The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes

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"House of Ashes" redirects here. For the underworld in Mesopotamian mythology known by this name, see Ancient Mesopotamian underworld.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
The cover art for House of Ashes. In the foreground is the logo of The Dark Pictures Anthology, a right-facing skull. The skull possesses a pair of vampire-like fangs. An image of Rachel King, covered in blood, and a picture of a Pazuzu statue are overlaid on the cranium. The game title is placed above the skull, and above the title is a smaller text displaying the series name. The background is sand-coloured, with Sumerian imagery and cuneiform text faintly etched on it.
Box art for the game, featuring protagonist Rachel King
Developer(s)Supermassive Games
Publisher(s)Bandai Namco Entertainment
Director(s)Will Doyle
Producer(s)
  • Pete Samuels
  • Dan McDonald
  • Dom Ireland
Writer(s)Khurrum Rahman
Composer(s)Jason Graves
SeriesThe Dark Pictures Anthology
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
Release22 October 2021
Genre(s)Interactive drama, survival horror
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes, also known simply as House of Ashes, is a 2021 interactive drama survival horror video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the third instalment in The Dark Pictures series, following 2019's Man of Medan and 2020's Little Hope. Ashley Tisdale, who portrays a CIA field officer named Rachel King, stars as the title's leading actress. Set during the United States' invasion of Iraq, the game focuses on five characters—four Americans working for the US Armed Forces and one Iraqi working for the country's Republican Guard—who fall into a subterranean Akkadian temple after the two parties clash during an ambush countering a US military raid. The protagonists have to find a way out of the ancient structure and cooperate, even with their adversaries, in order to outmatch the vampiric entities that infest the area. Thus, the proverb "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" serves as the game's central theme.

Like its predecessors in The Dark Pictures Anthology, House of Ashes features a cast of five playable protagonists and a multilinear narrative moulded by player choice. Users must make several decisions that alter the trajectory of the plot and change the relationships between the main characters. Due to these choices, any of the five protagonists can die permanently. Many other features from previous instalments return in this game, such as quick time events and collectable "pictures" that allow players to see visions of potential outcomes. Conversely, House of Ashes introduces new gameplay elements to the series, like a more interactive camera system and a difficulty level to manage quick time events.

During House of Ashes' development, Supermassive Games took inspiration from various pieces of media, including the book At The Mountains of Madness and the movies Predator and The Descent. Jason Graves composed the game's soundtrack, along with other games in the anthology. Supermassive Games used motion capture technology to animate the story's characters, including the bat-like monsters that serve as House of Ashes' primary antagonists. Two teaser trailers were revealed for House of Ashes—in 2020 at the end of Little Hope and on 19 May 2021. Trailers showing sneak peeks of the story, characters, and gameplay were also premiered leading up to the game's release, and a launch date trailer with live-action scenes was revealed on the day House of Ashes was scheduled to come out publicly.

House of Ashes was released on 22 October 2021 for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Its upcoming sequel, The Devil in Me, will be the final title in the anthology's first season. House of Ashes received generally mixed reviews from critics and generally favorable reviews from users; the writing for the story and characters received a lot of praise compared to Man of Medan or Little Hope, being dubbed as a "step on the right direction" for Supermassive Games, but the game still faced criticism for technical issues within the gameplay such as bugs and glitches with textures and animation.

Gameplay[]

A screenshot of one of House of Ashes' gameplay mechanics. The scene is set in a dark underground cave. On the right side of the image is Rachel, holding a grappling rope and standing on a cliff ledge. Separated by a wide gap, her ill companion Clarice is on the other side of the chasm, which is on the left side of the image. Two circular buttons are presented on the screen; the first button, which says "HELP", is by the left side of the chasm, and the second button, which says "ABANDON", is by the right side. "HELP" and "ABANDON" are accompanied by sketches of a heart and a brain, respectively.
Rachel contemplates on whether she should abandon her companion Clarice. In House of Ashes, players are often required to make choices that can have lasting effects on the story later.

