“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” – Wilde’s ‘A Woman Of No Importance’
The following contains brief descriptions of gore, substance abuse and trauma. Reader discretion is advised.
Like its predecessor Until Dawn and the previous entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan, Little Hope explores a near perfect merger between slasher horror films from the 80s and visual novel games. Lovingly crafted by Supermassive Games, Little Hope amps up the difficulty of its predecessors to leave both returning and new fans surprised at the carnage unfolding on their screens to deliver an impactful story about trauma and overcoming your demons; whether they be mental or physical.
The game’s story takes place around 2013 within the titular village of Little Hope, where you play as a college student named Andrew who wakes up amnesiac, and even strangely resembles the prologue’s protagonist Anthony, who runs headlong into his burning family home after witnessing most of his family perishing into the flames. Along with three other students and your professor, your goal is to outrun the fog that blocks your exit and discover the village’s hidden secrets that date back to the Salem Witch Trials. Not unlike Supermassive Games’ other titles, the crew have to survive from midnight all the way to morning from demons that hunt them down relentlessly. If you slip up one too many times, be it from a simple misinput or lack of foresight should you find a hint, each party member can die in an awful amount of ways – from getting impaled in the chest to being choked and burned.
Little Hope relies on a mix of visual novel elements to Resident Evil-style traversal where there are brief segments where you may walk around and investigate various items in the area. While I appreciate the novelty of being able to view the town’s history, trying to fit in a timeline of events leading up to the present can be somewhat confusing – although I would have to imagine that it would be intentional from the developers given the hints included with those examinations.
You can view each character’s personality traits to view where their strongest views lie. For example, the college professor John has the trait ‘Reckless’, which can be increased if he accepts an alcoholic drink from a stranger – and it is heavily implied that he struggles with addiction. However, my problem lies elsewhere. Within the UI, you can see that each character has a ‘locked’ personality trait, each one being a negative aspect of the character itself. If it was positive (E.G. Charitable), you would assume that the best thing for your character going forward with the story would be to try and unlock the trait for some sort of secret route where they may survive the night. What I found instead was a complete shock to say the least – during a cutscene where one of my characters was brutally gored, the camera will close into the demon’s eyes and show the negative personality trait becoming unlocked. At no point, (the game doesn’t explain), much less hint at the purpose of the lock. I believed that if all of the students were cooperative and respectful to one another that they would help each other survive as much as possible.
The action sequences are amazingly well performed to say the least – both by the developers and the actors. In the latter half of the game, the camera will constantly switch each player character within the same level, causing an increased sense of tension as you make attempts to outrun your predators. One particular scene I have to give credit for is a chase between Taylor and Daniel as they attempt to run across a dig site whilst avoiding debris left on the road and the massive truck ahead of them. I found this to be a massive improvement over Until Dawn and strangely, even The Quarry which I have recently played. However, I also found these active sequences particularly brutal as even on the easiest difficulty I managed to get two of my party members killed. While this is to be expected from a slasher game, it’s worth noting that even on the easiest difficulty there is little to no time to have a fair shot at winning the QTEs, and once you get a handle on the situation you will have already failed. I even tried doing the same sequence on the ‘lethal’ difficulty, and at most I was given half a second for nearly all of them. To that end, I believe that the duration of QTEs being on-screen should be longer in order for players to stand a better shot as it would simply put them off if the easiest difficulty happened to be more difficult than intended. Even more so, I might have preferred a short demo (either in video format or playable) where it shows how long it will be depending on the difficulty so players have an opportunity to decide.
Graphically, the game both looks and performs very well on the Nintendo Switch. I have compared multiple versions of the game on different platforms, I can confirm that it’s more or less the same. During my initial playthrough, I’m glad to say that it did not suffer any sort of frame-drops and that I was able to get through without feeling frustrated about potential stuttering or out-of-sync dialogue.
The music in the game is nothing but an orchestral treat – it’s obvious that the composers of the game took inspiration from classic films such as The Exorcist and Friday the 13th, particularly when a character is about to die. It sets in a sense of dread but even worse, panic as you watch the chaos unfold. If I had to describe it from an emotional perspective, it would be akin to being held in place and watching your potential killer walk closer and closer, each step becoming louder and more frightening. Within the opening of the game (and the other Dark Pictures Anthology games), you are treated to a death-metal composition of the song Oh Death, which even happened to be in Until Dawn before this, which I believe may be intentional by the developers given their heavy similarities. My favourite background track, which thankfully I can talk about due to it being in the prologue, has to be when the house began to burn and Anthony watches each member of his family horrifically die.
The actors in the game did nothing short of a phenomenal job, and I especially have to give both Will Poulter and the casting director their props. Something great I noticed during the game was how they managed to both utilise his abilities as a British actor and his performance as a young college student in America at the exact same time. I cannot give context due to spoiler related reasons, but you’ll know it when you see it.
Verdict
Little Hope is a must-have for those that strive for thrills in the media. While it falls short in some aspects, it makes up for having one of the most intriguing horror stories impressively told within five hours, or eight if you try looking for secrets to examine. Whether you aren’t experienced in horror stories, or are seeking something fresh after being so desensitised by playing higher budget games that show the monsters too often, this game is for you. On a personal level, I will not hesitate to come back to this series either by my own accord or if the opportunity is presented to me. Now to wait for the next game in the series to arrive on Nintendo Switch!
Where to Buy
- Nintendo eShop
Credits
Written by Rain M. Young
Edited by Mark McAllister and Jen Griffiths
Graphic Template by Paul L. Russell