The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes

2019 | Supermassive Games | Playstation 4 / Playstation 5

The season of spooks is still upon us and what better way to celebrate this wonderful occasion with an entry of Supermassive Games‘ horror anthology The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes. The third in an ongoing series of interactive horror narratives that lauds the many facets of horror in its own fantastically shlocky ways. While the original plan was for this anthology to be a bi-annual event, in practice it has turned into once a year release. The ambitious plan of churning out this anthology would make way for some of the bigger projects not unlike last week’s The Quarry, drip feeding the series with new entries at an, in my opinion, more comfortable pace. It’s still undeniable though, that Supermassive Games is producing some great horror narratives, albeit in the case of The Dark Pictures with a noticeably lower budget and polish than Until Dawn or The Quarry.

House of Ashes is a bold entry into the anthology, with its combat capable and trigger happy cast set against the background of the post 9/11 war against Saddam Hussein. We follow a squad of soldiers led by CIA agent, Rachel, as they take command of a mission to investigate a potential storage for bioweapons, in order to take control of this silo and verify the application of one the squad members’, Eric, state of the art thermal satellite systems. Upon arrival at what seems to be a village of shepherds, they get caught in an assault by Iraqi forces. In the middle of this firefight, the floor begins to tremble as the very earth starts to buckle, revealing gaping mouths of grotesque statues underneath. The survivors of the fight get swallowed into the darkness below, enraptured by the crust of the earth itself. The opening feels unlike anything we’ve seen from Supermassive before. Unlike Until Dawn, Little Hope and Man of Medan, House of Ashes feels aggressive and bold from the very beginning, harshly contrasting the more brooding and ominous openings of the other entries. It’s a welcome change of pace that does admittedly take some getting used to, however the cast does bring forth a mighty marine bravado that feels like a fresh approach for the series.
At the same time the entirety brings the same energy to the table as The Rock’s performance in the 2005 Doom movie. The crew consisting of Jason, Nick, Eric, Rachel and Salim attack the situation head on, often guns blazing, whilst trying to find their way back to the surface. It’s a different pace altogether, especially compared to the more brooding atmospheres of the previous entries; rather than running away from situations in powerless despair, the group will set traps, rig corridors and unload mountains of ammunition against every single threat to their survival.

House of Ashes takes us beneath the crust of the earth as the group finds themselves trapped in an ancient Sumerian temple. From the darkness they are stalked by relentless bat-like creatures that attempt to shred and infect the group at every opportunity. The escape to the surface only pushes them deeper underground as revelations unfold about the true nature of these beings, culminating in a beautiful Giger-esque vista some 3000 feet underground. During their journey the supporting cast gets picked off and killed in relentlessly gory ways as others become infected by an adrenaline feeding parasite, turning them into vampiric abominations that join the creatures in pursuit of the group. I really enjoy situations like this in horror games, with the escape route remaining ever out of reach and your characters trapped in a situation without a means out, pushed into deeper desperation.
The cast itself feels combat ready and armed to the teeth, but it’s when this arsenal starts dwindling that their true nature starts pushing through. This leads to some unfortunate moments between Nick, Eric and Rachel that really undermine the pressure and urgency of the situation. Eric and Rachel are/used to be married and now Rachel has run of with Nick, and this doesn’t sit well with either of the guys. It leads to a lot of moments where they will start chest pounding like gorillas on stilts on an icy lake of insecurity at moments where I felt the threat of the monsters would’ve been at its peak. This completely deflates certain moments of pursuit as both gentlemen start arguing over who gets to save the damsel in distress. Meanwhile the damsel in distress is also chest pounding in a corner, walking in circles about how she doesn’t need help. I get what they were going for, but the whole dynamic feels like there’s a time and place for everything, and this certainly ain’t it. However, the biggest saving grace of this game comes in the form of Jason and Salim. Jason is a hardcore marine who constantly antagonizes “The Enemy” and Salim, being on the opposing side of the war, represents everything he’s here to fight. Salim however realizes very quickly that if they don’t work together, nobody will make it out alive.
Throughout the course of the game it’s never certain if something Salim says or does will push Jason over the edge and have him pull the trigger, but as the game progresses they find unlikely allies in each other. In a great moment of character progression, the two of them truly start to recognize each other’s strengths after they realize the interstellar scope of the situation. This leads to Jason fully dropping his guard and nearly breaking down in front of Salim, and the both of them starting to get to know each other, leading to an almost brotherly bond between the two. They manage to set aside their differences for the greater good and do so with grace and believability. The other group simply nods and shrugs a lot at each other, hinting at a reluctant acceptance of each other’s existence.

House of Ashes really shows the growth of Supermassive Games as well as their commitment to their formula. It has a surprising amount of polish in comparison to the other two, with the heartbeat mechanic finally being responsive enough to properly work. The only breaking of the illusion comes when textures fail to load or people force grabbing ropes to pull themselves up on nothing but air. The characters are, as per Dark Pictures tradition, hyper animated, with them constantly moving in weird and unnatural ways to hide the stiff facial animations. It’s not detrimental to the overall experience though, as the camera is constantly sweeping around the set pieces to keep up with the action. The pacing in this game is a bit of a hit and miss, with certain downtime bits feeling a bit too stretched out and the action bits often getting undermined by the previously mentioned bumping of chests. When it’s at its high point the action truly pops off the screen, with some wildly excellent choreography to back up the action and messy fights scenes. It all culminates in a wonderfully tense final stand that’s an incredible visual spectacle to see. The branching paths, choices between rational and emotional and the relationship and trait charts also make a comeback. It’s not the best entry in terms of horror, but it does what it does well. If you’re a fan of that specific type of movie that Doom is with hints of the satire of Team America set against 30 Days of Night and The Descent, then you can’t miss out on The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes.

OORAH/10