House of Ashes is an interactive drama and survival horror game, similar to previous instalments in The Dark Pictures Anthology.[1] Viewing House of Ashes from a third-person perspective, players control five characters who become trapped in an underground Mesopotamian temple during the Iraq War in 2003, where they are stalked and hunted by bat-like monsters awoken by an earthquake.[2] Throughout the game, players need to make several decisions that can have long-term consequences on how the narrative progresses and how the characters perceive each other.[3] Choices are timed,[3] and players can opt to say or do nothing whenever a prompt to make a decision appears.[4] A butterfly effect system called "bearings" serves as a tracker located in the game menu for consequential decisions that players make, and each major subplot has one bearing that lists all related choices as well as their outcomes.[5] All five characters can survive or die depending on these decisions, and the story continues even without the deceased characters.[6] As a result, the game has multiple endings[2] and over 60 unique death scenes.[7]

The ensemble cast of protagonists include a married couple, CIA field officer Rachel King (Ashley Tisdale) and her husband Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Eric Edmund King[a] (Alex Gravenstein), whose distant relationship at the beginning of the game serves as a plot point in which players control the progression.[9][10] As Eric finishes work on a military tracking system, Rachel begins an affair with another playable protagonist, Marine Corps Sergeant Nicolas "Nick" Kay[a] (Moe Jeudy-Lamour), and players must also determine how Rachel's relationship with her lover develops over time.[9][10] Players also take control of US Marine First Lieutenant Jason Kolchek (Paul Zinno) and Iraqi Republican Guard soldier Lieutenant Salim Othman (Nick E. Tarabay), two fighters on opposite sides of the Iraq War.[10][11] Once the vampiric entities begin to assault the protagonists, the game provides the option to turn Jason and Salim's initial animosity for one another into friendship as part of House of Ashes' recurring theme of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".[3][11]

Many combat-heavy scenes involve quick time events (QTEs) that come in various forms, and failure to follow the QTEs can lead to consequences like a protagonist's death.[3] One type of QTE is pressing specific buttons, whether once or repeatedly, to make characters perform actions like dodging an obstacle[3] or keeping calm when hiding from a threat.[12][13] Another type is moving a crosshair onto a target in order to shoot it.[14] The game displays a notice on the screen whenever players are about to perform a QTE, illustrating the type of action that the aforementioned QTEs are intended to carry out.[15]

House of Ashes also incorporates elements of exploration into the gameplay and allows players to pick up various collectables while searching and moving through locations.[16] A new light source mechanic aids players in navigation and inspection underground by illuminating dark paths ahead.[1] Meanwhile, the eponymous "pictures" mechanic from the previous titles makes a return in the anthology, which work similarly as the totems from Until Dawn, a 2015 game also developed by Supermassive.[17] Separated into "black", "white", and "gold" pictures, these types of collectables trigger a vision of future possible story branches that are meant to guide players in making their decisions.[18] Additionally, as another holdover from the instalment's predecessors, there are 50 items scattered throughout House of Ashes that are named "secrets", providing background and context to events preceding the main plot.[17] Some of these items include journal entries from an archaeologist that, when picked up, activate a cutscene overlaid with vintage film effects that document events from the past.[1]

On the other hand, House of Ashes presents two gameplay mechanics that were not available in either Man of Medan or Little Hope. The game camera is no longer fully fixed, replaced by a 360-degree user-controlled camera.[19] The instalment also introduces difficulty levels for the various QTEs, allowing players to remap the keybinds for specific types of QTEs and customise the speed at which QTEs appear, among others.[20]

Like with Man of Medan and Little Hope, players can enter House of Ashes in four modes. Two are single-player, the "Theatrical" and "Curator's Cuts", and the rest are multiplayer, "Movie Night" and "Shared Story".[20] Players who pre-ordered House of Ashes, apart from getting the main Theatrical Cut which was the default way of seeing the game, gained access to the "Curator's Cut", a version of the story that showed mostly the same scenes but were viewed from the perspective and control of another protagonist.[2] On the other hand, inspired by live streamers' cooperative manner of playing Until Dawn, Shared Story and Movie Night offer players the option to control the characters with another person, with Shared Story acting as a two-player version of the game and Movie Night accommodating up to three more players.[3][21]

Synopsis[]

A bronze head artefact, with the beard depicted prominently. The artefact is believed to illustrate the Akkadian god-king Naram-Sin, or his grandfather Sargon of Akkad.
A Baghdad palace decorated with a dome sits atop a man-made lake. Several cars can be found on a road circling the palace.
The majority of the game's story is set in Akkad, ruled by the self-proclaimed god-king of the Akkadian Empire Naram-Sin (left). The US military base Camp Slayer (right), located in Baghdad, also makes an appearance near the beginning and end of the game.

