The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is a survival horror interactive drama video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the third of eight planned instalments in The Dark Pictures Anthology series, following 2019's Man of Medan and 2020's Little Hope.

After playing the first game in this series, Man of Medan, despite some issues I enjoyed the game and was looking forward to where the story would go next. Little Hope, however, was rather disappointing, taking an interesting turn in the series but a rather dull result overall.

House of Ashes however has restored my hope in the series, the story is better, the characters are more fleshed out and interesting and there is a lot more action in an interesting and creepy environment. Visually the game is stunning, with detailed creatures and a realistic setting. Paired with great voice acting and a stellar performance from Ashley Tisdale.

Overall, I found this game to be the best so far in the series. And the next game looks promising too. Hopefully, it's onwards and upwards for this horror anthology.

I loved it, I thought it was a lot better than Little Hope and Man of Maiden. Definitely gonna be playing this one a lot more. Can't wait for The Devil in Me to come out, that one looks like it'll be good.

Originally I had completely trashed this game since I got the casual plot development, that is at the end of the day only one of the playable characters survived, and that unfolding made the game look like it lacked any spark or commitment.

However, after playing The Quarry, coming from the same SuperMassive Games, I felt kind of guilty for downgrading the House of ashes, so I decided to try another playthrough, instead this time I aimed for saving every playable character, resulting in a better plot.

Keep in mind it starts off pretty weak and slow, and despite the game's polished appearance, it is hindered by a feeble premise, a tediously monotonous setting throughout the entire playthrough and the ineffective long overused monster creatures that fail to evoke fear. Those are the major issues you need to be aware of.

While it is a much better game in Dark Pictures Anthology series compared to the previous 2, which were simply horrific, it still cements the dev's lack of commitment to produce something decent enough to stand next to the legendary Until Dawn. It seems these guys have settled for a mediocre level of quality and are not striving for anything better. Just like with the previous 2 instalments, they come up with a good concept but then ruin it.

As I unlocked more plot developments required for different achievements, the script variations slightly redeemed the whole thing, hence, if you want to get the most out of it, you better go for platinum.

1. It was fun, campy (the usual for Supermassive) and I never got bored.

2. Took me about 2-3 hours less than the new Resident Evil game.

3. Cost me half as much as the new Resident Evil game.

I say it's a win.

This third installment really shows the growth and love that Supermassive has given us horror fans. Man of Medan was fun, Little Hope had the best jump scares and House of Ashes is probably my favorite story line. The visuals and the ease of gameplay have really improved. I am never bored with these games and as an achievement hunter I played about 4 play throughs of this one to get 100 percent and honestly was sad that it was over. The others took a few more but that is not me complaining. As fun as it is to see the different outcomes, the other games seemed to give way less leeway when failed qtes came in to effect. House of Ashes definitely exceeded my expectations with the over all relationships, qtes and story. I also enjoyed that they added a difficulty level so that when I play with my friends that don't game as often, have an easier time keeping their character alive. This has become one of my favorite series and I cannot wait for the next one!