The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes

About The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes serves as the third entry in Supermassive Games' anthology series. It launched on October 22, 2021 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The story drops players into the final days of the Iraq War where a Special Forces team hunting weapons of mass destruction stumbles upon an ancient Sumerian temple buried deep underground. Soldiers and their Iraqi counterparts find themselves trapped with unearthly creatures that hunt them all. Your choices steer the narrative and decide who survives the night or perishes in the dark labyrinth beneath the desert sands.

Gameplay

You spend your time navigating first-person quick-time events and branching dialogue trees while controlling one of several soldiers. The game relies heavily on making decisions that alter character relationships and unlock different action sequences. You can play through the campaign alone, invite friends to control specific characters locally or online, or let the system manage everyone automatically. A typical session involves exploring claustrophobic corridors, solving environmental puzzles to open paths, and reacting to sudden attacks by dodging or fighting back with limited weapons. If you make poor choices during these tense moments, key characters might die permanently, locking you out of future story branches or forcing a grim ending for the entire squad.

What Players Think

The PlayPile community feels uneasy playing this title, voting it creepy in their mood tracking. IGDB rates the game at 74.5 out of 100 based on 162 user ratings. Players who dive in spend an average of six to eight hours completing the main story and unlocking achievements. We track 30 total achievements available for completion, with some requiring you to survive specific scenarios without dying or making certain moral choices. Review snippets often mention the tension of the underground setting as a highlight, though some critics note that the multiple endings can feel repetitive after a few playthroughs. The lowest price we found is $6.59 on GameBillet, which matches its historical low and makes it a cheap option for horror fans.

PlayPile's Take

This game works best if you enjoy interactive movies where your choices carry weight over the outcome. You will need to replay the campaign several times to see every possible ending since the story splits based on your decisions. At $6.59, the value is solid given the length and replayability factor. The achievement list adds a layer of incentive to explore different narrative paths you might miss during your first run. Skip this if you prefer action-heavy shooters or linear stories without branching consequences.

Storyline

A military unit searching for chemical weapons unearth something far deadlier. In the ruins of a buried Sumerian temple deep beneath the Arabian desert something evil is awakened. Savage and unstoppable, a nest of ancient and unearthly creatures has found a new prey to hunt... Horrific discoveries and impossible decisions face the unit as they strive to navigate a subterranean labyrinth and escape the terrifying threat. Will they each prioritize their own survival, or put aside their fears and their personal rivalries to fight together as one?