Setting and prologue[]

House of Ashes' plot is set predominantly during the Iraq War and within the former territory of the ancient Akkadian Empire that existed in Mesopotamia around 4000 years ago,[22] with a small cameo from the fictional Massachusetts town of Little Hope as a nod to the previous instalment of the same name.[23] In the game's timeline, the empire was the site of a spaceship crash landing. The vessel carried thousands of large bat-like aliens from the Cetus constellation, journeying the galaxy, when it flew near Earth's atmosphere.[24] An infection, caused by a parasite that gestates within the host's body, took over the ark's crew and resulted in a ship-wide disruption that led to the crash—the disease caused the aliens to mutate into the game's vampires.[25] Vulnerable to sunlight and controlled through the nervous system by the parasites, the aliens have been hibernating underground for millennia, only occasionally venturing to the surface to feed on the adrenaline of animals and humans.[26] A temple was built at the behest of the Akkadian god-king Naram-Sin to appease the Mesopotamian gods,[27] which was above the crash site.

The prologue takes place in Akkad, home to the aforementioned temple, during the year 2231 BC.[22] The Akkadians are dealing with a curse of famine and plague after Naram-Sin has angered the wind god Enlil.[2] As a Gutian army prepares to invade the city, Naram-Sin orders the mass sacrifice of Gutian prisoners in the city's temple to "nourish the sands" and help the Akkadians win the battle. During the assault, a solar eclipse occurs that allows the vampiric creatures from the spaceship beneath the temple to begin slaughtering both armies.[28] Two survivors, Akkadian general Balathu and Gutian soldier Kurum, put aside their differences and work together as they flee into the temple catacombs to escape the creatures. However, they are quickly overwhelmed and presumably killed.

Once the prologue ends, the game cuts to a scene of a library owned by the Curator (Pip Torrens), an omnipresent observer of the player's decisions. Talking to the player, the Curator introduces himself and provides information about parts of House of Ashes' gameplay like the decision-making system[29][30] and the pictures system.[31] He will later sporadically appear across the story's runtime to provide clues about what will happen in the plot.[11]

Main plot[]

During the Iraq War in May 2003, Lt. Col. Eric King arrives at Camp Slayer to debrief a team of US Special Forces troops, led by his distant wife and CIA field officer Rachel King, about a mission to raid a small village in the Arabian Desert,[32] codenamed "Target LZ".[33] He believes he has found a facility underneath the village that stores Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons.[29][34] The team includes Rachel's paramour, Force Recon Sgt. Nick Kay, and Nick's squad leader 1stLt. Jason Kolchek. Other minor characters in this team consist of Eric's assistant Dr. Clarice Stokes, and US Marines Cpl. Nathan Merwin[a] and LCpl. José "Joey" Gomez.[a][32] Meanwhile, Iraqi Republican Guard soldier Lt. Salim Othman returns home and searches his house for his son Zain, carrying a birthday gift for him, but is forced by his commanding officer Cpt. Dar Basri to intercept the raid led by Eric.[35][36] Salim's squad ambushes the US troops when they arrive, but several sinkholes caused by an earthquake plunge everybody into the ancient Akkadian temple, now buried beneath the sands.[35]

The five protagonists are separated during the fall; inside the temple, both Iraqi and American forces are frequently attacked by the vampiric creatures.[37] The creatures also include reanimated humans who succumbed to the parasite, like the "Ancient One", who is either Balathu or Kurum depending on player choices in the prologue.[38] A similar fate befalls Joey, who was mortally wounded in the ambush,[35][39] and the infection can also be caught by Clarice[40] and Rachel.[41][42] Throughout the course of the game, the protagonists learn about the temple's history and about the remains of a failed British archaeological expedition in 1945–46.[37] Led by Randolph Hodgson and an antiquarian Lady Bradshaw in a supposed search for Alexander the Great's tomb,[43] the entire expedition team was wiped out after encountering and studying the monsters,[44] and Hodgson subsequently tried but failed to bring down the temple with dynamite.[45]

