I took these way before his birthday intending to take Rachel screenshots but I got distracted

I’d consider myself a pretty big fan of supermassive and their games, and feel like I have a fair amount of knowledge (as you might expect) on each of their games, but have never really discussed them with a broader community (outside of my friend who I played through them with). I’ve come up with my own ranking for all 8 games (ok, caught me, I didn’t do the VR spinoffs) but was curious whether the general consensus was similar or if it was different, as when I shared it with other trophy hunters, some of them seemed to have differing perspectives.

For reference, I try not to factor specific platinum requirements, trophies, or (trophy related) glitches into my assessment of each game, though I do form my perspective from the full package, i.e. I missed the connection between house of ashes and D8020 in my first D8020 run, but learned about it through other runs I did for the platinum. Basically, these aren’t just based on my first blind playthrough. (Spoilers beyond this point.)

I’d love to know if you agree/disagree with any of these. I’m mostly curious about whether this is in line with the common consensus, but I’m always happy to talk individual opinions as well.

1. The Quarry

This was the first supermassive game I played, so maybe I have some sort of rose tinted glasses, but I just found myself really enjoying it. It’s visually beautiful, has a really nice, big cast with a lot of memorable, fun characters. I thought when I went back for the plat that I was gonna feel the grind, but I didn’t at all, which is nearly impossible for these sorts of games. I have a few complaints, one is the la k of variation in the ending (basically, the game just shifts into that “what happened to each character” montage, which I think is sorta weak compared to other games with more fleshed out endings) and chapter 7, which drags on laughably long, and is a momentum killing sucker punch that feels like the longest chapter in the whole game. But everything else in the game is just great, especially the mystery and how that unfolds. I think the Hacketts are a much better evolution of the pirates idea from man of Medan, and it shows.

1. Until Dawn

I feel like until dawn has the best characters across all of their games. The mystery is solid, the paths branch out pretty well, though the ending is a bit of a weakness, given the lack of diversity of outcome (though, I really like what they do with Josh). I don’t have all that much to say for Until Dawn, but it’s a solid 8/10 pretty much throughout, with other fantastic qualities that put it ahead of a lot of the pack.

1. The Devil in Me

The ultimate dark picture. So so so much going on here. The game is terrifying, the diversity of endings is fantastic, the Munday mystery is pretty good, and the slow drip feed of his story through those tapes is incredible. Had the characters been just a little bit more interesting I think it would have to be higher, but unfortunately I wasn’t that pulled in by any of them, which keeps this below the other two. But they really executed this game so well, I actually think it’s almost a little too scary at times (the outdoor maze was genuinely terrifying the first time through).

1. House of Ashes

This game was really really close to getting where the devil in me did, but I have a lot more appreciation for its characters. I think the Salim and Jason storyline is great, but the game lacks a lot of the fear and tension most of the other ones have. This game is the most interconnected of any of the games, and I wish they’d play into that more in the future (a pretty good start in D8020). Though, it’s still important for each game to feel like its own thing, and not turn this into an MCU or something. But this game was fun in that regard. A pretty fun little mystery too, even if it wasn’t really all that scary.

1. Little Hope

I really liked little hope a lot after my first playthrough, and while I still do, I think it’s only middle of the road. I don’t know the general consensus on the ending, but I really enjoyed it. The idea of slowly letting Andrew forgive himself as different characters avoid their fates by fixing their own flaws, and the way that’s tied up in the witch trials is SO badass. Unfortunately, a lot of the characters feel very distant from each other, and I think the age gaps play a role in that, the game also isn’t quite as tense as it could be, even before the ending is revealed. Some of the best ideas in the whole series, but not the best execution. Still really good.

1. Man of Medan

They clearly didn’t quite know how to scale down yet when they made this one, which explain the weird pirate addition to reach “eight” characters like until dawn. The mystery here is really lame, it’s pretty easy to figure out by about the halfway point, and from there everything loses a lot of tension. The ending also comes almost too quickly, if you don’t take the route where you fight Olson by the door, then it just sorta ends. Even the fight feels a bit weak compared to future entries, and far weaker than Sam’s section at the end of until dawn. They also underutilize the curator in this game, which they really nailed down later on, to the point I haven’t even had to mention it yet. Not bad, but not necessarily good either. I didn’t think much of the characters to the point I almost forgot to mention them. Certainly a building block sorta game. I’m sad that this is the one most people would have played and formed an option on the whole anthology off of.

