Pictured Above: Games in the Dark Pictures Anthology often feature ensemble casts and allow players to experience the game through the perspective of each character.
Courtesy of thedarkpictures.com
By Sophie Ojdanic
The newest installment in the Dark Pictures Anthology, Little Hope, came out on Oct. 30, just in time for a Halloween horror game experience.
Little Hope is the second in a proposed eight-part anthology of choice-based horror games being developed by Supermassive Games. The studio previously made Until Dawn and Hidden Agenda, which were also choice-based horror games, as well as the first game in the Dark Pictures Anthology, Man of Medan.
Little Hope stars Will Poulter (Midsommar, The Maze Runner), Alex Ivanovici (Outlast), Kyle Bailey (Heartland), Caitlyn Sponheimer (The Boys) and Ellen David (The Bold Type). Pip Torrens (The Crown) also reprised his role as the Curator. The full cast had solid performances as their characters, with only a few weird moments of bad motion capture or odd line delivery.
Where the game stands strong is in its story. Reviews for Man of Medan largely criticized how easy the plot unraveled and how weakly paced the story was. Players could get approximately three hours of gameplay on their first try, depending on the choices they made and which characters lasted the whole game. Little Hope seems to have expanded from the reviews of its predecessor, with more solid plot and a more thought-out pace.
There was never a question of whether Supermassive knew how to effectively scare their audiences. Previous works effectively used jumpscares paired with psychological horror, and Little Hope did not disappoint in doing the same.
Tension seemed to be the keyword in the creation of this game, as it becomes a throughline for the scares, dialogue and choices for players to make.
There were weak points in the ending for me, which I have noticed in the anthology but not Supermassive’s other games. Both Little Hope and Man of Medan had strong paranormal elements that were reduced by the games’ endings.
Like with any game, there were also glitches that detracted from the experience. With a more game-like title like Assassin’s Creed or Call of Duty, glitches are just known to be part of the game. But with a game like Little Hope, glitches break immersion, leading to moments of laughter where there should be suspense.
Overall, I would rate my experience with Little Hope as an 8.5/10.
