The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope is a survival horror video game played from a third-person perspective in which the player assumes control of all 5 characters who are trapped in a ghost town of Little Hope. Throughout the game, the player needs to choose different dialogue options, which will influence the course of the narrative and the relationships between the protagonists. The game can be played multiple times, as there are multiple endings and multiple scenarios based on the decisions that the players make. Depending on the choices of the players, all characters may or may not die by the end of the story.[1] Action sequences mainly feature quick time events, most of which, if missed, can lead to dire consequences for each character.

Similar to Man of Medan, the game features two multiplayer modes. "Shared Story" allows 2 players to play co-op online and "Movie Night" allows up to 5 players to select their own characters and prompts them to pass the controller at each turn.[1]

Little Hope is presented as an unfinished story in the possession of the omnipresent Curator (Pip Torrens), who requests the player's assistance in completing it.

The prologue begins in 1972 with an argument between Anne and James in the Clarke family home about problems at the factory and Megan. After that, Tanya arrives home and all family members disperse: Anne goes to take a bath, Dennis goes to the attic, James watches TV, Tanya goes to check on Megan, and Anthony goes to the kitchen. Megan places her doll near the lit stove starting a house fire, in which the family members die one by one: James is crushed by falling debris, Anne dies of smoke inhalation, Megan burns up in the fire, Tanya may burn to death or is accidentally hung on her scarf, and Dennis impales himself on the fence. Anthony, who was locked out of the house and forced to watch his family members perish, runs back into the house to find Anne as he had not seen her die. Some time later, there is a funeral for the deceased members of the family, which is attended by Tanya's boyfriend Vincent.

As soon as the prologue ends, the player is introduced to the Curator, who says they might have met somewhere. He will explain that the fire was inevitable and that it would be better for the player to focus on the future.

In the present day, a bus driver taking four students: Andrew, Angela, Taylor, and Daniel, along with their professor John, on a class trip is forced to take a detour through the ghost town of Little Hope due to an accident blocking the road. In order to avoid hitting a little girl who suddenly appears, the bus driver swerves off the road causing the bus to flip over. The game begins with the five protagonists trying to get help after the bus crash and find the missing bus driver.

Walking along the road, the group stumbles upon a bar and sees a light inside; they decide to go in to find someone. Inside, they find only one person, who introduces himself as Vince, but he cannot help them with anything, since he is drunk. As they leave the bar, they hear bells and think that there is someone in the city.

On the way, Andrew and Angela lag behind the others and find a doll. Having picked it up, a girl in strange clothes and an accent suddenly grabs them. She introduces herself as Mary and asks them to play with her. A woman appears, scolds Mary for witchcraft and, seeing the guys, leaves. When the guys are reunited with the rest, they begin to talk about what happened, but they do not believe them, because they do not see anything at the fire site.

The player is then taken back to the Curator's repository, as he shortly discusses the personality of each character and Mary's situation: she is in trouble or she is trouble.

Upon reaching the intersection, John and possibly Angela run into the woman Amy again and are shocked that she looks exactly like Angela. Returning to the rest, the group decides to split up: Taylor and Daniel follow the trail to the school, while John and Andrew continue along the road and travel to the police station (Angela will go with either one of the groups, depending on the player's choice). They all collide with Mary and see flashbacks, from which it turns out that Mary tells her accusations about Amy to Reverend Carver, for which she is arrested and sentenced to death, despite requests from Amy's husband Joseph. When the group is reunited, they reach a collapsed bridge, where they see Amy being thrown into a river and drowning. Descending from the bridge, a creature bound by chains attacks the heroes. Andrew must decide whom to save: John or Angela. Angela can get out or be grabbed by a creature and drowned.

The Сurator can praise that he was able to save Angela or sympathize if she died and can give hint about forgiving himself.

Andrew, John, and Angela escape to the cemetery, from where they return to the road. They see the girl and follow her. In the alleyway, a demon attacks Angela and drags her into the sewers. The remaining guys go to the museum and find the expatriates associated with the ships of 1692. Meanwhile, Taylor and Daniel, taking a different path, also end up in the museum. However, Taylor ends up in a past where Mary's older sister Tabitha, who looks like Taylor, is accused of witchcraft, using a doll for rituals.

The Curator will comment on the current situation and congratulate the player if he took a knife Daniel or Taylor found in the museum. He will also give a hint that everyone has their own demons and they are only theirs.

Going out and reaching the execution site, the couple see how Tabitha is hanged or burned at the stake. Returning to the road, they are chased by a hanged or burned demon. Fleeing from the demon, the couple reunite with Andrew and John, and the group takes refuge in a church, where they see Mary's brother David being accused of witchcraft and thrown off the bell tower onto the fence, despite Daniel's efforts. While exploring the church, demons attack them and the guys escape. While escaping, Daniel may be impaled by a demon, and Taylor could have her neck broken or be burned to death by another demon.

In the forest, they encounter a surviving Angela, who may be accidentally shot by Andrew if he had found the gun earlier. Soon, Daniel and Taylor are attacked again by demons and Andrew must rescue first one of them, and then help the other.

Upon reaching the firefly building, the characters see Abraham, Mary's new keeper and Andrew's doppelganger, talking to Joseph about suspicions about her. Andrew can say that Mary or Carver is to blame. One way or another, after returning to the present, the group begins to discuss the situation. At this moment, Tabitha attacks Taylor and she may die or escape.

