The Dark Pictures Anthology

*You're going it alone. Independent. Admirable. Possibly foolish...**The content below contains spoilers from one or more of the games. Read at your own risk!*

**Sub-Pages**

* **The Dark Pictures**
* Season One
* Season Two

## Information

### Publishers

Bandai Namco Entertainment
Supermassive Games

### Genres

Survival Horror
Interactive Drama
Adventure
Exploration

### Platforms

PlayStation 4
PlayStation 5
Xbox One
Xbox Series X/S
Nintendo Switch
PC Digital

## Chronology

### First Game

*Man of Medan*
(August 30, 2019)

### Latest Game

*Switchback VR*
(March 16, 2023)

### Future Game(s)

*Directive 8020*
(TBA)

***The Dark Pictures Anthology***, or simply ***The Dark Pictures***, is a narrative, choice-based horror game series developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment since 2019. It is a distant relative of Supermassive's other horror games, being the spiritual successor to the popular 2015 title *Until Dawn* and a cousin of the 2022 title *The Quarry*.

Each installment is stand-alone, having its own characters, setting, and story. However, they all exist in the same universe, containing various references to each other and being linked through The Curator, a mysterious storyteller who acts as the narrator of the anthology.

*The Dark Pictures Anthology* is available on PlayStation (PS4, PS5), Xbox (One, X/S), Nintendo Switch and PC.

## Gameplay

*See Gameplay category for all mechanics*

*The Dark Pictures Anthology* is a series of cinematic games played from a third-person perspective. The player controls five different characters, each of whom can die over the course of the story. If a character dies, they are replaced by another character, thus allowing to complete the game with any combination of protagonists.

The gameplay revolves around making decisions that range from the usual dialogues to life and death situations. Options are presented as a moral compass, which offers the protagonist to act either logically ("Head") or emotionally ("Heart"), or even say/do nothing at all. Decisions affect a character's personality and their relationships with other protagonists, as well as the narrative overall, branching the story into multiple scenarios and outcomes. Such major decision points are recorded in the system of "Bearings" and can update as the game progresses.

Characters can freely explore locations and find various useful items and collectible objects. All found collectibles are saved and always available to the player, even if they were not found in the current playthrough. The same applies to Shared Story, where a collectible is counted for both players even if it was found only by one of them. Action sequences feature quick time events, requiring to pressing/smashing buttons, pressing the buttons in beat or shooting. Failure to execute some QTEs can take the story along a different path and even lead to a character's death. QTE difficulty can be adjusted in three levels: Forgiving (Easy), Challenging (Normal), and Lethal (Hard).

*The Dark Pictures Anthology* features several modes for single-player and multiplayer. Theatrical Cut is the standard mode, where the game is played from the main perspective. Curator's Cut offers a playthrough from an alternate perspective, with other playable characters, choices and collectibles. Shared Story allows two players to play co-operatively online. Movie Night allows two to five players to select their own characters and play on their own turn.

Each new installment features new gameplay mechanics that complement existing mechanics or expand the gameplay on their own. They either remain exclusive to their games or are subsequently used in the rest of the anthology.

## Plot Scheme

Each installment has a story made in a 3 act structure along with separate prologue and epilogue.

**The prologue** shows two false protagonists as they face an unexpected threat and inevitably die trying to confront it. The prologue serves as a tutorial, teaching the player basic gameplay and also acts as a setup for the main story.

**Act 1** introduces five main protagonists and supporting character(s). Through various circumstances, the cast ends up in the main setting, completely isolated from the outside world.  They eventually notice the presence of danger and confront it directly, leading to characters' splitting up and possible death of one of the protagonists.

**Act 2** features characters trying to find each other, forming small groups of 2-3 people or walking alone. Soon each group takes turns facing different threats and may die, with up to two/three protagonists in act. At the end, all surviving protagonists are reunited.

**Act 3** features protagonists trying to find a way to escape, discovering the origin of the threat along the way. Three protagonists may die in the process, leaving the remaining two alive until the finale. In the end, as the group is about to finally escape, they confront the threat one last time, either dying or ultimately surviving the night.

**The epilogue** is a series of cutscenes showing the fates of the surviving protagonists after their misadventures. Some characters still can die due to the decisions made during gameplay.

Occasionally, the player enters the repository, where they interact with the Curator. He summarizes each act, commenting on the player's actions and the protagonists' fates, and may even offer cryptic hints, revealing the game's secrets and helping the player to avoid mistakes. At the end of the game, the Curator summarizes the player's playthrough and bids them farewell, teasing with the next installment in the series, which also receives an announcement after the credits/post-credit scene.