As the surviving Marines regroup,[46] a lone Salim explores the temple. He comes across one of the vampires and retrieves a metal bar off a fallen truck to use as a weapon against them.[47] Meanwhile, Rachel gets separated from Eric after a stand-off with Dar[48] and falls into a blood-soaked pit. In there, while the US. forces are busy finding ways to signal help, she comes across a rather pale and ill Clarice,[49] separated from the Marines upon briefly rejoining them.[46] Together, the two climb out of the pit, but due to Clarice's worsening state, Rachel has to choose whether to abandon Clarice or continue accompanying her to medicate the illness.[50] Regardless, Rachel reunites with her allies in the temple, and the group finds themselves in a violent assault with the vampires.[51] As they escape from the creatures towards the catacombs below them, the Americans run into Dar once again,[b] now joined by Salim.[52] The latter suggests they unite to fight the monsters giving chase, and the rest reluctantly agree.[53] The vampires continue attacking the protagonists in the catacombs, killing Dar and separating everyone once more.[52]

After the assault, Salim comes across Jason and decides to team up with him. At this point, the two can choose to be cooperative yet distrusting of one another, or forge a friendship and warm up to the other's presence. Either way, the two explore the temple, fighting creatures along the journey,[54] and end up deeper into the remains of the alien spaceship where they find a partially preserved Balathu or Kurum.[55] Nick (and possibly Rachel and Eric) follow afterward. Once the survivors flee from the creatures in another close encounter, they further explore the spaceship and learn about the origin of the vampires that they have been fighting.[56]

The survivors talk about a gigantic nest of hibernating vampires that they found in the spaceship earlier and agree to incinerate it with explosives. As the cocoons burn down, everyone makes a run for the surface to await extraction by a rescue team.[57] They escape the temple, but a total solar eclipse happens, allowing the vampires to attack the group one final time until the eclipse ends and the dispatched team arrives.[58] The player's choices and performances in QTEs determine how many of the protagonists survive. During a post-credits epilogue back at Camp Slayer, the protagonists that the rescue team find are transported—and interviewed if found alive—inside the base.[c] The US military begins analysis of the vampires,[60] planning to cover up the entire incident.[61]

A gif of Jason Kolchek, dressed with a cap and blue shirt, and Salim Othman, dressed in green Republican Guard attire. The former approaches Salim and tells the latter to wish Zain, Salim's son, a happy birthday for Jason. After that, they shake their hands in friendship, and Salim says his thanks before the two part ways.
If Jason (left) and Salim (right) are amicable as a result of their faithful alliance against the vampires, Jason may shake the latter's hand after the eclipse.[d] This is one of many scenes in the game that explore the main theme of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Development and release[]

Gameplay and story[]

House of Ashes is the third of eight planned titles for The Dark Pictures Anthology,[63] with the films Aliens, Predator, and The Descent; the book At the Mountains of Madness; and the myth of the Curse of Akkad being major sources of inspiration for the team.[19] It is the first title in the series to be available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, making use of the next-generation graphics and resolution that the platforms provide.[64][65][66]: 05:56  Game director Will Doyle described House of Ashes as a creature feature and an exploration horror game about an ensemble cast of "trained experts"—"beyond safety" and unable to get backup—in a "critical" mission somewhere secluded, where they encounter threats that Doyle characterises as "horrible" and "inhumane".[2][19] Like the other instalments, House of Ashes was designed to be a standalone story,[9][67] but a forum post by Doyle on the game's fan subreddit confirmed that they also put easter eggs and callbacks to previous and future installments in order to create a kind of shared universe.[68][65][23] Character models from House of Ashes' predecessors were reused in this game as well, and Sara Rechena from IGN pointed out that the design choice was reminiscent of American Horror Story.[11]

