Directive 8020: New gameplay and details from the Summer Game Fest
Judging by the information that has emerged, the title promises to be the most ambitious of the studio, introducing important innovations that will change the way we live this type of experience.
The story of Directive 8020 will take us to the distant future, aboard the spaceship Cassiopeia, on a mission to find a new world that can accommodate humanity, as the Earth is dying. Things, however, will take a turn for the worse when, following a crash landing on the planet Tau Ceti f, we discover that we are not alone. In fact, we will be hunted by a terrifying alien creature capable of shapeshifting and taking on the appearance of one of the crew members. This mechanic will introduce a strong element of paranoia and doubt, where trust will be a luxury that we will not be able to afford, with clear inspirations from horror science fiction classics such as The Thing and Alien.
On the gameplay front, the game deviates from previous installments in the series. If before the action was mainly managed through Quick Time Events, in Directive 8020 we will find real third-person stealth sections. In these moments of pure tension, we will have to hide and move carefully to escape the monster that will hunt us, also being able to use a scanner to track its location through the walls. This novelty promises to make the experience closer to that of a traditional survival horror.
Another great innovation is represented by the "Turning Points" system. For the first time, we will no longer be forced to live with our decisions until the end. In fact, the game will keep track of each choice in a narrative flowchart, allowing us at any time to go back to a turning point and take a different path, to experience the various branches of the story without having to start the game again. For purists who prefer the tension of the final choices, a "Survival" mode will still be available that will disable this feature.
Supermassive has also revealed that death will be a much more present and looming threat. Unlike past titles, where some characters were "safe" until the final stages, in Directive 8020 anyone can die much earlier, leading to a very wide range of combinations of survivors in the finale. The structure of the game will be divided into eight episodes, each lasting about 40-60 minutes.
It took the development team three years to make this new chapter, a longer period than usual that allowed them to create a completely new sci-fi setting from scratch and significantly raise the overall visual quality. The wait seems almost over: Directive 8020 is scheduled for October 2nd.
We leave you with a new video of the game released on the occasion of the event.