The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope

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The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope
Dark Pictures Little Hope cover art.jpg
Developer(s)Supermassive Games
Publisher(s)Bandai Namco Entertainment
Director(s)Nik Bowen
Writer(s)Dario Poloni
Composer(s)Jason Graves
SeriesThe Dark Pictures Anthology
Platform(s)
Release30 October 2020
Genre(s)Interactive drama, survival horror
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope, also known simply as Little Hope, is an interactive drama survival horror video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the second of eight planned installments in The Dark Pictures Anthology series, following 2019's Man of Medan. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 30 October 2020. A successor, House of Ashes, is planned for release in 2021.

Gameplay[]

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope is a survival horror video game played from a third-person perspective in which the player assumes control of all 5 characters who are trapped in a ghost town of Little Hope. Throughout the game, the player needs to choose different dialogue options, which will influence the course of the narrative and the relationships between the protagonists. The game can be played multiple times, as there are multiple endings and multiple scenarios based on the decisions that the players make. Depending on the choices of the players, all characters may or may not die by the end of the story.[1] Action sequences mainly feature quick time events, most of which, if missed, can lead to dire consequences for each character.

Similar to Man of Medan, the game features two multiplayer modes. "Shared Story" allows 2 players to play co-op online and "Movie Night" allows up to 5 players to select their own characters and prompts them to pass the controller at each turn.[1]

Plot[]

Little Hope is presented as an unfinished story in the possession of the omnipresent Curator (Pip Torrens), who requests the player's assistance in completing it.

In the present day, a bus driver is taking four students, Andrew (Will Poulter), Angela (Ellen David), Taylor (Caitlyn Sponheimer), and Daniel (Kyle Bailey), and their professor, John (Alex Ivanovici), on a class trip, before crashing after being forced to take a detour through the ghost town of Little Hope. The story then jumps back to a prologue set in 1972 regarding the Clark family: the parents, Anne (David) and James (Ivanovici), and their four adopted children, Anthony (Poulter), Tanya (Sponheimer), Dennis (Bailey), and Megan (Skye Burkett). Megan places her doll onto a stove lit by Anthony, starting a house fire where each of the family members die except for Anthony, who runs back into the burning house as the prologue ends.

Back in the present, the group set off into Little Hope to search for help as the bus driver goes missing. They enter a bar to use a phone and encounter Vince (Kevin Hanchard), Tanya's boyfriend at the time of the house fire, who reveals that there is no power. On the way up the road, Andrew and Angela find a doll and are dragged backwards in time by a ghostly figure named Mary (Burkett). The group all begin to collide with Mary and see flashbacks where Reverend Carver (David Smith) is blackmailing Mary into helping him frame residents of Little Hope (doppelgängers of the present-day group) for witchcraft. Each member of the group except for Andrew witnesses their doppelgänger be executed before being attacked by a demonic version of them and either successfully fleeing or dying based on player choice. Ultimately, the group ends up at the Clark family household and witness one final flashback where Carver has betrayed Mary and has her framed for witchcraft. Andrew can instruct his doppelgänger to either blame Carver and have him taken away, have Mary's doll burned, or blame Mary and have her executed.

Returning to the present, Andrew is revealed to have actually been the bus driver, Anthony, who hallucinated the present-day group and the residents from the flashbacks as figures from his past, including his family, after being forced to return to Little Hope. Depending on his treatment towards Vince, who he ultimately blamed, and whether he has a gun, Anthony will either be arrested, commit suicide, continue to blame himself for his family's deaths, or accept that the house fire was not his fault.

Development[]

Little Hope is the second installment in the Dark Pictures Anthology series.[2] Unlike Man of Medan, which was a modern-day story, Little Hope's story covers multiple timelines, with the narrative jumping back and forth between the present and the past. The game features more supernatural elements when compared to its predecessor and the team chose witchcraft as the game's main theme as they wanted to explore its root causes. Pete Samuels, the game's director, added that the team was intrigued by the "greed, paranoia, and fear of God" which motivated people to commit heinous acts during that period. The team took inspirations from both the Silent Hill series and The Crucible, which is a play about the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. The game was also inspired by films including The Witch, The Blair Witch Project, Hellraiser, It Follows, The Omen, and Season of the Witch.[3] Will Poulter was hired to voice and provide motion capture for Andrew, the game's lead character.[3]

Like its predecessor, the game was designed to be replayable. The team also refined the gameplay, after hearing feedback from players who complained about Man of Medan's gameplay.[4] For instance, the player character can now walk faster. In addition, the team lowered the difficulty of the game's quick-time events, giving more time for the players to react. It had also removed the tank controls.[3]

The Dark Pictures Anthology was envisioned by Supermassive Games as a series of unrelated games which explores different themes and horror genres. The studio's plan was to release each instalment every six months, though this target was missed. The game was first revealed when Man of Medan launched in August 2019. The teaser trailer was included as a post-credit scene for the game.[5] Publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment officially announced the game on 14 April 2020. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 30 October 2020.[6][7]

It was revealed by notorious industry insider Dusk Golem that Little Hope was originally a pitch for a silent hill game that got rejected by Konami. [8]

Reception[]

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[9][10][11]

Sequel[]

The third installment in the series, The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes, is planned for release for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2021, and features actress Ashley Tisdale.[22][23]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Sitzes, Jenae (27 April 2020). "The Dark Pictures: Little Hope Pre-Orders, Release Date, Price, And More". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  2. ^ Goslin, Austen (14 April 2020). "First trailer for The Dark Pictures: Little Hope is full of witches and doomed teens". Polygon. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Wallace, Kimberly (16 April 2020). "Everything You Need To Know About Supermassive's Little Hope". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  4. ^ Marshall, Cass (16 April 2020). "The best horror game to play with friends gets a Silent Hill-esque sequel". Polygon. Archived from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  5. ^ Barth, Nicholas (29 August 2019). "The Dark Pictures: Little Hope Officially Teased". Prima Games. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  6. ^ Wallace, Kimberly (14 April 2020). "Supermassive Unveils Little Hope, The Next Game In The Dark Pictures Anthology". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 16 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  7. ^ "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope launches October 30". Gematsu. 8 July 2020. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  8. ^ https://twitter.com/aestheticgamer1/status/1410162785913241605?s=21
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  12. ^ Devore, Jordan (3 November 2020). "Review: The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope". Destructoid. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  13. ^ Wallace, Kimberley (29 October 2020). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope Review – Inconsistent Magic". Game Informer. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  14. ^ Leri, Michael (29 October 2020). "Little Hope Review - 'Deserves to be burned at the stake for its sins'". Game Revolution. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  15. ^ King, Andrew (3 November 2020). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  16. ^ Delaney, Mark (29 October 2020). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope review: "Supermassive's best game since Until Dawn"". GamesRadar. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  17. ^ LeClair, Kyle (3 November 2020). "Review: The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  18. ^ O'Brien, Lucy (29 October 2020). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope Review". IGN. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  19. ^ Brown, Fraser (29 October 2020). "Little Hope review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  20. ^ Croft, Liam (2 November 2020). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope Review (PS4)". Push Square. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  21. ^ Chandler, Sam (29 October 2020). "Little Hope review: The witching hour". Shacknews. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  22. ^ Yang, George (30 October 2020). "House of Ashes, Third Entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology, Releases in 2021". The Escapist. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  23. ^ LeBlanc, Wesley (9 November 2020). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Is a Horror Game Set in the Iraq War". IGN. Retrieved 9 November 2020.

External links[]

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