„Until Dawn meets Among Us” Supermassive's new sci-fi horror game Directive 8020 has a unique new feature

You may remember Supermassive Games’ next project as Until Dawn, but if it were Among Us or The Thing. Directive 8020 really is just that. Follow the story of a spaceship crew as a shapeshifting extraterrestrial being invades their craft. While the concept isn’t exactly original, it’s excellent for making difficult choices, which is what many of the Dark Pictures Anthology series games are all about. Do you trust that this person is who they say they are, or do you risk murdering your crewmate? In my twenty minutes with the demo at Summer Game Fest, that was one of the major decision points I had to consider.

A much more dramatic Among Us, Directive 8020 is a new horror game from the makers of Until Dawn

The demo only covered a brief intro to the characters and the situation. An opening cut scene takes place just before the crew launches into space, but the primary gameplay elements will take place a few years later, after the crew has been traveling through space for some time. Supermassive is known for crafting branching narrative titles, and this doesn’t look like it will be any different.

Once the cut scene was over, I played through a scene in which two characters encounter the aliens and do what they can to survive the initial encounter. One character gets into a physical fight with an imitation of themselves, while the other falls below deck, shifting the gameplay into a stealth mission. Reach the ladder without the monstrous alien creature finding you. The tension in this stealth section was powerful. I probably took longer to get through this scene than anyone who played the demo that weekend, because I was being so careful.

After both characters amazingly survive and return to the crew, at least in my experience, I am faced with a moral dilemma. One crew member is trapped in a glass room as he is scanned. The results of the scan will determine if they are an alien or not, but do we have time to wait? The crew member starts pounding on the glass, causing it to crack. Do you take the shot or wait for the scan? Normally, I would have waited, but since I was here for the demo at Summer Game Fest, I decided to try something different. Unfortunately, it turns out that this crew member was not an alien. Bad call on my part.

Help or Run? This game is full of tough choices.Directive 8020, Developer: Supermassive Games

But thankfully, that’s not a spoiler. While the demo had some more rigid outcomes, the full game will be more dynamic, meaning that the crew member could be an alien or not, depending on how you play the game. This was also where the Supermassive team introduced me to a new feature that allows players to look back at where their story branched. It’s possible to revisit these moments and explore what could have happened if you had made another decision.

For a game that’s all about making difficult choices, this is a fascinating addition. It is optional, of course, but I wonder how many players will be able to resist the temptation. There is some level of tension when the decisions are final and have consequences. A tension that can easily be stripped away with this feature, sort of like how save scumming works in other games. But I can see the benefits of both sides.

How do you tell if someone is who they say they are?Directive 8020, Developer: Supermassive Games

Directive 8020 is a horror game designed around unthinkable decisions. Not all the characters will survive. Understandably, this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. So, maybe having this optional way to backtrack will allow certain players to enjoy the game with less stress, especially if they don’t like the way something has turned out. But also, any player who wants to play the game with tension and consequences can do so.

The concept of exploring all the branching paths in a tense narrative like this is enticing. It’s hard to imagine myself playing through this game multiple times to explore the options I didn’t choose in my first playthrough. This is a tense game of horror and survival, which can be mentally taxing to experience multiple times. So, the opportunity to explore the optional paths immediately could give a better experience of everything this game has to offer.

The ship is slowly overrun with a strange material.Directive 8020, Developer: Supermassive Games

Thanks to Supermassive Games for the opportunity to try out Directive 8020 at Summer Game Fest. It’s probably no surprise at all that this game is planned to launch just ahead of Halloween on October 2nd, 2025. It will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam.

Directive 8020

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• Overview

• Supermassive Games
• choices (games)
• horror (games)
• Summer Game Fest