to find and learn of were interesting albeit a bit convoluted.

I feel like this was better than Man of Medan but those two are the only Dark Pictures Anthology games I’ve played so neither having given the franchise a good image in my eyes. I do like the premise of this instalment, feeling like a hybrid between various slashers and Saw and its execution is done decently well with certain traps, though the weakness of the characters take down the overall effectiveness of the traps and situations they find themselves in.

Both Man of Medan and The Devil in Me have a similar problem in that the characters aren’t all that memorable in comparison to other Supermassive Games’ projects outside of the Dark Pictures Anthology like Until Dawn and The Quarry. The larger scale of those projects allows characters to be more fleshed out and the action to take its time for it to begin to prioritise character introductions, which is something the Anthology can’t be entirely faulted for due to it being on a much smaller scale and budget, but it is noticeable. I only really began to want the characters to survive halfway through and even then it was only really Jaime and Kate as Charlie and Erin were already dead and Mark wasn’t all that interesting to me. While my ending was unintentional, the lack of interest in characters didn’t necessarily make me disappointed or upset by it.

As mentioned, there are some good elements to the game, mainly with the premise, the story that I was able to discover in my cut down play through, and certain sequences. But there’s an equal amount of negatives in how unsatisfying the plot feels by the end in how it feels little is wrapped up on the killer’s identity and backstory, the overall story (something that I will research more about after finishing this review) and characters that don’t matter to the player until too late in the story.

Like all horror games from Supermassive Games, it is best experienced in couch co-op with another person (or several). Once again, there is a great creepy factor, even if the game was a little unfair in some places with the decisions and quick-time events.

The story is interesting, and the background is loosely based on a true story. In my personal ranking, it comes before House of Ashes and Man of Medan, but Little Hope is still ahead.

All in all, it's a good conclusion to the first season of the Dark Pictures Anthology and definitely makes me look forward to the second season.

My spouse and I love the Dark Pictures series, and this one has been our favorite yet. The entire series has great stories and engaging characters. This one is no different. Something about it hits in just the right way. I'd say of the ones released thus far it's also been the most challenging. In a good way.

One of the best things about the series is the wonderful accessibility! The devs should be commended on making sure that all of us are able to enjoy their games, going so far as to update the first game in the series to have the same accessibility options. And it seems they only get better at it. Kudos!

Gonna be honest, I don't really like playing horror games and feel constantly afraid from a possible jump scare. It was really hard for me to play this game (I was hoping for a more chill horror game like the others from the saga) but i am really glad that i did! Really enjoyed the story and exploration! I am just a little disapointed about the constant crashes and bugs. Anyway, I was really impressed when i found out that it was based on a true story! Got chills everywhere! Anyway, RIP Jamie. But at least i saved the dog!!!

Did a video with more information if anyone is interested: https://www.tiktok.com/@rafa_darque/video/7188981184418827525?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7128377772225742341