From the BAFTA-winning independent developer Supermassive Games, known for popular horror choice-based games like 2015’s Until Dawn, comes their new and third instalment of their The Dark Pictures Anthology titled House of Ashes, which has dropped yesterday along with its launch trailer.
As we’ve seen from the previous games, each Dark Pictures Anthology game is set in a new location and tells a different tale (which the player helps create). The Dark Pictures Anthology game franchise started with the 2019 horror game Man of Medan, following an abducted group of friends and acquaintances who find themselves stuck inside a haunted ship at high sea. The year after, Little Hope, which follows four college students and their teacher stranded in a spooky ghost town, came out.
Published by Bandai Namco, House of Ashes has another unique setting. The game is set in 2003 and this time we follow and control five main characters, soldiers in the Iraq war, who end up trapped inside an ancient Sumerian temple. These soldiers belong to different sides above ground but down in the depths of these ruins, they must either put their animosity aside or face the consequences.
The trailer is narrated by the recurring in-game mysterious figure of the Curator, a self-proclaimed “observer” of the events that unfold. He, once again, makes sure to remind us that it’s up to us, the players, to ensure either the survival or demise of these characters. Choices must be made: “Head or heart. Sacrifice or survival. Good or evil.”
Fate rarely plays fair in these series, but it comes all down to your choices if you dare adventure into these frightening ruins. House of Ashes is out now and is available for PlayStation4, PlayStation5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.