Coding Horror in Supermassive’s Interactive Nightmares
A Story of Monsters and Madness: A Dive into Horror Subgenres
Tags: #SurvivalHorror #TheDarkPicturesAnthology #SupermassiveGames #ManOfMedan #LittleHope #HouseOfAshes #TheDevilInMe #HorrorTropes #InteractiveHorror #Videogames #JasonAndSalimBestBromance
In the dimly lit corridors of the horror gaming world, Supermassive Games has been pushing boundaries for almost a decade since the release of Until Dawn. Their newest foray into survival horror games, The Dark Picture Anthology, has built upon its 2015 predecessor with new iterations in the interactive narrative genre. Essentially mini movies, interrupted with various choices that can be the difference between survival and demise for the player characters, Supermassive has honed the subgenre of survival horror, previously solely characterised by players’ hiding and solving puzzles, into a new niche of cause and effect consequences for horror gaming.
There are several horror subgenres that can be roughly grouped into five main categories, though the exact groupings are subject to some debate. Loosely, there are elements of the paranormal, possession and hauntings; monsters, such as vampires and zombies; psychological horror such as phobias, madness and fanaticism; killers, like slashers and home invasion; and gore, which needs little explanation. These can overlap and frequently do; slasher and gore seem to go hand-in-hand, while elements of paranormal and psychological horror are often found together.
Beyond the choice-based survival horror element, the four episodes in season one may appear to have little in common. As the player, we are adventuring from a ghost ship in Man of Medan (2019), to an abandoned town in Little Hope (2020), to a vampire-infested warzone in House of Ashes (2021), to a murder hotel in The Devil in Me (2022) while trying to keep everyone alive (or very deliberately killing them off). The only through-line seems to be the Curator, a mysterious guide that leads the player into each episode. By drawing on different sets of horror subgenres, every instalment of The Dark Pictures Anthology crafts a very unique gaming experience. We previously looked at The Quarry (which you can read here), another Supermassive creation, and highlighted some of the narrative challenges that the interactive genre can cause; (how do you tell a story where the characters are constantly in a state similar to that of Schrödinger's cat, both alive or dead in any one playthrough?). In this article, however, let’s take a deeper dive into each game and the subgenre that defines each game.
An Eerie Expedition: Ghost Stories and Nightmares in Man of Medan
One popular theme found across many horror games including Phasmophobia (2020), the Fatal Frame series (2001-2014), or P.T. (2014) is diving into ghostly encounters. Typically, paranormal horror revolves around non-living beings, most commonly spirits and ghosts. These being haunt and instil fear into their subjects (LA Film School, n.d.). At the same time, the stories are transposable and “their presence reflects more on the humans who see them then [sic!] the spectral beings themselves.” (Ehrlich, Foreman and Chapman 2023)
From the prologue onwards, Man of Medan sets out to be part of the paranormal horror genre. Set in the middle of an ocean, a diving expedition goes awry when our five playable protagonists are taken hostage by pirates on an eerie looking ship. While the pirates hunt for some long-lost treasures, the playable characters look for ways to get a hold of their stolen distributor cap needed to power their boat and escape. Instead of Manchurian gold, however, something more sinister is hiding onboard the ship and the group is about to experience a ghostly nightmare.
In line with every good ghost story, the group gets separated and, as the night progresses, the playable characters encounter more and more ghostly visions. Each haunting confronts the player with a choice of combat or retreat resulting in avoiding or causing the death of a character. The surviving characters regroup once again and have a chance of discovering the truth behind the treasure. While the presence of hallucinogenic biochemicals might mundanely explain the frightening visages, the play style, choices, and missed QTEs of the player could keep such knowledge from the characters.
There is obvious overlap with the psychological subgenres, but given that the protagonists may remain in the dark about the source of the supernatural threats and the haunting reflect an aspect of each character’s fears, Man of Medan has one foot firmly planted in the ghostly genre. With important narrative flag posts linked to the player’s choices and not intrinsic to the story, each playthrough casts new light on the dark corners of the SS Ourang Medan. The game strategically keeps the characters – and by extension the players – enveloped in the shroud of the paranormal.
Whispers of Woe: Little Hope's Journey Through Ghosts of the Mind
While themes of psychological horror are evident in Man of Medan, where this subgenre really comes to shine is the second instalment of The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope. Horror games have a rich tradition of incorporating unreliable narrators, playing mind games on both characters and the player, and delving into the human psyche. Think, for example, about games like Layers of Fear (2016), Among the Sleep (2014), or Soma (2015). Where monster and slasher subgenres rely on external forces, the psychological terror comes from the inescapable internal horrors that haunt characters, often “function[ing] as a complex metaphor for the flaws of the character or society at large” (Puzzle Box Horror, n.d.) often incorporating (near) death experiences of a character and/or their loved ones (Lofberg 2016). Consequently, psychological horror has a history of stereotyping mental illnesses, contributing to misunderstanding of and fear around mental health (Pementel 2018, Tzeses 2021).
