Revamping Everything: Directive 8020 Merges Alien with The Thing, Bringing Major Changes to Supermassive’s Cinematic Horror Games

I’m super into horror games—not just any, but those cinematic ones that feel like you’re in a movie. And guess who’s acing this niche? Supermassive Games from the UK. They brought us Until Dawn, The Quarry, and The Dark Pictures Anthology. Yeah, those guys.

So, while I was chilling in LA for the Summer Game Fest 2025—no big deal, right?—I had to peep what Supermassive was cooking. I caught up with Will Doyle, the game director, to chat about their latest spark, Directive 8020.

Okay, imagine this: It’s sci-fi horror at its finest. The fifth game in their Dark Pictures series and the first one they’re publishing themselves. Ambitious? Heck yeah. They’re spicing things up with new features. Really shaking the formula.

Set wayyyy in the future—far from Earth’s current chaos—it’s about astronauts trying to find a new home. Earth isn’t doing so great. They crash on this planet, Tau Ceti f, and hey, surprise! They aren’t alone. An alien’s out to get them. Guess it can morph into all sorts, a big bad monster, or even look like one of the crew. Creepy, right?

Will Doyle, by the way, was all hyped. “They start off with tech—using brains over brawn,” he said. “But then, like, lose that edge, going all primal by the end.” It’s like they’re living an Aliens meets The Thing crossover, which is Doyle’s jam, apparently. Fans have been begging for something like this. And I get why.

Visuals? They went full Ridley Scott mode—taking cues from Prometheus and Event Horizon. Picture it: chaos ramping up, visuals going all out. I had a go at the demo. 8 minutes, tops. But bam! New features hit me fast.

Usually, their games let you chill, solve puzzles, and maybe tap a button or two in those quick-time events. Not here. Directive 8020? Out the space window with that. I was sneaking around, evading a giant alien. Almost got caught. My heart was like, racing.

Balancing these action bits with your standard cinematic flair? Now that’s a challenge. Doyle mentioned it’s all about pacing. Can’t overload the player. Gotta keep it cinematic yet suspenseful. Oh, and the big drama? Figuring out who’s an imposter. Trust no one, seriously.

There’s this feature called the Turning Point system. Fancy, huh? It lets you backtrack decisions if you goof up. Inspired by Doyle’s buddy who raged over losing his fave character in a past game. But for those purists, there’s a mode to keep things irreversible. High stakes, people.

“Death Spiral.” Sounds ominous, right? In this game, characters can check out much earlier. Gets wild. And it looks amazing—they didn’t recycle old assets. Everything’s fresh, after a nice long break since The Devil in Me.

Doyle wrapped it up saying horror’s booming, tapping into today’s fears. And though they won’t pump out a game yearly anymore, the games are getting beefier, more complex.

Circle your calendar. Directive 8020 hits Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (Steam), and PlayStation 5 on Oct. 2, 2025. 🎮