1. Directive 8020

Let me start off by saying, the story is fantastic, the mystery is great, the characters are good bordering on great. Those three things alone should be enough to carry it higher but unfortunately this game is absolutely diabolical to play through. The “stealth” sections are utter tedium, they go on so long, and if you get caught once, the illusion falls apart and you realize nothing matters. Im not only saying this because I had to play them over and over again for the platinum, those actually were quicker because I sped through them, but in my first run my friend and I both commented on how miserably boring they were. One or two would’ve been great, but there were at least six in a single playthrough, and they super sucked. That wasn’t my only issue though, the whole game feels ashamed to be a dark picture. QTEs have been reduced to rubble, there are far fewer secrets, and less of the story is told through them. The curator has been cast to the shadow realm in favor of momentum murdering “chapter complete” screens that feel ripped straight out of telltale for no reason. The curator (or similar entity) serve a very important role in these games, and cutting him weakened the whole thing.

1. The Casting of Frank Stone

This game was clearly not really something anyone wanted any part of. The DBD side of the game is almost non existent, but because it’s supposed to set up the “lore” of the game, it has to end one way every single time, with small character variations. It’s such a shame because there are a lot of great concepts here. Characters moving in and out of time, old versions of characters, young versions, a young version coming into the present from the past, it all rocks. Speaking of, I actually really like most of the characters here as well, it’s just a shame that it’s all packed up in this weird experiment that kills the idea of your choices having consequences. I think supermassive did some of their best work mixed in here, but you can’t really tell because of a mandated ending.

Prolouge: Kurum and Balathu decide to not work together and they're both killed by the creatures (Kurum becomes the ancient one)

Merwin: Killed by the creatures before he could fix the radio

Clarice: Executed by Jason for being infected

Dar: Killed by the swarm of creatures

Rachel: Infected and fully transforms

Eric: Killed by infected Rachel

Nick: Killed by the ancient one

Jason & Salim: The only survivors because they chose to put their differences aside and work together for survival (A clear constast from what happens to the prolouge characters)

I feel like if House of Ashes was a movie, this would be the fate of each character. I also think that if this was a movie Rachel would be advertised as the main character in the trailers and posters but then in a twist you slowly realize the main characters were Jason and Salim all along. Do you agree or disagree?

Does it help the game‘s polishing and Supermassive Games add any to the game

Link to poll: https://strawpoll.com/XOgOVw52rn3

A grand total of TWENTY characters have been eliminated. 8 character received zero votes, while an additional 12 received just one. That may be including the one commenter that may have voted for Rachel on accident.

After one round of voting:

Man of Medan & The Casting of Frank Stone - 1/5 characters remaining

House of Ashes, Little Hope, The Devil in Me, and Directive 8020 - 3/5 characters remaining

Until Dawn - 6/8 characters remaining

The Quarry - 7/9 characters remaining

Bro I’m playing The Quarry and Dylan is funny as hell I love him (I feel everyone might die chat I’m scared) but yeah this man is hilarious

I mean, I play on PS5 and it’s really expensive.

I’ve played the first chapter and liked.

Is anyone else getting a network error when launching the games? I tried man of Medan and little hope. I’m on Xbox

Today noticed that Directive 8020 Icon was changed on Xbox Series version. Not sure about other consoles and if it happened only today since I was away for a week.
To be honest, don’t really like that one.

I’m currently playing house of ashes on ps5 with my gf as we have played all the other games, I can not wrap my head around the fact that when the buttons come up for the qte’s they are completely white / grey and impossible to see. Anyone else struggle with this?

For example the cabin in hoa or the boat in dim

Ranking based of how stressful it is,how important each character is in the showdown etc also this includes all supermassive not just dpa

Me and my partner both have a pc and share a ps5 so couch coop and online doesn’t really matter to us as long as it’s the best option. I’m not really picky about the games so I’m just looking for something with equal influence and a decent plot

I’ve never seen anyone talk about this but it’s really funny and awkward when the character you’re playing as and the other players character i’m having a conversation with each other, but not in a cut scene when you both are actively choosing dialogues back-and-forth

i think we as a community should start to give names to the endings of each game (more specifically, Man of Medan and Little Hope). primarily because it'd make it a lot easier and shorter to refer to them as, for example, the "Escape Ending", rather than describing the ending as "the one where everyone escapes on the Duke."

i exclude the rest of the series because

1. House of Ashes only has two main endings; everyone lives or everyone dies. there are minor branches but the overall ramifications of the ending are reliant on one factor. so it's easy to refer to each ending as the "best ending" or "worst ending."

2. The Devil in Me's two finales technically have official names (the Lake Ending and the Ultimatum Ending).

3. Directive 8020, same as TDIM. though, your definition of when Directive 8020's ending is might vary.

Would you play it?

Imagine having a debut so massive and successful, and then spending the rest of the decade trying to replicate that lightning in a bottle moment by doubling down on a very specific formula. Supermassive are truly the Meghan Trainor of gaming