The developers spent an extensive amount of time designing the monsters, the most complicated of their kind that they have made thus far, and the creatures were brought to life through both motion capture and hand animation.[2][69] Executive producer Dan McDonald, in an exclusive interview with PCGamesN, added that the developers focused on determining the monsters' physiology to achieve an "otherworldly" effect, which they did by using "a bunch of props, stilts, and other things".[69] Doyle added that the monsters' designs were created to be faceless so that the monsters came across as incomprehensible and unempathetic, inhumane enough to "bring out the humanity" in the protagonists.[63][66]: 04:54 

Supermassive Games implemented some gameplay changes and new features for House of Ashes, with two being a result of fan feedback on previous games; a difficulty level was made available for this game, and the camera system was overhauled to make it freely movable by users.[2] Doyle remarked that after the release of Man of Medan and Little Hope, he noticed that fans were divided about the difficulty of the QTE mechanics; many found it "too easy" whereas many others found it "too hard".[70] Thus, in House of Ashes, players were now able to toggle the speed at which QTEs appear and remain on screen.[63][70] The game also gave players the new option to use a light source like a torch to illuminate surrounding areas during exploration, as the setting would often be dark.[1][70] The plot was written to be less linear when compared to Little Hope,[71] an approach that provoked backlash from fans for its use of hallucinations as a twist at the end.[69]

Usage of the Iraq War as setting[]

An Iraqi Army officer, whose helmet bears a painted flag of Iraq, holds a rifle as he overlooks a market across a road. There are two tanks placed on the road in question.
An Air Force officer, turned sideways in such a manner that his US flag patch is visible, carefully observes a group of Iraqi civilians carrying bags of sand whilst holding an armed weapon, on the lookout for any suspicious activity.
Supermassive Games thought that the enmity between American and Iraqi troops during the Iraq War (pictured) would help flesh out House of Ashes' in-game military personnel. Having them put aside their hostilities to focus on the common threat, the vampires, was a decision that the developers made to highlight the humanity of those characters.[63] To further give the protagonists nuance, Supermassive also tied several aspects of the characters' backstories to their participation in the invasion of Iraq, such as Salim's desire to leave the war and go back to his son.[9]

During interviews with the Supermassive team by magazines Polygon and Game Informer, McDonald claimed that while the game was set during the invasion of Iraq, war and politics were "not [intended]" to be the primary focus. Nonetheless, they tried to treat the setting with respect[9][71] because, as Doyle remarked in a separate interview with Eurogamer, the team noticed that movies depicting conflicts like the Iraq War had the tendency to dehumanise people from opposing nations.[63] To this end, Supermassive included an Iraqi protagonist in the ensemble cast to ensure that they represented people from both sides of the war in a nuanced light. Moreover, the developers consulted military specialists and Arabic speakers during the game's production to ensure if their depiction of 2003 Iraq was "grounded in reality" and the plot's script was of good quality.[9][71]

When asked about the choice to make Iraq the game's setting, Supermassive attributed the decision to the location's abundance in myths and folklore that the team could incorporate in the story.[71] Furthermore, the team believed that the Iraq War would give an "interesting" jumping-off point for fleshing out the five protagonists—allowing the opportunity for character motivations, relationships, and dynamics that the team found compelling, sympathetic, and "complex".[9][63]

Casting the lead[]

A photo of Ashley Tisdale at Macy's Herald Square NYC in July 2012. Attending a Puma Project Pink event, she wears a white sleeveless shirt with the event's logo printed on it.
Ashley Tisdale voiced and supplied the motion capture for CIA officer Rachel King, one of the game's five playable protagonists.

