From the footage I’ve seen, I truly believe Supermassive has a hit on their hands with House of Ashes. While I was a fan of Man of Medan and Little Hope, House of Ashes feels like the next generational step for these types of horror games. While the Predator and Aliens inspirations are certainly going to grab a lot of people, I’m most excited about the other elements and influences they’ve thrown in.
Supermassive’s The Dark Pictures Anthology has offered a myriad of stories for fans of any subgenre of horror. Body horror, witches, serial killers, you name it. Even though there’s something for every horror fan, there’s one subgenre I’ve been highly anticipating: action horror. Movies like Predator (1987) and Aliens (1986) have been some of my favorites for as long as I can remember, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that those two movies in particular were direct inspiration for Supermassive’s upcoming House of Ashes.
Taking place during the Iraq War in 2003, House of Ashes follows the story of a squad of US soldiers investigating a potential WMD site, only to be ambushed at said site. During the ambush, the ground beneath the squad gives way and causes the soldiers to plummet into the depths of a cave system that houses an ancient Mesopotamian temple. Oh, and the cave system also happens to be infested with some type of Xenomorph-esque creatures. I didn’t get a good look at the creatures themselves, but they promise to be some of the most terrifying creatures Supermassive has introduced yet.
What struck me immediately was the overall vibe of the game. While most will immediately notice the similarities to Aliens and Predator, I recognized the immediate influence of the 2006 film The Descent, which features a very similar premise to House of Ashes. From the various beautiful shafts of light sifting down into the caves to the claustrophobic tunnels the characters push through, it’s clear that House of Ashes knows exactly the type of horror it’s striving for. Even though the Dark Pictures Anthology has always had fantastic facial capture, facial animation for each of the characters is top-notch. Seemingly bumped up with the power of next-gen hardware, it was noticeable how each of the character’s faces shows different levels of fear and emotion depending on the situation.
Although the inspirations of House of Ashes are enough to make me excited to check out the final game, I am left wondering how Supermassive plans on tackling the backdrop to the game: the Iraq War. Supermassive has a unique chance to say something about the controversies of the Iraq War in a nuanced fashion, instead of just using it as a framing device. For example, in the preview footage I’ve seen after an encounter with the cave-dwellers, one soldier exclaims, “Iraqi’s are swarming these caves…”; a line that stood out to me, as his counterpart understood that these cave-dwelling creatures were something else. That sort of belligerence is something I’d like to see explored a bit in House of Ashes, even if it’s just from a singular character.
House of Ashes also changes up a tremendous amount in terms of gameplay and is a clear breaking-off point for the series. While the traditional QTEs are present throughout, there are now difficulty options available for players to tune how difficult they would like the QTEs to be. I’m in the camp of believing that the QTEs were too easy in Little Hope, so being able to ramp up the difficulty to really emphasize those stressful choices in the story is an exciting idea that I hope turns into more exciting moments. In terms of the moment-to-moment gameplay, House of Ashes ditches the locked camera angle while playing and instead utilizes a full 360-degree camera for players to really take in the world. Of course, there’s a catch: since players are stuck in the pitch-black cave systems, they must heavily utilize their flashlight to find secrets and hidden paths throughout the story. Even though the 360-degree camera is present, it almost feels like a tradeoff. Yes, you can look at all of your surroundings, but since all of the environments shown off in the preview are so small, the 360-degree camera almost adds to the claustrophobia. Combined with how close the camera is to the back of the characters, there’s a tension that Supermassive is building that I can’t wait to get my hands on.
From the footage I’ve seen, I truly believe Supermassive has a hit on their hands with House of Ashes. While I was a fan of Man of Medan and Little Hope, House of Ashes feels like the next generational step for these types of horror games. While the Predator and Aliens inspirations are certainly going to grab a lot of people, I’m most excited about the other elements and influences they’ve thrown in. There are passing mentions of Pazuzu (for all you Exorcist fans out there), so there certainly seems to be more at play here than just cave creatures wreaking havoc on these soldiers. There’s a lot to be excited about from what we’ve seen with House of Ashes, but I’m more excited for the stuff we haven’t seen yet.
House of Ashes releases later this year on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.
