DARK PICTURES SEASON 1: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ALL FOUR GAMES

Before the Directive 8020 crew ever set foot on the Cassiopeia, Supermassive Games spent four years building something remarkable: an annual anthology of standalone horror games, each inspired by a different real-world terror, each united by the same narrator and the same unflinching willingness to let every character die. That was Dark Pictures Anthology Season 1 — and if you haven't played it, you have missed the foundation of one of the most interesting horror series of the last decade.

This guide covers all four Season 1 games, the story threads that connect them, the horror subgenres each one explores, and where to find the official Dark Pictures merchandise that lets you take those horrors home. Whether you're a returning fan catching up before Season 2, or a newcomer who started with Directive 8020 and wants to know what came before — this is the complete Season 1 briefing.

What Makes the Dark Pictures Anthology Different?

Each entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology is a standalone story — different characters, different settings, different horrors — but all sharing the same core DNA: five playable protagonists, branching decisions that shape who survives, and an overarching narrator known only as The Curator who introduces each tale with knowing menace.

Season 1 was developed and published with Bandai Namco Entertainment and released annually from 2019 to 2022. Each game runs to around 5–6 hours for a single playthrough, with genuine replayability built into the branching structure. The rule is simple: every choice matters, and no character is guaranteed to survive.

The Curator Played by actor Pip Torrens, The Curator appears in every Season 1 game as the omniscient host — equal parts librarian and ringmaster — who frames each story and reminds the player that he has 'seen many stories in his time.' He is the single narrative thread running through all four entries.

Man of Medan  (2019) Five friends. A ghost ship. Something that should have stayed buried.

 

Setting & Story

Man of Medan is the game that launched the anthology, and it sets the tone perfectly: a group of five friends set sail on a holiday diving trip in the South Pacific, only to board an abandoned WWII military vessel named the SS Ourang Medan. What they find aboard — and what finds them — is rooted in a real-world maritime mystery that has fascinated researchers since the 1940s.

The horror is claustrophobic and nautical: rusted corridors, low lighting, the persistent sound of water, and something deeply wrong with everything they see. Man of Medan explores the body-horror subgenre through the lens of hallucinogenic substances, making players question whether the monsters are real or the product of something in the air.

What Makes It Stand Out

Man of Medan was the series' proof of concept — it demonstrated that Supermassive could translate the Until Dawn formula into a shorter, more focused experience without losing the narrative stakes. It also introduced the Theatrical Cut / Curator's Cut system, letting players experience the same story from different characters' perspectives. The ship itself is brilliantly designed: every corner feels like it holds a secret, and the slow reveal of what really happened aboard is among the series' best written moments.

Browse the full Man of Medan collection.

Setting & Story

Little Hope moves inland and backwards in time — at least, that's what it feels like. When a bus crash leaves four college students and their professor stranded near an abandoned Massachusetts town, they begin experiencing visions of the 1692 witch trials that left the town cursed. The past and present collapse into each other as the group navigates an ever-thickening supernatural fog.

The horror here is psychological and historical: the game draws on the real Salem witch trial hysteria, exploring how fear and mass paranoia can destroy communities from within. The apparitions that stalk the group are directly tied to the characters' personal histories, making survival feel intensely personal.

What Makes It Stand Out

Little Hope is the most narratively ambitious entry in Season 1. Its central mystery — the connection between the present-day cast and the 17th-century victims — unfolds across a single night of escalating horror, and the ending remains one of the most divisive and discussed moments in the entire anthology. Some found it subversive; others found it frustrating. Either way, it is impossible to forget.

Browse the full Little Hope collection.

Setting & Story

House of Ashes is widely regarded as the strongest entry in Season 1. Set during the closing days of the 2003 Iraq War, a CIA field team led by Rachel King — played by Ashley Tisdale — discovers an underground Akkadian temple that has been buried for millennia. The soldiers and their enemy Iraqi Republican Guard adversaries must forge an uneasy alliance to survive what is waiting in the dark below.

The horror is creature-feature survival: vampiric ancient organisms that have been sealed beneath the earth for thousands of years, now loose in a claustrophobic underground labyrinth. But House of Ashes earns its reputation by doing something rare — it makes you genuinely care about both sides of a wartime conflict before putting them in mortal danger together.

