House of Ashes is an ambitious horror game that mostly succeeds

It’s almost Halloween, so it’s a good time for some scares. And there are few things more terrifying than getting lost in an abandoned temple, haunted by all manner of ghoulish monsters. House of ashes, the most recent entry in the Dark Pictures Anthology, delivers that kind of terror in spades. Unleash creatures like a mummified swift Akkadian priest alongside a zombie version of an old friend. The game manages to pull off some spectacular horror pieces in its short runtime, and displays some truly bold writing in the process.

House of ashes is political, and not on tiptoe “no Really politics ”kind of way. The game begins in 2003, with the US military settling in the palace of former dictator Saddam Hussein. One of the main characters is Eric King, an Air Force lieutenant colonel with a sophisticated artificial intelligence scanning program who has apparently discovered what could be a cache of nearby chemical weapons. It’s a not-too-subtle nod to Erik prince, former Navy SEAL and founder of Blackwater USA. Sure enough, while playing as Eric, I was faced with the choice of whether or not to use white phosphorus as a weapon. This is not subtle writing.

This comment continues even after the ground collapses under the feet of King’s squad, and the five main cast members find themselves in an ancient temple that once housed Naram-Sin, the god of Akkad. Not only are they lost, with many of their comrades dead, but the survivors are being hunted by a monstrous threat resembling a vampire bat. Even though the cast is well armed, the weapons only work on other humans, they only slow down vampires.

In Dark Pictures games, players control five members. In Shared Story mode, my friend and I play a different narrative path. We choose what the character we’re currently controlling says and does, and we do our best to keep it alive when fast-time events come up. All five characters can die or survive, and it takes a combination of good (and sometimes lucky) choices and quick reactions to keep the cast alive.

In this particular entry, that cast is strongly characterized, but one in particular stands out. Salim, a member of the Iraqi Republican Guard and one of King’s ambushers, ends up bonding with the American survivors, who often treat him with suspicion. Thanks to decisions I made with a friend in a Shared Story game, Salim ended up having a friendly cop dynamic with Jason, an American Marine, which ended in an incredibly satisfying and bittersweet way. My group of friends cheered for Salim and chanted his name as the absolute legend used his steel rod to pierce through vampires and rack up murders.

It’s irritating that so much of the narrative is spent on the other four cast members, who treat Salim poorly. Many scenes with Salim see the other party treating him as an aggressor and the enemy, even after the guy saves their lives or gives them valuable information. All of this occurs even as Salim is the MVP of the story, racking up a massive number of vampire kills, while pursuing the poignant goal of returning to his son. The game has a great premise, but even as I played the most benevolent options in front of Salim, I was still frustrated with how the cast would choose to be a jerk.

Act 2 creeps a bit, and I think it’s because American characters are a bit more one-dimensional, and focusing on them takes up valuable space for older cult intrigues or deep character connections. Jason and Nick, for example, could probably merge into one character to make room for another Iraqi.

The American side of the main cast feels crowded, but there is an engaging and cheesy drama to play. CIA agent Rachel King is forced into close quarters with her ex-husband Eric, but she also has a thing for the traumatized but handsome Marine Nick. This interpersonal drama unfolds in short bursts, frequently interrupted by the arrival of vampires or infected versions of their fallen comrades.

At the same time, painting the American protagonists as rude and flawed people works with the horror themes of the game. The fall of empires is a major theme here, and developer Supermassive isn’t exactly shy about using this cast to explore those ideas. House of ashes He has some ideas to share about the imperialist invaders, and while I ended up displeasing a lot of the characters, I sure had fun watching them being slaughtered in various brutal ways. It all leads to a twist in the third act that is too good to spoil.

Little hope, the second game in Dark Pictures Anthology, was a railroad leading to a very limited set of endings. House of ashes it is much more flexible and offers a variety of destinations for your characters. On Medan Man, the first entry, I was proud to make our group of sailors come out alive in a shared history. On House of ashes, Supermassive returns to branch endings with a variety of satisfying destinations. It has absolutely restored my faith in the franchise, and I am eagerly awaiting the next dark movie, which appears to be a Saw-Style of psychological suspense.

House of ashes He doesn’t take big leaps in game or structure, but in terms of narrative, he swings relentlessly for hurdles. There are times when the writing doesn’t quite land, but awkward moments rarely linger for long thanks to the game’s expert pacing. It’s a fantastic social horror experience, just in time for Halloween, and it’s enough to re-dive into the deep story and hidden secrets of Dark Pictures Anthology.

House of ashes Is available in Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Windows PERSONAL COMPUTER, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game was played on PC in Shared Story mode using code provided by Supermassive Games. Vox Media has affiliate associations. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Additional information on Polygon’s ethics policy here.