The Devil in Me review: Supermassive tackles the true-crime obsession

The Dark Pictures Anthology has explored all kinds of horror, from Sumerian demons lurking deep in the desert to ghost ships stranded at sea. the devil inside meThe latest and final entry in the first season of the anthology series, promises a more intimate adventure, delving into the true crime story of H.H. Holmes and his semi-apocryphal murder castle in Chicago. This is not a story of a supernatural mummy or a harrowing journey through time. It’s about five burnt-out media employees trying to survive (and presumably die in the process) as modern-day Holmes imitators.

Like each Dark Pictures game, the devil inside me You can control a cast of 5 characters. Players will see characters doing media work in this strange new location, interacting with each other, exploring areas, and solving puzzles. The essence of the game comes down to quick-time events that help the player-selected character escape from attackers, fight off ambushes, and dodge dangerous obstacles. the devil inside me When we tackle true crime and focus on its subject matter, For real scared.

the devil inside me It opens with a tutorial about a young couple coming to Chicago to experience the first Ferris wheel at the 1893 World’s Fair. will kill them. Supermassive portrays Holmes as a formidable killer, with disturbing dialogue and literal skeletons in his closet, but the studio does a good job of capturing him as a criminal as well. con manHis crowning achievement at the end of the tutorial isn’t hugging a corpse or admiring a skull, but stealing a woman’s wedding ring. Holmes sold them to medical facilities and made a good profit.

Now that we’ve finished the tutorial, we’re hanging out with Director Charlie and his crew: Jamie the Lighting Technician, Erin the Sound Engineer, Mark the Cameraman, and Kate the Journalist. In line with past games, these characters already have some juicy drama underway. While they’re all working on a reality TV show that has little money and is dead in the water, a mysterious benefactor named Granthem Du’Met manages to kill a replica of the infamous murder hotel run by HH Holmes. provide them with the opportunity to tour his property. Late 1800’s. As expected, things go terribly wrong, and Dumet mimics Holmes’ penchant for building clever murder traps.

everything is great the devil inside me It centers around the angle of true crime. Being an obsessed recluse, Holmes building an animatronic of his victims and mimicking Holmes to come up with a modern day murder trap is a really creepy idea, and treats serial killers with disgust and respect. It’s believable in an age when we tend to treat people equally. Netflix recently released a docudrama series about Jeffrey Dahmer to heavy criticism For not respecting the victim’s family. It makes sense that someone could fall into a sort of hero-worship of the country’s first urban serial killer.

Image: Supermassive Games/Bandai Namco

Supermassive spends much of his time focusing on the fact that Holmes demanded to be buried deep under concrete, and in the same way that a muse inspires a poet to write, he finds himself in Holmes. He claimed that there was a demon that drove him to kill him. Great court speech. But the man himself was as driven by financial motives as by murderous motives. the devil inside me It’s a fun idea to chew on, suggesting that Du’Met’s plot is as much the result of a true crime epidemic as Holmes’ dark deeds.

i’m not totally in love the devil inside mea few clunky puzzles combined with an unnecessarily long platforming sequence caused technical issues throughout the playthrough.The new inventory system is neat (grabbing certain items? Shown later during cutscenes where characters unfold), but it doesn’t feel fully fleshed out. a little that too You’re eager to put your phone away, get into a car bound for a deadly destination, and let the conspiracy kick in.

the devil inside me It doesn’t rank particularly high in my personal Dark Pictures rankings. house of ash When Medan man, is better for a variety of reasons. But what the game does so well is that it takes a famous true crime case and explores it in a way that’s more interesting than exploitative, while still fitting in with jump scares and relationship drama. We probably could have taken a couple of hours out of this game to come up with a much stronger product. However, because it’s better if you leave all the Holmes stuff untouched.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me was released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on November 18th. The game was reviewed on PC using a pre-release download code provided by Bandai Namco. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, but Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased via affiliate links.discoverable Additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.