Supermassive Games are learning from their mistakes and taking what works best for their third installment of season one. The Dark Pictures anthology had explored various elements of horror, settling on some good old monsters in House of Ashes. Without further ado, let’s dive in (pun intended) and review! Please beware of spoilers ahead. 

Plot

The story is set during the invasion of Iraq and starts with a CIA team who are mid-strategic planning. Eric Knight, the marshal of the operation, believes he has found a route to the biological weapons of their opponents. His estranged wife Rachel, who is having an affair with sergeant Nick Kay, leads said operation. Things go horribly wrong when the squad slips through the cracks quite literally and gets trapped underground. As if that isn’t bad enough, they’re hunted by monsters only vulnerable to sunlight. Too bad there’s none of it in the dungeons. 

Overall, the story is definitely the most developed out of all three games. I myself find it a tad too ‘masculine’ for the lack of a better word. While the topic of war is always going to be challenging, the game handles it quite gracefully. The pacing is also well done, the suspense and action scenes are balanced out. The plot twist somehow doesn’t feel corny as it makes sense within the mythology of the feature. 

I personally enjoyed the fact that the monsters were actually real, unlike the threats in both Man of Medan and Little Hope. I think it was more because Little Hope’s twist is one of the most hated tropes in the media that people wanted for the story to actually mean something and House of Ashes delivered in that aspect.  

Characters

There is a lot of tension between the group from many different perspectives. The love triangle of Eric/Rachel/Nick is nuanced and offers multiple paths for each participant, including but not limited to who Rachel can end up with and Eric/Nick’s dynamic. It does a good job of humanizing these characters because Eric genuinely puts in the effort to try and make things work with Rachel, even if it doesn’t always work. 

Jason’s and Salim’s friendship is without a doubt the highlight of the game and probably the best platonic dynamic of the series to date. Two men on opposite sides of the war who form a genuine bond in the face of danger are admirable and definitely elevate the two characters with great emotional impact. 

Gameplay

The mechanics are more or less on the same level as Little Hope since Supermassive Games seem to have found a good formula for them and are sticking to it. The usual options of heart vs head during dialogue scenes, smoother walking controls, and character-changing mid-action sequences are even more polished. 

Overall, it’s probably the most active game of the series as while it’s still no RPG, there are actually sequences where you need to sweat to hit all the QTEs correctly. 

Final thoughts

House of Ashes is without a doubt the best game of the series up until this point. The dialogue is only getting better, the relationships are complex and the action is thrilling. While I would have liked to have another playable female character, considering the setting of the story it makes sense. The installment also offers a fascinating take on vampire mythology with a great plot twist. If I was going to introduce anyone new to this series, I would choose this one to start with.  (4.5 / 5)