Bandai Namco has revealed House of Ashes, which is the third game in the The Dark Pictures Anthology series by Supermassive Games.
The trailer does a decent job in setting the tone, and giving a glimpse into the spookier side of the game set during the Iraq war. The bleeps did throw me off a little bit, and I am not sure why the trailer was censored at all. As much as that pulled me out of the experience a bit, I did quite enjoy that they showed the differences from the POV of the theatrical vs the curator’s cut. The latter of which is available once completing the main story as it has been in the past two games.
According to their official press release, “The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes drops players into 2003, in the shadow of the Zagros mountains in Iraq where a military unit is caught within the ruins of a buried Sumerian temple. Something ancient and evil has awakened in the shadows and has found a new prey to hunt. Will they each prioritize their own survival, or put aside their fears and their personal rivalries to fight together as one?”
The overall setting has potential in providing some deep scares, while also delving deep into the effect of PTSD on combatants. The latter of which is a guess into what they will delve into, but there are few war properties that don’t touch upon it. Should Supermassive Games carefully unpeel the many layers of ptsd, this could be the game that helps propel The Dark Picture Anthology forward. Their previous two games have been well liked enough, so hopefully this is the title that puts them into the next level.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes will launch later this year on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation and PC.