Even though it is not revealed until after the final showdown, Little Hope is an epitomical example of the psychological horror subgenre. The prologue establishes a religious fanaticism surrounding the origins of the town, with elements involving a historical witch trial amongst the town’s founding families. Following a bus-crash, a lecturer and his four students find themselves unable to escape the abandoned town of Little Hope. With the bus-driver vanished, the group is forced to make its way into town to find help and seek shelter for the night. There, they soon discover a dark shadow lingering over the town’s past and must deal with ominous encounters from their own pasts.
As they uncover the mystery surrounding a tragic fire shown in the prologue, the group is pulled into the town’s past – literally and figuratively. There, they realise that the people they meet eerily resemble each playable character. More distressingly, the past selves are all tried for witchcraft and subsequently die a violent death echoing the happening of the prologue. Now, the past and present collide as their ghostly doppelgangers hunt them through the town and the group has to find a way to survive the night.
After a showdown in the burned-down house from the prologue, it is revealed that the missing bus-driver was one of the playable characters all along. Plagued by survivor’s guilt over the death of his family, the bus driver has hallucinated modern versions of his lost family. Being haunted by his inability to save his family, the monsters of the night become manifestations of his inner demons.
While Man of Medan laid the foundations for psychological undertones, in Little Hope, this subgenre takes centre stage. The game delves into the dark shadows of struggling with mental health, depending on the player’s choices, leaving the bus driver at peace with his past or dead by suicide. Little Hope navigates the thin line between the terrors of the mind and the chilling realities that unfold in the ghostly shadows of the town’s haunted past.
Abyssal Alliances: House of Ashes and the Enigma of Monsters
In the third game we take a step back from psychological horror but return with a touch of the paranormal to a tale of monsters. In concert with the internal horrors of the psychological, monsters in videogames are also “a reflection of the deeper fears and anxieties that pervaded people’s lives” (Slack 2023). The monstrous subgenres “can wreak havoc on a community of people in one fell swoop” (LA Film School, n.d.) instead of focused on a single person. We have seen this epitomised in videogames such as Dead Space (2008, re-released 2023), The Quarry (2022), and Alien: Isolation (2014). Given its popularity, it is unsurprising that the subgenre also invaded The Dark Pictures Anthology’s House of Ashes.
Set in war-torn Iraq, a group of US Armed Forces and Iraqi Republic Guards are trapped in a system of underground caves, each searching for alleged chemical weapons. As they explore the tunnels, they quickly realise that there is something waking in the dark depths that was better left asleep. One by one, they are picked off, until the player character’s are forced to confront their own biases and trust the enemy or be left vulnerable to the unknown.
In House of Ashes, the concept of monsters transcends the conventional, merging the supernatural with extra-terrestrial elements. After crash-landing 4,000 years ago on the site of a Mesopotamian civilization, the alien vampires were trapped in the catacombs, mostly undisturbed until now. Though the immediate threat for most of the game is a vampiric creature lurking in the shadows, the player characters can explore deeper underground and discover more about the monsters, including cocoon-like pods and their alien spaceship.
Vampires are often used as depictions of the ‘other’, but also represent the profound fear of the non-human and the unknown. Echoing the conflict of the prologue’s ancient massacre, the US and Iraqi forces must overcome their differences and forge an alliance to ensure their survival in the face of this alien threat. Monsters, as a subgenre, also explore morality and prejudice, as in Frankenstein (Shelley 1818). In House of Ashes, this was exemplified by the developing bromance between two playable characters that served to reveal their anxieties and inspired them to “confront them head-on” (Slack 2023).
House of Ashes provides a novel journey into the heart of monstrous horror, where the lines between the supernatural and extra-terrestrial blur in a nightmarish dance of fear and survival. As the playable characters attempt to survive the caves, they must overcome historical animosities through allegiance with enemy forces. This instalment embodies the chaotic potential of the subgenre, the monsters becoming vessels through which the characters grapple with their fears, prejudices, and the looming spectre of the unknown.
Lethal Labyrinth: Trapped in The Devil in Me’s Nightmare
Moving away from metaphorical monsters, the final game of season one turns its attention towards the killer-slasher subgenre similarly explored in games such as the Silent Hill Series (1999-2014), Outlast (2013), or Dead by Daylight (2016). The slasher horror developed in the 1950s to 1990s and typically incorporates a masked killer who commits a series of murders set in an isolated or small town (Kench 2021, Bah 2028). There are also themes of ‘the final girl’, home-invasion, and use of close-combat weapons like knives and other sharp objects rather than firearms (Kench 2021).
The Devil in Me plays with its subgenre’s themes, reversing the home-invasion concept and trapping the player characters in the killer’s house. Invited to a remote island with a promise to unravel the mysteries of a historic serial killer, a group of documentary filmmakers soon find themselves stuck in a nightmare from beyond the grave. Stalked across the maze of a hotel by a masked killer, the group must play his twisted games to make it out alive. However, as they discover more about the hotel and its owner, the situation takes a grizzly turn. Players find themselves trapped in the lair of the relentless killer, desperately seeking an escape from the clutches of impending doom.