## Games

* *Man of Medan's cover*
* *Little Hope's cover*
* *House of Ashes' cover*
* *The Devil in Me's cover*
* *Switchback VR's cover*
1/5
Currently, *The Dark Pictures Anthology* has five installments confirmed out of eight planned, with four of them already released.

Besides the main stand-alone series, the anthology also has one released spin-off.

* *Little Hope*
* *House of Ashes*
* *The Devil in Me*

## Special Releases

### Collector's Editions

* Collector's Edition
* Pazuzu Edition
* Animatronic Collector's Edition
1/3
* **Press Kit Edition** - an exclusive edition for *Man of Medan*. In addition to the game, it features a skull-shaped clipboard with the wind rose and a trio of pocket watches.
* **Collector's Edition** - an exclusive edition for *Little Hope*. In addition to the game, it features a Mary's poppet figurine, 2 pins (ship and poppet), a 4-disc steel book, and a cloth map of *The Dark Pictures* universe.
* **Pazuzu Edition** - an exclusive edition for *House of Ashes*. In addition to the game, it features a vampire figurine, a sticker set, an eclipse pin, and an art print.
* **Animatronic Collector's Edition** - an exclusive edition for *The Devil in Me*. In addition to the game, it features an animatronic bust figurine, a Lonnit Entertainment business card, a hotel card with envelope, and a map of the island.

### Collection Bundles

* Volume 1 Edition
* Triple Pack Edition
* Volume 2 Edition
1/3
* **Volume 1 Edition** - a collection bundle featuring *Man of Medan* and *Little Hope*, their respective pins, a 4-disc steelbook, and a cloth map.
* **Triple Pack Edition** - a collection bundle featuring *Man of Medan*, *Little Hope*, and *House of Ashes*, their respective pins, a 4-disc steelbook, and a cloth map.
* **Volume 2 Edition** - a collection bundle featuring *House of Ashes* and *The Devil in Me*, their respective pins, a map of the hotel, and *House of Ashes* playing cards.
* **Season One Edition** - a collection bundle featuring *Man of Medan*, *Little Hope*, *House of Ashes*, and *The Devil in Me*.

## Trivia

* As part of the anthology, each game has similarities to other installments. All of them:
	+ ...are based on one or more legends and events from the real world, as well as took inspirations from similar works.
	+ ...focus on one or more subgenres of horror and the threats that often appear in there.
	+ ...have covers made in the same style, featuring a lead actor protagonist, a key item/character/location, and setting's position on a map as a background. The games also have a theme color and title.
* The anthology's logo is written in Trajan Pro 3 Regular font.
* The most used fonts in the Anthology are Goudy Trajan Pro Bold and Proza Libre Medium (UI elements), EB Garamond Medium (subtitles).
	+ Other fonts used in the games — AA Typewriter, Mirza Bold, Droid Sans, Impact.
	+ Fonts for languages: *Arabic* — Lateef Regular; *Chinese*, *Japanese*, *Korean* — DF Gothic P W5, DF LeiSho, Reimin Y10 Regular, UD Shin Go NT Light, Kaimin Tsuki Bold.
	+ Font for dyslexia — OpenDyslexic.
* Originally, *The Dark Pictures Anthology* (with the first two games *Man of Medan* and *Little Hope*) was released only on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Starting with the third installment *House of Ashes*, all subsequent games became available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Later, *Man of Medan* and *Little Hope* joined the series when their versions for the ninth-generation platforms were launched on September 28, 2022.
	+ Besides the release on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, *Man of Medan* and *Little Hope* versions for PS4 and Xbox One also received an update that redesigned the gameplay to match other installments.
* While the full anthology is planned to consist of eight games, if the series is successful enough, it will be expanded.
* Currently, *The Dark Pictures Anthology* has two versions of the intro.
	1. *Man of Medan* and *Little Hope* (before update) – The skull slowly turns to the side, revealing the compass, from which the title of the anthology appears in a haze. After the update, the intro in Man of Medan and Little Hope was replaced by its second version.
	2. Starting from *House of Ashes* – Series of fast-paced pictures with scenes from the previous and current games, ending with a fast-track version of the old intro. The intro is accompanied by sound and visual effects matching the installments.

* One of the anthology's plans was to use the typical "*Previously in...* (Title)" system to introduce every chapter on each installment as *Until Dawn* did, but since chapters were very short, they decided to abandon this idea.
* Most of the characters' models are taken from previous Supermassive's titles, such as *Hidden Agenda*, *The Inpatient*, *Bravo Team*, and *Shattered State*. Moreover, an anthology tends to reuse the same character models in multiple installments.

## Gallery

### Installments

*Man of Medan's cover**Little Hope's cover**House of Ashes' cover**The Devil in Me's cover**Directive 8020's logo*