Supermassive Games approached Ashley Tisdale—famous for her appearances in the High School Musical series—during the game's development and asked if she could portray the character of Rachel King.[71] For the role, the developers wanted to cast someone who could exhibit a "tough" personality but was simultaneously capable of showing a "soft side".[72] In response, Tisdale agreed to provide Rachel's voice and likeness because she felt that the project would help broaden her career's horizons.[9] She subsequently became the instalment's leading actress,[73] making her acting debut in the video games industry.[74] During the filming process, Supermassive recorded the physical movements of Tisdale and the rest of House of Ashes' actors to create animations for the game's character models.[75] However, to comply with social distancing protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, actors had to avoid bodily contact with one another as they enacted their scenes, with their movements being edited digitally in post-production to give the impression of contact.[63] In an official behind-the-scenes interview with the developers, Tisdale recounted her experiences while acting for House of Ashes and expressed her excitement in featuring in the horror game as a CIA operative:[76]

I'm obsessed with the CIA, and so I was very excited to play a character [like Rachel] because I haven't gotten to do that on TV or movies yet … I am more known for obviously doing comedy, but this is like, you know what? For me I've always wanted to do an action film, and I am living out my action dreams [acting for the game] because, yes, it is scary, but there's so much action adventure in it, and it's pretty cool—it's pretty wild … Everyone's really cool; I mean, we all have so much fun and we kind of are just like here kind of killing it.

Kimberley Wallace from Game Informer points out that every game in The Dark Pictures Anthology contains one high-profile actor that stars as their game's lead. Apart from House of Ashes' Tisdale, she brings up Man of Medan's Shawn Ashmore and Little Hope's Will Poulter as evidence of this observation.[9]

Music and sound design[]

A photo of Jason Graves in a suit, captured in 2010.
Jason Graves reprises his role as The Dark Pictures' composer in House of Ashes

Jason Graves returns in The Dark Pictures Anthology to compose the soundtrack for House of Ashes, who collaborated with Supermassive Games during the early stages of development.[77] Before The Dark Pictures, he also served as the composer for Until Dawn, another survival horror game developed by Supermassive.[78] Created during the pandemic lockdowns, the score in House of Ashes consists of various string and percussion instruments, including hand drums and distorted guitars, as well as flutes and synthesisers.[77][79]

Audio director Barney Pratt utilised a combination of film and game music editing techniques to create a cinematic and immersive atmosphere for House of Ashes, and his team wanted the style of the score to be shaped by the plot and gameplay.[27][79] A percussive, Sumerian-style composition was employed for the prologue, and it progressed to a horror-themed orchestration of various other instruments,[27] adding the synths after the game's twist to evoke the imagery of highly advanced technology.[77] In these scores, Pratt made use of what he called the game's "signature sound" that could convey a wide variety of emotions for the story, from "unnerving" to "dramatic"; Pratt also planned for the signature sound to be subtle and encompass a vast range of "time zones, cultures, and locations", in line with the story's "consistent element[s]".[27][77] Graves started working on this sound with a sample of a coo from a dove, and he developed the rest of the arrangements from there.[77]

In an interview with music magazine Spin, Graves said that the experience working with Supermassive Games has been "a treat" and that he enjoyed coming up with unique compositions for each game in the anthology.[79]

Prelude and release[]

House of Ashes was first revealed in a hidden post-credits teaser trailer at the end of Little Hope,[80][81][82] released on 30 October 2020.[83][84] Supermassive Games and Bandai Namco Entertainment published another teaser trailer on 19 May 2021[85][86] then officially revealed the gameplay next week, on 27 May.[86][87][88] In addition, two story trailers provided glimpses on the game's plot: one premiered at E3 2021's Summer Game Fest on 10 June[89][90] and another at Gamescom 2021 on 25 August.[91][92] The Gamescom trailer also contained an advertisement for the game's "Pazuzu Edition" and a link to a fictional US military website that exposited further on House of Ashes' lore.[92][93] The Pazuzu Edition, which was the name for the game's collector's edition, featured a copy of the Curator's Cut, a collector's box, an exclusive art print and set of stickers, a figurine of one of the vampiric creatures, and an eclipse-shaped button.[94]

Shortly before its release, in early September, Supermassive and Bandai Namco made a playable demo of House of Ashes available to the public, providing audiences with a hands-on preview of the gameplay and story.[95][96] Next, the companies shared a character trailer introducing the main cast on 7 October, around two weeks before the game's launch date.[97][98][99] Finally, House of Ashes was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 22 October 2021.[100][101] Its release was accompanied by a trailer that contained live action scenes of the Curator.[101]

Reception[]

Reviews[]