With movable walls and traps tucked into every corner, the group is easily split up again and again, as the killer toys with his prey. The group is terrified to discover that the masked murder has developed a routine, luring victims to the island by forcing the lone survivor to play-act as owner of the hotel before starting his next hunt, adding a layer of the psychological subgenre. Cut-off from the outside world with neither phone signal nor keys to the ferry, the group is forced to find an alternative escape route. In the end, much like Jason Voorhees, appears to meet his demise in the final showdown just to reappear in the epilogue – unbeknownst to the surviving characters.
Players are thrown into a nightmarish journey where every step could lead to a gruesome encounter with the devilish embodiment of fear itself. The Devil in Me seamlessly weaves together several elements of the killer and slasher subgenres; a masked killer hunting his victims, stuck on a deserted island, gory death scenes, close combat weapons, and reversed home-invasion. The Devil in Me offers a chilling conclusion to season one, setting the stage for future dark and twisted tales in The Dark Pictures Anthology.
Beyond the Curator: Common Threads and Future Horrors
While each instalment in the anthology embarks down a new path of horror subgenres, there are some common elements as a whole. The enigmatic Curator acts as a guide for players, leading them through each chapter and offering a few words of advice. There are also strictly enforced consequences for choices, the game tracking key heart (emotional) or head (rational) decisions and opening pathways based on the player’s actions.
Each episode is introduced through a prologue sequence, and, unfortunately, the player cannot save the initial characters from their impending doom. The player will then take control of five different characters, who have the potential of escaping the horrors of the night. Each game is a prime example of survival horror incorporating gory death-scenes with each ‘wrong’ choice. At the same time, the subgenres explored in each instalment, ranging from paranormal encounters in Man of Medan to psychological torment in Little Hope, monstrous horrors in House of Ashes and the relentless pursuit of a masked killer in The Devil in Me, showcase the versatility of horror storytelling. The Dark Pictures Anthology stands as a testament to the studio's mastery in crafting unique horror experiences, promising more dark and twisted tales to come.
With the teaser for episode five, it appears The Dark Pictures Anthology will leave the confines of Earth and take to the stars, exploring the vast horror that awaits in space. There are certainly still subgenres to be explored and a total of eight proposed episodes, we wonder where else the Curator might lead us. Though some of the choices in the first season left us with a few questions (see The Quarry), we are nevertheless excited and eagerly await the anthology’s next chapters.
Sources
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Ehrlich, D., Foreman, A., Chapman, W. (2023). The Best Movies About Ghosts, from ‘The Haunting’ and ‘Nanny’ to ‘The Others’ and ‘Beetlejuice’. Indie Wire, 29 September 2023, https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/best-ghost-movies/field-of-dreams-kevin-costner-gaby-hoffman-amy-madigan-dwier-brown-1989/
Kench, A. (2021). What is a Slasher Film - Definition, Characters, Villains & Tropes. Studio Binder, 24 October, https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-slasher-film-definition/
LA Film School (n.d.). Subgenres of Horror Films Explained. https://www.lafilm.edu/blog/subgenres-of-horror-films-explained/
Lofberg, I. (2016). Beginner’s Guide: Psychological Horror. Film Inquiry, 15 November, https://www.filminquiry.com/beginners-guide-psychological-horror/?expand_article=1
Pementel, M. (2018). Representations of Mental Health in Horror: From Establishing Stigmas to Tearing Them Down. Bloody Disgusting, 2 August, https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3513603/representations-mental-health-horror-establishing-stigmas-tearing/
Puzzle Box Horror (n.d.). The History of Psychological Horror. https://puzzleboxhorror.com/the-history-of-psychological-horror/
Shelley, M. (1993 | 1818). Frankenstein. Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/files/84/84-h/84-h.htm
Slack, S.J. (2023). Historical Context of Monsters as Metaphors. Inspired Quill, 31 March, https://www.inspired-quill.com/historical-context-of-monsters-as-metaphors/
Tzeses, J. (2021). How Horror Movies Exploit Mental Health And Why It Matters. Psychom, 29 November, https://www.psycom.net/mental-health-wellbeing/horror-movies-mental-health-stigma
Image Credit
Supermassive Games [@SuperMGames] (2022a). "The Ghost Pirates and Other Revenants of the Sea Vol 3, William Hodgson, 2005 #ManOfMedan, dir. Tom Heaton, 2019 #TheDarkPictures (2/4)" 9 August, https://x.com/SuperMGames/status/1557020234644705281?s=20
Supermassive Games [@SuperMGames] (2022b). "The Crucible, Arthur Miller, 1953 #LittleHope, dir. Nik Bowen, 2020 #TheDarkPictures (3/4)" 9 August, https://x.com/SuperMGames/status/1557020675591864320?s=20
Supermassive Games [@SuperMGames] (2022c). "At the Mountains of Madness, H. P. Lovecraft, 1936 #HouseOfAshes, dir. Will Doyle, 2021 #TheDarkPictures (4/4)" 9 August, https://x.com/SuperMGames/status/1557021274370707456?s=20
Supermassive Games [@SuperMGames] (2023). "Excited to hear #TheDevilinMe has been nominated in the Best Game Foley and Best Audio for a Casual Social Game categories at the @audiogang Awards" 10 February, https://x.com/SuperMGames/status/1624017226847191042?s=20