Faisal Ghaffar 
The introduction of the Dark Pictures Anthology had come with a promise; the team that had come up with Until Dawn would now tackle new horror subgenres once a year. However, the four games that have been released since then have had a mixed response, but it has not faltered and the latest effort is quite appealing. The Devil in Me is the latest slasher and it does significantly better than its predecessors, as it boasts the best in-series characters, a more cohesive plot as well as some clever gamification that has been incorporated into the cinematic experience.
The plot
The game takes you to Chicago at the turn of the 1900s where H.H. Holmes is introduced to horror fanatics. He is often referred to as the first serial killer in America. His ‘murder castle’ had actually been a hotel that had been designed to work as a maze of rather horrible contraptions. The Devil in Me gives you a brief flashback before bringing you back to the present day where a documentary on Holmes is being made by an indie film crew.
The team is excited to be invited to a replica of Holmes’ hotel that functions as a museum and they are promised exclusive information and footage. It is not surprising that the curator is a tad unhinged and this is where you get more than five hours of slasher material.
The familiar face
Every single game that is part of the series has a familiar face and Jessie Buckley is the one for The Devil in Me. Some might call the game ‘elevated horror’, but it is more like a blood harvest and it solves a number of issues that existed in its predecessors. The characters you will find in the game are quite likable and they are given some room to tell their story, so you will care for them when their life is threatened.
It is one thing to want to keep everyone alive to unlock a trophy and another to actually want them to survive. The Devil in Me is designed to help you relate to the characters and root for them in different ways.
More details
The game has some very clever and interesting kill scenes. After all, a horror story will never be complete if all characters survive. But, the good thing about Supermassive is that it makes you feel as if they were your errors and not just some murky scenarios that led to the outcome. Another good thing about The Devil in Me is how it steps back from the movie-like qualities that the series has.
It is highly cinematic and most of the gameplay does not give you a lot of time to take things through. There are also some puzzles that it has added to give it a touch of traditional gameplay and you have a variety of options to explore for solving problems. Every character comes with unique items and the action is also different and interesting.
The Verdict
This sequel does a good job at fixing many issues and tells a much better story that others in the Dark Pictures Anthology, making The Devil in Me a good option for horror fans.
