Directive 8020 Xbox Series X Review (Spoiler-Free)

We all have our favorite go-to game genres. The type that whenever a new game is released, you’re instantly interested. For me, it’s Beat’em Ups and heavy story-driven adventure games primarily developed by Supermassive Games.

I love the Dark Pictures series, and The Quarry was fantastic. So, I had extremely high expectations for Directive 8020. Unfortunately, the game fell well short of what could have been one of the best in their catalogue.

The story sets the tone. Planet Earth is dying, and a megacorporation called Corinth hopes to colonize an exoplanet named Tau Ceti F, which is 12 light-years away. The best of the best team is gathered on the ship Cassiopeia to scout said planet.

Also on board is Corinth CEO, and the type of boss who likes to constantly remind everyone that he writes the checks, LaMarcus Williams. This is a 4-year hypersleep to the planet, with 2 staffers assigned to keep an eye on the ship. The ship is hit by a meteor, and something from it is ALIVE!

If you played any of Supermassive Games’ offerings, then you are familiar with their type of gameplay, which consists of QTEs, puzzle solving, and decision making across multiple playable characters, in which there are 5 in Directive 8020. The decisions not only impact the character you are playing as but can also impact others and, in some cases, lead to death.

Now, there are some new gameplay elements added in Directive 8020, with the main one being stealth maneuvering. Think Alien Isolation. You need to get from point A to point B without being seen. Now this is in 3^rd person, so your FOV is wider, which helps greatly, but the game is dark, and that, combined with eerie sounds, meshes well with Supermassive Games’ winning formula.

However, there is A LOT of stealth portions. So much so that at times I actually wanted to be detected just to trigger the QTE escape gameplay. Directive 8020 has 8 chapters and can be completed in a couple of hours. So when most of the gameplay consists of you sneaking around tables and crawling through air vents, it makes for a lackluster experience. Compare this to other Supermassive Games, where you’re running, evading, and triggering multiple QTEs that can produce a variety of outcomes, depending on whether you completed one or all. Directive 8020 falls short in this area.

The New Explorer Mode

One, if not the major feature, of Supermassive Games is the permadeaths that can take place. I remember it like it was yesterday, playing Until Dawn, having a character die, screaming at the TV, rebooting, and…OH NO, that character is still dead. The game would quietly save that death instantly, so there was no changing that outcome unless you did another playthrough.

Once you boot up Directive 8020, you have the option to play in Explorer or Survivor mode. Explorer mode includes the new “Turning point” feature. So, let’s say a character dies. In this mode, you can go to the menu, see a timeline of all key Turning Point moments, and replay from that point. There is no limit to doing this, so you can play around and see the different outcomes and decide which to stick with. This mode also gives you a little more time with QTEs and pretty much an easier gameplay experience to give you, well, more time to explore, hence the name.

Now, if you just want the “old school” formula, then go into Survivor mode, and you’re all set, permadeath and all.

NOTE – Supermassive Games have always been great at adding accessibility features in their games, and this is no exception. You can turn off the QTE and decision-making timer, increase the brightness, change CC font and color, plus a bunch more, which is great.

Play in Couch Co-op or Online

The local play has always been seen as a fun addition that I feel many are not aware of. You can select this mode called “Movie Night” in the main menu. In this mode, you can assign up to 5 friends to play each of the playable characters and pass around the controller when their character is playable. This is a cool party feature that can produce some fun times.

Unfortunately, as of this review, the online version of Movie Night is not available, but planned to be released as a free update.

Overall, Directive 8020 nails the creepy spaceship vibe with its lighting, sound, and core story plot. But the gameplay feels slow and uneventful. While we do get some backstory for each of the characters, at no point did I feel a connection to any single one, so like Ivan Drago said in Rocky 4, “if he dies, he dies”.

I really wanted to enjoy this game, and instead, I was thinking about going back and doing a replay of some Dark Pictures games that offered a better gameplay experience. Hopefully, they will take another crack in space because this environment could and should be perfect for their type of games, just not this one.

This review was written based on a digital review copy of Directive 8020 for Xbox Series X provided by Supermassive Games.