What Makes It Stand Out

House of Ashes has the best cast of Season 1. The forced alliance between enemies creates a unique tension that lifts the game far above a standard creature feature, and the underground temple setting — drenched in history and genuine archaeological horror — is one of Supermassive's most atmospheric environments. The creature design also stands out as the most physically threatening in the series to this point.

Browse the full House of Ashes collection.

Setting & Story

The Devil in Me closes Season 1 with its most elaborate — and most gruesome — premise. A struggling documentary film crew receives an invitation to tour a modern recreation of H.H. Holmes' infamous 'Murder Castle,' the hotel in which the notorious 19th-century serial killer committed his crimes during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The invitation is too good to refuse. It is, of course, a trap.

The horror is elaborately mechanical: the hotel is designed to kill, filled with secret passages, trapdoors, gas chambers, and devices that would have impressed Holmes himself. The Devil in Me draws heavily from the influence of Se7en and the Saw franchise, trading the supernatural elements of earlier games for something more viscerally human — and arguably more frightening for it.

What Makes It Stand Out

The Devil in Me introduced the most significant gameplay expansion Season 1 had seen: each character gains a unique tool or ability — a lighter, a camera, a grappling hook — that makes individual survival feel mechanically differentiated. The hotel setting allows for the anthology's most inventive set-pieces, and the season finale ends with enough ambiguity to have kept fans theorising for years. It is a fitting capstone to a series that consistently refused easy answers.

Browse the full The Devil in Me collection.

Season 1 at a Glance

Where Should You Start?

Because every Dark Pictures game is standalone, there is no wrong entry point. That said, the games do reward playing in release order — not because the stories are connected, but because the mechanics evolve meaningfully across the season.

Already a Season 1 veteran? The series continues in Season 2 with Directive 8020 — the most gameplay-heavy, most critically acclaimed entry in the anthology yet. Read our full Directive 8020 game guide for everything you need to know.

Official Season 1 Merchandise

The Dark Pictures Gear Store stocks official licensed merchandise for every Season 1 entry, from atmospheric A2 posters to apparel. Each item is produced by Sophisticated GEEK®, the official licensed partner of Supermassive Games, and ships worldwide from Denmark. Browse by game at store.thedarkpictures.com/collections, or find something for every game in one place with the All Games Anthology Poster.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need to play all four Season 1 games in order?

A: No. Each game is a completely standalone story with different characters and settings. You can start with any entry. That said, playing in release order lets you appreciate how the mechanics evolve across the season.

Q: Are the Season 1 games connected to Directive 8020 (Season 2)?

A: Not by story — Directive 8020 features entirely new characters and a separate setting. They share the same franchise, the same developer, and the same choice-driven horror format, but each game is self-contained. Season 2 has a fresh publisher (Supermassive themselves) and new visual branding.

Q: Which Dark Pictures Season 1 game is the best to start with?

A: Most fans and critics recommend House of Ashes as the strongest single entry — it has the best cast, the most gripping survival scenario, and the most polished gameplay of the four. Man of Medan is a great choice if you want to experience the anthology from the beginning.

Q: What platforms are the Season 1 games available on?

A: All four games are available on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X|S, and PC (Windows). Little Hope, House of Ashes, and The Devil in Me were also released on Nintendo Switch. Man of Medan has also received a free upgraded version on PC.

Q: Can you play the Dark Pictures games multiplayer?

A: Yes. All four Season 1 games support online multiplayer (Shared Story mode) and a local co-op Movie Night mode where up to five players pass the controller. These modes change the experience significantly and are highly recommended for first-time players.

Q: Where can I buy official Dark Pictures Season 1 merchandise?

A: Official licensed merchandise for all Season 1 games is available at The Dark Pictures Gear Store (store.thedarkpictures.com). Individual game collections include T-shirts, posters, accessories, and more — all shipped worldwide from Denmark.

A Season Worth Revisiting

Dark Pictures Anthology Season 1 represents something rare in horror gaming: four complete, standalone stories released annually, each taking its setting and its subgenre seriously, each willing to kill everyone and let the player live with the consequences. Man of Medan established the format. Little Hope pushed the narrative ambition to its limit. House of Ashes perfected the formula. The Devil in Me closed the season on its most mechanically inventive note.

Whether you play them before Season 2 or long after, the four games of Season 1 stand as the foundation of everything that came next. And if Directive 8020 is where the anthology goes from here, the foundation was well worth building.