The Dark Pictures Anthologyseems to have been a success for the developer, Supermassive Games, because the company has just trademarked no less than five all-newDark Picturestitles to follow after its previously announced entry,The Devil in Me. Even more interestingly, the titles are stylized, allowing players to get a sense of what might be coming in the future.
Following its success withUntil Dawn, Supermassive Games was contracted by Bandai Namco to continue its work on highly-cinematic horror experiences, withThe Dark Pictures Anthologybeing the end result. So far, Supermassive has launched threeDark Picturesgames:Man of Medan,Little Hope, andHouse of Ashes, as well as communicating its plans to continue producing them.
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First highlighted by Twitter user the_marmolade, the five all-new, previously unannouncedThe Dark Picturesgames seem to cover the whole gamut of potential topics. These areDirective 8020,The Craven Man,Intercession,Winterfold, andO Death. All five trademarks seem to have been filed on January 31st, and it’s curious to note thatThe Devil in Mewas leakedsimilarly, by checking trademark listings.
SinceThe Devil in Meis next on listforDark Picturesreleases, and is likely to launch sometime in 2022, the five new titles are likely currently in pre-production or the earliest stages of active production. There’s also no way of knowing which of the titles might be next on the list afterThe Devil in Me, but Supermassive Games' turnover of about one year per release means that the company now has at least five or six years' worth of production in mind.
The fact that all the titles are deliberately stylized certainly suggests that the team has already worked out the games' lore and backstories. Supermassive takes pride in its appropriation of historical lore and general mythology, asHouse of Asheswas based on Akkadian folklore. Since at least some upcoming titles seem to take after historical subjects (such asIntercession), this seems like a reasonable assumption.
Of course, Supermassive Games' developers are also big fans of breaking expectations and conventions. For example,House of Ashes’Pazuzu loretakes quite the turn as the story unravels. With that in mind, it seems natural to assume that there are plenty of surprises ahead forThe Dark Pictures, regardless of whether the game is set in the past, present, or future.
The Dark Pictures Anthologyis available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series platforms, with future releases likely to follow suit.
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