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The Dark Pictures: Little Hope Review
Horror anthology series have worked well on television and in films, but they're not something that's really been explored in video games. That is, until Supermassive Games introduced The Dark Pictures, a horror anthology series with each game featuring a new cast and a new story, but retaining the big budget adventure game style that the studio is known for. The second installment in The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Dark Pictures: Little Hope, is in some ways an improvement on its predecessor Man of Medan, though it has its own drawbacks.
The Dark Pictures: Little Hope starts with a bus crash that sees five strangers stranded near an abandoned town shrouded in a thick, Silent Hill-like fog. They soon realize that the fog won't let them go anywhere except into the titular town of Little Hope, which is not quite as unpopulated as it first seems. The big Hollywood casting this time around is Will Poulter, who plays main character Andrew.
It doesn't take long after the bus crash for The Dark Pictures: Little Hope's first big issue to rear its head. The characters in The Dark Pictures: Little Hope simply do not act like real people, which makes it difficult to get emotionally invested in their ordeal. Characters do and say things that seem outlandish or at least inconsistent with how they act most of the time, and in some scenes, seemingly bounce from one emotion to the next. The character Taylor is perhaps the most glaring example of this, as she can go from terrified to laughing to flirting within the span of a few seconds.
The Dark Pictures: Little Hope's unrealistic characters keep the story from being as interesting as it could have been, as most players will likely struggle to connect with them in the same way they did with the cast of Man of Medan. The result is that it's not as intense when bad things are happening to them, which robs the game of much of its excitement. The story in general is a weak point, with much of it being purposefully bizarre and confusing, which makes the initial playthrough somewhat frustrating.
The last act of Dark Pictures: Little Hope picks things up significantly, though, as the game actually has some satisfying answers to its mysteries. Some criticized Man of Medan for having a disappointing ending, but it's unlikely those same complaints will be echoed here. In fact, The Dark Pictures: Little Hope's best ending is borderline brilliant, though it's arguable whether or not it makes up for the tedious plot that players have to deal with to experience it.
In terms of story, The Dark Pictures: Little Hope definitely feels like a step back from Man of Medan when looking at the big picture, but in terms of gameplay and general polish, Little Hope is miles ahead of the previous game. Whereas Man of Medan had some glaring technical issues at launch, Little Hope is virtually free of any hiccups or major technical problems. It runs smoother and there are no noticeable graphical mishaps either.
Much of Little Hope's gameplay revolves around performing quick-time events and making choices to change the narrative. As far as Little Hope's QTEs go, Supermassive has added handy visual warnings to let players know when a QTE is coming up, and what kind it will be. This is definitely appreciated and should result in less accidental button presses.
If players fail a QTE in The Dark Pictures: Little Hope, it can have dire consequences. Like the previous game, any Little Hope characters can die based on the choices players make and how well they perform the QTEs. Player choice impacts the narrative in other major ways as well, and it's fun to go back through and pick different options to see how differently the story plays out. Players also have an influence on character relationships thanks to the game's frequent dialogue options, though sometimes the dialogue choices seem to be two different ways to say essentially the same thing.
The bulk of The Dark Pictures: Little Hope consists of interactive cut-scenes where players are making these choices and completing the QTEs, but there are some sections where players are able to control a character directly and freely explore the environment. Unfortunately, Little Hope seems to be even more linear than the previous game in this regard, as the characters are basically funneled from point A to point B with even less focus on exploration than before.
The Dark Pictures: Little Hope also makes the jump scares less effective than they were in the previous game, as they are way overdone to the point where they become predictable. The game fails to build the tension necessary for the jump scares to really land, and when they are so frequent, they lose their bite.
One good thing that Little Hope retains from its predecessor is the Movie Night co-op mode. This mode lets up to five players take control of one of the five characters in the game, letting them complete their character-specific QTEs and make their character-specific choices. This gives Little Hope significant replay value, and when playing with the right group of friends, greatly boosts its fun factor. It's like having a watch party for a B-movie, except having a say in how the story plays out.
The Dark Pictures: Little Hope's Movie Night co-op mode is a lot of fun and the game is more polished than Man of Medan was at launch. It's also a visual knockout, with highly detailed environments and character models. Regardless of how well-animated or detailed the characters are, though, many players will find it difficult to care about them or the story, which is a huge blow to something that is basically an interactive movie. However, those who push through will be rewarded with a memorable ending, and if nothing else, Little Hope is still a solid choice as a sort-of party game.
The Dark Pictures: Little Hope launches October 30 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
