Taking the Supermassive formula and applying it to a mash-up of Ridley Scott’s Alien and John Carpenter’s The Thing was exactly why I was intrigued to check out Directive 8020.
I’m a huge fan of both films, and the idea of having to decide whether my crewmate is actually my crewmate, or some murderous alien, and then living with the consequences if I’m wrong, sounded like a spectacular narrative experience.
Sadly, Directive 8020 delivers just a fraction of that potential, which left me entertained but ultimately underwhelmed.
The story follows the crew of the Cassiopeia, an interstellar scout, which is on its way to Tau Ceti f, the potential new home for humanity. Before it can get there, the ship is struck by a meteorite, and now a lifeform that can imitate other humans is spreading throughout the ship.
Having not played a Supermassive game since Until Dawn back in 2014, I was struck by just how many choices the game throws at you. Even 20 minutes in, you’re seeing some of the consequences of your actions, with the game constantly reminding you on-screen with the “consequence” tab.
Playing across a crew of about seven different people, your choices will range from how to answer questions to decisions on how to approach each new situation, and eventually choices which can lead to the survival or demise of certain characters.
In between, you’ll control the characters for trivial exploration, the odd quick-time event, and some shallow stealth segments – the latter of which gets old fast.
Ultimately, the format hasn’t changed much since Until Dawn, but it has become a bit more complex. For one, characters now have destinies which can be unlocked or missed out depending on your choices.
These destinies can determine whether someone becomes a hero or self-assured, for example, with each destiny unlocking new forms of character progression and narrative branches. The issue is that the characters are just fine. I never disliked anyone (unless I was supposed to), but I also never quite cared about anyone either.
Through various conversations and finding lore-filling text-logs, you do simultaneously learn about the character and decide who they are in the process, which I did enjoy. But because of that, everyone sort of feels like a blank slate, which is a waste when you have talent like No Time To Die’s Lashana Lynch amongst your ensemble.
But the game’s biggest crime is its setting. Despite its various references to Alien, the Cassiopeia, where almost all of the game takes place, is just dull.
Look, I’m not expecting something in line with the USCSS Nostromo, but its gunmetal futuristic aesthetic lacks any identity. Across my roughly seven hours exploring empty hallways, copy-and-paste offices, and lifeless crew quarters, I never once got a sense of scale or place.
Things certainly improve, visually at least, as all hell breaks loose in the latter half of the game, but I think it’s clear that the Cassiopeia was never quite the focus for Supermassive, which is a real shame. Whether it’s Dead Space’s USG Ishimura, Pathos-II in SOMA, or Sevastopol Station in Alien Isolation, a great spaceship (or underwater base) can be the lifeblood of a sci-fi horror game.
I will say, despite the slow beginning, the narrative does begin to pick up in the latter half. There are some nice twists in there, some grotesque horror I loved the design of, and a lot of the choices you make seemingly start to impact later parts of the narrative.
While I’d have liked some more, there are also some of those key The Thing moments, as you have to decide whether the person standing before you is human or a killer alien. These moments are a nice hit of tension, and are exactly the little pockets of magic that I was looking for from this game.
And of course, as a Supermassive game, there is ample opportunity for replaying here. There are different endings, characters can live or die, and you’ll encounter all of this via either choices or a myriad of quick-time events. One misplaced button and it’s lights out for your favourite character.
Unless, that is, you want to try out the rewind system introduced with Directive 8020. This allows you to rewind back to key moments and choose a different path. There’s still a survivor mode for those who want to live with their mistakes, but this allows you to see more of the story without having to replay it from scratch.
I’m a little conflicted on this feature, though, as it’s nice as an option and one you can obviously ignore, but it does feel a bit counterintuitive. Each time a “turning point” decision is made, you’ll be reminded that you can change that decision.
However, most big decisions don’t immediately have consequences. There are choices you can make in one episode, and the consequences aren’t felt till the next, or later. So the game is encouraging you to change your mind before you even know the impact of your choices.
Then, if you do rewind to change your outcome, you just need to replay through a whole bit of the game anyway. So to me, it would just be much cleaner to start the game from scratch.
There’s a branching tree, of sorts, that lets you examine how different moments can split apart, but I felt like this took away from that mystery of the branching narrative. It would even detail, in some cases, how the moment changes, which mainly boils down to whether that character survives or doesn’t.
There is a part of me that is intrigued to go through it all again and try out other options, just to test the extent of the narrative freedom. However, the idea of having to sit through it all again doesn’t exactly thrill me.
I managed to test out the game on both PS5 and PS5 Pro across my playthrough, and was pleasantly surprised to have no issues across either version. There is the usual quality mode running at 30 frames per second and a smoother performance mode running at 60fps. For VRR displays, there is also a balanced 40fps mode on both consoles, which is the version I opted for. There are also some pretty nice haptics here for the DualSense lovers out there.