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes received "mixed or average" reviews from critics and "generally favorable" reviews from users, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[102][103][104][105]

A photo of actor Nick Tarabay wearing a plain black shirt, captured at German Comic Con in 2021.
Lebanese-American actor Nick Tarabay provided the voice for the protagonist Salim, whose character was received positively by players

The characters of House of Ashes were the subject of commentary for many critics. One of the protagonists, Salim, received widespread praise from audiences.[6][22][106][14][10] Rachel Weber, writing for GamesRadar+, commented that some of the characters felt like "good impressions" of human beings, describing Salim as a character she "really wanted" to save,[6] and Richard Wakeling from GameSpot wrote that the developers did an "excellent job" at making Salim a sympathetic character and cited his character dynamics as being the game's "best and most poignant moments".[22] Jordan Devore from Destructoid agreed and considered him as the "most likeable" and "relatable" of the cast, and he also calls Salim the "most pragmatic" due to his willingness to put aside conflict in order to escape the temple.[106] Tom Orry from VG247 thought that Salim stood out from the cast due to his backstory and personality,[14] and Polygon's Cass Marshall added that Salim's character motivation of returning home to his son throughout the story, his "enormous vampire kill count", and his relationship with Jason was what made him stand out.[10] Jason also received some praise from critics. Marshall found Jason's dynamic with Salim to be "satisfying and bittersweet",[10] whereas Game Informer's Marcus Stewart remarked that, even though his interactions with Salim came across as "cheesy", he lauded the acting behind Jason's character, considering his war trauma and character development as "endearing" moments that drew Stewart close to the protagonist.[16]

Accolades[]

Year Award Category Result Ref
2021 Gamescom Awards Best Multiplayer Game Nominated [111][112]
Best Sony PlayStation Game Nominated
2022 NAVGTR Awards Outstanding Camera Direction in a Game Engine Pending [113]
Outstanding Direction in a Game Cinema Pending
Outstanding Game, Franchise Adventure Pending
Outstanding Lighting/Texturing Pending
Outstanding Sound Editing in a Game Cinema Pending

Sequel[]

The Devil in Me is directly inspired by H.H. Holmes's "Murder Castle", where hearsay suggested he would lure unsuspecting visitors to murder them

The series' next title has been revealed as The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me, which will serve as the final game for The Dark Pictures' first season.[114] The first trailer for the finale was shown at the end of House of Ashes, and it depicts an automated human-like mechanism created from the bodies of dead people.[115] Around a minute long, the trailer in question features a voiceover from a narrator monologuing about the "art" of serial killing.[116] A gold picture found at one chapter of House of Ashes also previewed a scene from The Devil in Me, showing a man who gets incinerated by flames that come from a mannequin.[23]

After Bandai Namco and Supermassive announced the trailer for the upcoming game, the companies gave an overview of the plot. Planned for release in 2022, The Devil in Me will follow a five-person crew of documentary filmmakers who take a tour of an H.H. Holmes Murder Castle replica after receiving an invitation to explore the building and subsequently get stalked by a malevolent force.[117]

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b c d Full names revealed during launch date trailer[8]
  2. ^ While Rachel was at the blood pit, the marines ran into Captain Dar, who proceeded to open fire on them.
  3. ^ Some characters can remain undiscovered by the extraction team during the epilogue. For example, if Salim survives the fight during the eclipse, the extraction team can arrest him as as a POW, or he can elude the military forces and return to his son at home completely safe.[59] The latter outcome takes place if Eric does not call for air support during the Camp Slayer briefing and Merwin dies shortly after reuniting with the other marines.[38]
  4. ^ This happens only if Salim has time to leave Target LZ and return to his son.[62] See Note C.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Stanley, Alyse (26 October 2021). "'House of Ashes' isn't 'Until Dawn,' but it's the closest The Dark Pictures Anthology has come yet". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Takahashi, Dean (27 May 2021). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes takes horror under the desert". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Takahashi, Dean (21 October 2021). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes review — Saving friends and enemies alike". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  4. ^ Huston, Belle (22 October 2021). "10 Beginner's Tips For House Of Ashes". The Gamer. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
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