Directive 8020 is one bold leap for the Until Dawn developers

Sci-fi body horror features Bond star Lashana Lynch

Directive 8020 / Supermassive Games

Earth is dying. Set 12 light years from home, on the far flung planet of Tau Ceti F, Directive 8020 follows five crew members stranded aboard the crashed ship Cassiopeia. Here, they’re being hunted by a shape-shifting alien mimic. 

“It’s the first time we’ve gazed this far into the future,” says Will Doyle, game director on Directive 8020. That doesn’t just go for the futuristic setting, either.

This sci-fi body horror from the makers of Until Dawn and The Quarry advances the branching narrative genre, less interactive movie and more fully fledged video game. With redesigned character movement and true ‘on sticks ‘ gameplay, you’ll have to physically fight and hide from threats rather than just react to them in cutscenes. 

Directive 8020 / Supermassive Games

The biggest threat of which is a murderous life form. Not only can it take the shape of any of your crewmates, and sound like them too, it also coats the ship in oily purple growths it can travel through, Splatoon-style.’

As Doyle says, “It’s not just another Dark Pictures game. It’s a completely new path forward for the series.”

Our hands-off demo takes place a few hours into the story. Here, the alien has taken control of the ship and is picking off crew. The mission: refuel the shuttle and escape. 

Lashana Lynch is the playable character in this section. She plays the pilot Brianna Young, although you’ll control the other four crewmates at certain points in the story, alone or with up to four friends. 

Brianna Young, played by Lashana Lynch / Supermassive Games

En route to her task, Brianna encounters a branching moment. She can choose whether or not to rescue her crewmate, Mitchell, who’s currently locked in the brig after losing his mind.

She decides on the charitable option and goes for the brig, but Mitchell is nowhere to be found. According to Doyle, your environment changes in different playthroughs. Depending on the choices you make, some doors will be open or closed, and areas will be blocked off by the alien’s growths. 

Out in the corridor, Brianna runs into the alien. It’s taken the form of crewmate Eisele, but barely. Eisele’s skin is warped across her skull and her strained mouth is emitting weird popping noises like a clicker from The Last of Us.

In previous Dark Pictures games, here we might prompt a quick time event. In Directive 8020, however, you’ve got full control over what happens next.

Directive 8020 / Supermassive Games

This is where your utility strap comes in. This multi-tool features a shoulder-mounted flashlight, a messenger to text surviving crewmates, a stun baton to override electronics and shock aliens, a scanner to spot enemy movement, and a remote control to operate ship systems. 

The remote comes in handy. Young points it at a terminal to switch it on and attract the alien, then slips by unnoticed. Up ahead, she encounters Mitchell, only something’s off.

He’s hunched over, sobbing, and repeating the words “I did everything right.” He turns around to reveal a face covered in bumpy brown growths. But that’s not all. 

Directive 8020 / Supermassive Games

Suddenly, the alien’s flesh starts to bubble and it mutates into its natural form Doyle calls ‘the hunter’, which looks like a big man in a gillie suit emanating otherworldly purple gas from its mouth.  

It proves too much for Brianna. The alien crushes her head between its claws, and the camera settles on a close-up of the messy aftermath: Brianna’s skull half-exposed, her eye popping out. It’s shockingly gory. 

That’s just one of dozens of paths through this game. Directive 8020 has multiple endings to discover, and many combinations of surviving characters to help see the game through to completion.

Directive 8020 / Supermassive Games

The mimic and its impact on the story is a highlight. There will undoubtedly be points where you’ll have to take the plunge and trust a suspicious crew mate with your life, despite a nagging doubt in your mind they’re not human. As Supermassive Games itself says, this is The Thing in deep space.’

With greater player agency mixing with the developer’s usual stellar storytelling, Directive 8020 is one of the most promising horror games of 2025.

Directive 8020 releases on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S in 2025.