Directive 8020 is the latest game by Supermassive Games. Although technically a standalone title, it is set within the company's established Dark Pictures universe, which itself follows in the same vein as the studio's breakout hit, Until Dawn. While Directive 8020 retains some of the same DNA as previous titles, rather than being a purely story-focused experience, the game shakes things up by introducing full exploration, a new 3D camera, and a unique take on multiplayer co-op. It also tells a story unlike anything the studio has previously tackled. Set on an alien world, it takes the concept of "alien impostor" games like Among Us and applies it to narrative survival horror, and the results are truly interesting.
While the full game releases on May 12, 2026, we here at Netto's Game Room were given the opportunity to test out a preview build. Our roughly thirty-minute play session allowed us to experience all of the core features while setting up a cliffhanger that encourages us to come back for more. Unfortunately, the horror aspects were not fully on display—as they likely didn't want to ruin the surprises of the main game—but the brief teases were certainly promising, to say the least.
With that being said, the preview gave us a clear idea of what is to come, and it seems like we will be in for quite a ride. In addition to playing the game myself, I was also given the opportunity to ask the development team a handful of questions to learn a bit more, but that’s something we’ll save for another time.
Customizing The Experience:
Before even jumping into the game itself, Directive 8020 offered a few customization options to better tailor the experience to our preferred style. For the sake of the preview, these selections did not matter much, but these same options will be available in the full release. While I left everything at the default settings, it was nice to see the ability to turn off deaths during gameplay, as well as an easy mode for those who struggle with survival games in general.
It is clear the developers want this to be a game that everyone can enjoy, a sentiment further reinforced by the new rewind system that allows players to freely jump back to key decisions. By using this system, players will be able to easily navigate every story path, though it can also be completely ignored by those wanting a "standard" experience.
A Story You Are in Control of:
After adjusting the settings, the preview opened with a quick teaser trailer highlighting parts of the game’s opening. I was also provided with a document to read beforehand. Neither spoiled the main game, but they helped me understand the basic setup of the story: a group of astronauts lands on the planet Tau Ceti f twelve light-years away from Earth with the hopes of colonizing it, but at some point during their travels, things took a turn for the worst. With crew members turning up dead, they begin investigating their the colony ship, Cassiopeia, and discover something truly terrifying along the way.
Of course I do not know what that "something" is, but it can seemingly shapeshift into anyone it wants, and that alone instills doubt in your mind. Moving forward you never know if the characters you are interacting with are the real deal or the alien impostor, and that is going to lead to some interesting situations, to say the least.
In the preview, the gameplay was broken into a few sections. The first was a story scene where two of the main characters spot a fake crew member and must sneak around it. This acts as a tutorial to show how you can focus on and activate objects to create distractions, and how getting caught by the alien will result in characters becoming injured. I tried both options in the preview, but again, the payoff from either choice was not present here.
After one of my characters was stabbed through the stomach (the path I decided to use to progress), the story shifts back to an earlier point in time, and I had a chance to see how the standard decision making would be handled. This next section focused entirely on character dialogue and showed how choices will also alter characters' skills and abilities, and not just their general actions. For example, one decision involved whether or not to authorize the use of a gun, which is something that will surely come in handy later—or perhaps even create unnecessary drama. There is honestly no way of knowing the outcome, but that is part of the fun, and gives us as players a reason to experiment.
Every choice, no matter how big or small, can have drastic outcomes later, and the previously mentioned checkpoint system is going to help us see them all.
The Freedom to Explore:
Finally, after the dialogue scene, the last section was in fact exploration-based, and was quite a bit different from the developer's previous games, mainly due to the new camera and additional options available.
Once again, we are put in the shoes of one of the main characters as she is sent to look for a missing crew member who is suspected of causing the death of another. During this segment, I was able to walk around a mostly confined area, where I solved basic puzzles to open doors, and was eventually able to make my way into the ship’s ventilation system. Once inside the camera shifted to a first-person perspective, and had me navigate my way through a claustrophobic maze. Ultimately this was only a small taste of the exploration featured in the final game, which will contain larger open areas, and additional paths to explore, but it did give me a general understanding of how much freedom we would be given.
Besides being able to explore the space colony, the truly interesting thing on display was the fact that players can freely use their communicators to message other characters, and respond to messages themselves. It provided additional background information regarding the current events, but also served as a way to check if others were alright—though messaging the person I was looking for resulted in some chilling responses instead. Knowing the alien can imitate others, I assumed that was who I was truly talking to, and my thoughts were confirmed when I found the dead body in the vents. It appears that this too will be an important feature during these investigation moments, and I'm curious how the messages will change overtime—especially after your fellow crewmates begin falling pray to the creature.
Although there was nothing too scary in this preview, I should note that this section did contain a few jump scares, and one of them did get me—something that rarely happens when I play horror titles. Other than this, there were a few quick looks at what can only be described as disturbing imagery that is clearly setting up something important to the plot, though I have no idea what it means. It appeared to be something organic with human-like features fused into a wall, but at this point I’m honestly not sure. Either way, it piqued my interest, and I look forward to learning more when the full game releases!
Following the body discovery, the preview ends with an extended stealth sequence, similar to the opening, mixed with light puzzle solving and a few action cutscenes featuring quick-time event elements. While the action scenes felt familiar, the actual gameplay reminded me much more of a standard survival horror game, to the point that I almost forgot this is part of the Dark Pictures series. It was not overly complex—mostly sneaking around in the shadows, avoiding using the flash light, and waiting for an opening to pass—but the tension caused by knowing permadeath is a factor made me fear failure, or at least it would have if this were the final release. Even so, I still wanted to reach the "best" possible ending, and it was clear this was going to be the final scene, so I made sure I didn't get too reckless as I headed for the goal.
Once I snuck past the enemy, solved the puzzles, and activated a bridge for my coworker to save me, the preview ended with a scene of the alien’s "defeat" and the discovery of… something. The final moments showed what looked like some sort of energy source surrounded by an organic mass, and that was it. I was greeted by a screen stating it was the end of Chapter 4, the episode's ending song began to play, and I was kicked back to the main menu once it was over.
I Want More:
Despite not getting a massive amount of gameplay out of the preview, I have to say that it more than did its job. I already had an idea of what to expect going in, as I have played previous games developed by Supermassive, but I was still surprised. I like the idea of being able to actually explore this world and have more control over where I go and what I do. Going off the beaten path is surely going to result in different events playing out, and I am curious to see exactly how the messaging system is incorporated throughout the entire game.
The multiplayer, which will apparently allow players to work together to complete tasks while a shapeshifting alien hunts the main cast, also sounds interesting. It again reminds me very much of the general concept of games like Among Us or even the visual novel Gnosia. This time, however, we have a full-on horror adaptation using Supermassive’s signature style—and I cannot wait to see how it all plays out.
I left the preview confident that the full release will be something special. I am especially curious about the events that transpired in the first three chapters and where things will go following that final scene. Even if the game does not live up to my expectations for some reason, I can say that it will at least be entertaining. While there was not enough time to become emotionally attached to these characters, the actors delivered solid performances, and I know that when the final game releases, I will want to see them all get home safely—though I am not entirely sure if that will be possible.
The Complete Playthrough:
Although we didn't capture our own footage of the preview, Supermassive Games has provided us with an official playthrough of the preview.
You've read what I had to say, but for those of you who'd like to see it for yourself, you can watch it in full below:
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