The Devil in Me review: Gaming goes to the movies

DEVIL in Me is the finale to the first season of the Dark Pictures Anthology, and the fourth game in the series.

The other three games generally released to a lukewarm reception, with fans wanting more of Supermassive Games’ successful title Until Dawn.

The Devil in Me hoped to break this pattern by offering something different. Based on the infamous Murder Castle of real-life serial killer H.H. Holmes, something much darker and bigger was promised.

Exploration has been massively expanded, and the new third-person view puts players in better control of what happens to them.

The series started out as an homage to old survival horror games, tank-controls, fixed cameras and all.

If you play the games back to back, you will see how far this gaming genre has truly come.

However, the characters can feel clumsy at times, which doesn’t quite meld with The Last of Us-style puzzle solving it feels the team was aiming for.

There is still a large emphasis on quick-time events, but they are now part of a package and not the main event.

Gladly, these don’t seem to be the deciding factor on whether a character lives or dies, which is a welcome change.

However, if you do lose a character, it becomes harder to know which part to replay in order to save them.

Sometimes it feels like a choice between two, where saving them all feels impossible. A flowchart would have massively helped in this case, and hopefully we’ll see one in Season 2.

The bigger annoyance is that cutscenes are unskippable even if you’ve already seen them. It feels like a game the creators only want you to play once.

The checkpoint system also feels like it’s been designed to artificially lengthen the game, another relic of a bygone era.

Each character has a unique ability at their disposal, but is limited to how and when they can use it.

However, it seems like these mechanics are kept to the linear sequence they are introduced in, and don’t let you explore new areas, making the loss of one more detrimental.

As a result of adapting to the choices you make, the dialogue becomes stilted. Some characters will ask you a question that you already answered in an earlier scene.

We mentioned in our preview that the facial expressions are awkward and this remains throughout.

The roughness around the edges is saved by the plot and overarching villain as it explores the mind of a serial killer in interesting ways.

Despite being set in one hotel, the scenery is inspired and packed with classic callbacks to popular horror films.

It’s a game made to be played socially, and so it doesn’t dive too far off the scary end. If you go in expecting Silent Hill, you’ll be disappointed.

The new mechanics need refining, but this is something The Dark Pictures Anthology could bring in next season.

The series needs to expand on its key selling points, its branching storylines and meaningful choices, to truly make it a success.

It’s a step in the right direction, and if you can look past the jankiness, one that’s worth experiencing. But we’ll have to wait until the next season to see if it ever reaches its full potential.

Written by Paolo Sirio and Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.