Back on the road, they end up in a factory, where Abraham asks for advice on what to tell the judge. When the guys decide to leave the factory, Daniel falls into a pit and is attacked by David. He may be killed or will have time to escape through the tunnel. After getting out of the factory, the group follows the girl to the burned down house, where they see Joseph being crushed by stones. In the present, he, along with Amy, attacks Angela and John. They can die here or help each other and get to the house. Hiding inside, they find the things of the Clarke family. As this happens, demons begin to approach the house. On the second floor, Mary grabs Andrew and asks for help, as Carver accuses her of witchcraft. Abraham asks Andrew to lead him and the player can blame Mary, the doll or Carver. Returning to the present, the survivors leave for home, at which point, it reveals that Andrew is actually the bus driver, Anthony, and that the other playable characters are hallucinations.

Endings Ending 1: If all of the surviving protagonists with the exception of Andrew fail to confront the demon form of their ancestors or if Mary is burned at the stake, all of them will die one by one after being ambushed. Andrew, incapable of saving them then collapses to his knees in grief and sorrow over their death. The next morning, he sits outside of the house. Vincent then approaches Andrew. If the player was direct and not nice to Vincent, Andrew demands for Vincent to go away and that he lost everything. Vincent then gets angry and tells him that he shouldn't have came here. From here, it is revealed Andrew is in fact the bus driver and Anthony from 1972. Vincent, who believes that Anthony was responsible for Tanya's death along with his family and states that he will never forgive him for what he has done. Police then arrive at the burned house and arrest Anthony.

Ending 2: This is a similar ending to Ending 1, but if the player was nice to Vincent, he will approach Anthony and says that he is aware that the house fire was not Anthony's fault and claims that both of them suffered for many years. He then directs Anthony to a working phone at a diner down the road. He then tells Anthony to never come back as there is nothing there for him anymore. From here, Anthony can either get over his family's deaths or continue to blame himself.

Ending 3: Same as Ending 2, but if Andrew found the gun earlier and manages to keep it until the end, but Anthony is unable to cope with his family's deaths, he will raise the gun to his head and prepares to commit suicide. Megan will then appear and scream, which causes Anthony to shoot himself. His body is then seen outside of the house, dead.

Ending 4: Same as Ending 3, but Megan stops Anthony from taking his own life, which from there, he survives.

Ending 5: If some or all the protagonists survive until the end, the next morning, they are seen walking down the road. Vincent approaches the group. Like Ending 1, if the player was unfriendly towards Vincent, he will get the police and they will arrest Andrew while the others watch. The bus driver is then revealed to be Anthony. However, he tells his friends that he'll be alright, before the other protagonists disappear. Even when arrested, he accepts the fact that the death of his family wasn't his fault.

Ending 6: Similar to Ending 5, but if the player was nicer to Vincent, he will approach the group and tells Andrew that what happened the night of the fire wasn't his fault and tells him that there is a working phone at a diner down the road and tells him to call for help and never come back as there is nothing there for him anymore. They make it to the diner and the five celebrate their survival. Andrew then apologizes to everyone for everything he put them through, in which they comfort Andrew and tells him that it wasn't his fault. They then disappear, showing that they were just hallucinations and reveals that Andrew is Anthony.

A post-credits scene shows a trailer for the next game in the Dark Pictures series, House of Ashes.

Little Hope is the second installment in the Dark Pictures Anthology series.[2] Unlike Man of Medan, which was a modern-day story, Little Hope's story covers multiple timelines, with the narrative jumping back and forth between the present and the past. The game features more supernatural elements when compared to its predecessor and the team chose witchcraft as the game's main theme as they wanted to explore its root causes. Pete Samuels, the game's director, added that the team was intrigued by the "greed, paranoia, and fear of God" which motivated people to commit heinous acts during that period. The team took inspirations from both the Silent Hill series and The Crucible, which is a play about the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. The game was also inspired by films including The Witch, The Blair Witch Project, Hellraiser, It Follows, The Omen, and Season of the Witch.[3] Will Poulter was hired to voice and provide motion capture for Andrew, the game's lead character.[3]

Like its predecessor, the game was designed to be replayable. The team also refined the gameplay, after hearing feedback from players who complained about Man of Medan's gameplay.[4] For instance, the player character can now walk faster. In addition, the team lowered the difficulty of the game's quick-time events, giving more time for the players to react. It had also removed the tank controls.[3]

The Dark Pictures Anthology was envisioned by Supermassive Games as a series of unrelated games which explores different themes and horror genres. The studio's plan was to release each instalment every six months, though this target was missed. The game was first revealed when Man of Medan launched in August 2019. The teaser trailer was included as a post-credit scene for the game.[5] Publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment officially announced the game on April 14, 2020. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 30 October 2020.[6][7]

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[8][9][10]

The third installment in the series, The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes, is planned for release for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2021, and features actress Ashley Tisdale.[21][22] The plot synopsis follows: At the end of the Iraq War, Special Forces hunting for weapons of mass destruction unearth something far deadlier – a buried Sumerian temple containing a nest of ancient and unearthly creatures. To survive the night below they must forge a brotherhood with their enemies from the world above.

• Official website