The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes (2021) Review
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)
Gaming
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1995), a Game Review
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1995) is a point-and-click horror game based on Harlan Ellison’s award-winning short story.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1995) is a point-and-click horror game based on Harlan Ellison’s award-winning short story of the same name. Developed by Cyberdreams and The Dreamers Guild, this adaptation brings a new perspective to a familiar story. I heard of free purchasing opportunities for this game but cannot verify the quality. For this review, I played the 5.99 Steam release.
Play as one of the remaining humans on earth: Gorrister, Benny, Ellen, Nimdok, and Ted. Each faces a unique challenge from their common torturer, the AI supercomputer known as AM. Chosen by AM to endure torment, these challenges require the participants to face their greatest failures and tragedies.
What I like about I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
Having experienced this story a few times, Harlan Ellison provides the most substantive execution of his vision and moral questions in this game. While all have individual merits, I assume the added content and context better dive into the relevant points he hoped to explore. He also played the voice of AM, giving us the emotional complexity of the machine as he saw it.
As the above comment indicates, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream remains a faithful adaptation with only one notable change. While that one change does reflect in that character’s journey, it uses that opportunity to the fullest. Where the short story left room for potentially inaccurate interpretations of the characters, this added context makes us better understand them.
The game’s writing remains a selling point for this story-driven experience. It dives further into the lore of the human characters and even allows further development of AM in the process. There are many ways to progress, and the multiple characters allow gamers to adventure further if stuck. That said, progressing individual characters to complete their journey remains essential for the true ending and experience.
As a point-and-click game made in 1995, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream holds up well. In many ways, it pushed the genre in its time with dynamic storytelling and game features. Harlan Ellison was someone who pushed boundaries to challenge himself and others. He saw the gaming industry as another opportunity to evoke story-driven art, a focus reflected here.
Thoughts, Triggers, and Considerations
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream adapts a dark and bleak story from an author notorious for his dark material. This game is no exception to that standard. Mental illness, sexual assault, genocide, and torture envelop the game. These elements are handled with attention but remain triggering to those sensitive to such dark material.
If these are deal breakers, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream will likely earn a skip.
What I Dislike, or Considerations, for I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
While the short story remains a haunting example of fiction in every sentence, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream doesn’t evoke the same tension. It allows room to breathe or refocus on another character, which reduces the horror such a story evokes. While the characters participate in their torment, the loss of agency and hopelessness doesn’t translate in the execution.
Some mechanical and gameplay issues are noteworthy. For example, the saving mechanic remains dated, piling up if you save often or for specific reasons. Most of the mechanical issues stem from outdated UI from a gamer of a more modern era. Play it long enough, and elements start to click, but it needs that user investment.
Point-and-click caters to a niche audience, so modern gaming audiences aren’t inherently the demographic. The puzzle-solving and gameplay won’t win you over if the genre isn’t to your taste. Even within the genre, many of the puzzles remain challenging. For fans of the genre, this likely earns a positive merit. For those looking to continue the short story, this challenge will prove an obstacle.
Final Thoughts
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream provides a new opportunity for the award-winning story to reach new audiences and continue to grow. Not satisfied with repeating his story in a new medium, Harlan Ellison expands this bleak world through the point-and-click game. While not as haunting as the short story, this game provides the most context and development of any adaptation before it.
(4 / 5)
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Continuing with video games I got to try out at PAX East, I was delighted to demo Let’s! Revolution! the debut game by developer and publisher BUCK. BUCK has historically been an animation and design studio, notably having worked on Into the Spiderverse and Love, Death, & Robots. Let’s! Revolution! marks their first foray into the world of video game development. I found this so interesting, I spoke to the Creative Director for Let’s! Revolution! on his career and how BUCK navigated that transition (find it here).
Let’s! Revolution! is a roguelike puzzle game inspired by the classic game Minesweeper. In it, you play as one of six heroes fighting their way along the dangerous roads to the capital city. Once there, you can defeat the tyrannical king and save the kingdom from his reign. Released in July of 2023, the game has been met with high praise. Unsurprisingly, this includes the game’s artistic and musical direction (by the team at Antfood), which is both stylistic and beautiful.
Watch the console reveal trailer here for a taste of the delightful animation and music:
I had the opportunity to play a 20 minute demo of Let’s! Revolution! on the PAX East show floor. I played alongside the Creative Director and other people who worked on the game. It’s important to note that this wasn’t long enough to get a feel for all the characters or the replayability of the game. But, it was definitely long enough to be enchanted by the game and the passion of the people who made it.
The core mechanics are inspired by Minesweeper. The player must use the power of deduction to uncover procedurally generated maze pathways to the exit. However, enemies are hidden along the way and can defeat the player before they reach their goal. Each character has their own special abilities that can help. Items and general abilities can also be bought or discovered to make your hero more powerful. All of these are limited in some way either by energy (your action currency) or limited uses per run.
From what I played, the gameplay is relatively simple with a mix of chance and strategy. I liked the cozy atmosphere, especially when combined with the ‘high stakes’ mechanics associated with Minesweeper. The UI was easy to understand and interact with while still being cohesive with the storytelling. And of course, the character design is exquisite and narratively driven, with many of the characters presenting as queer.
Having released on consoles earlier this month (April 2024), Let’s! Revolution! is even easier to access than ever. Let’s! Revolution! is a perfect game for those who love cozy roguelites and beautiful (queer) aesthetics. I definitely recommend it for fans of roguelites looking to try something fresh. Look for it anywhere you game!
(4.5 / 5)
Check out my other PAX posts here!
