The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes

THE DARK PICTURES ANTHOLOGY: HOUSE OF ASHES (2021) is a really great installment to the series. I personally enjoyed this one more than Man of Medan.

The characters are all pretty interesting and some were compelling enough. They all had original personalities and back stories and I appreciated the (Non- Western / American) story of Salim as well, giving more depth to the geographic region the story takes place in.

"A group of American marines comes across an underground nest of pure, ancient evil while trekking through the Arabian desert."

As per my usual, I played this game with a group of friends and it thoroughly entertained us. While not super scary, it certainly held tension and offers a very cool story (and creature). Fun trying to make split second decisions and keep your characters alive. A great installment in the series!

Pros:

-Visual -Characters more well written than the others games of Supermassive Games

• Various QTE

-An interesting love story between Rachel, Eric and Kay -some of the characters have a real personnalities and make them lovable

• Some interesting secrets

-can be funny (most funny in the beginning when the scare is not there yet) -Dialogue (Fun, dramatic, opinion, build relationship) -some scenes in the cave can be quite anxious and have some tense moments (due to the proximity of the camera and a very close point of view of the character) -simple gameplay -Randolph Story -some memorables deaths that make us wonder the fair decision of our choices

Cons:

-An end that feel a little bit rushed and precipitated in the writing i mean

• too much actions (can be boring during these scenes)

-Some choices make us wonder of their real impact in the game (the impactful choices are just for to survive with a character thats all and not make him die)

• a beginning without scare or any mysterious ambience that make us wonder of the genre of this Video game

-Short -The story is not very complex and lack of depth -Characters well written but way too simple and already seen in other movies -simple gameplay: no new mechanics

• i found the story of the monsters not very interesting and the sci fi that their bring are not the most thrilling part in my opinion

The game also remember me a lot of the Descent, the movie. Can be entertaining but lack of complexity and should be more long.

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.

House Of Ashes is personally my favourite installment to derive from the Dark Pictures Anthology. It cleverly crafts its daunting antagonists, but also offers its five central characters depth and exploration. Like previous installments from the franchise, choices and actions determine your story, which the game extends on remarkibly, adding bigger want for replayibility. On the other hand, due to these decisions, some characters will never equally recieve the same likeability as others in one playthrough, resulting in desinterest for few players. As for the story, it has vastly inproved and contains great engagement into its chilling atmosphere even despite the odd campy dialogue scattered throughout. There is area for improvement, which I hope the next installment, 'The Devil In Me', follows through with. Either way, House Of Ashes is an 8/10 from me.