Developer Supermassive Games has announced that the season one finale of The Dark Pictures Anthology, entitled The Devil in Me, will star Oscar-nominated actress Jessie Buckley. From the same studio that created the critically acclaimed horror game Until Dawn, Dark Pictures Anthology was first announced in 2019. Since then, three installments have released for the game, with The Devil in Me set to release later this year.
While each episode of the Dark Pictures series centers around a self-contained interactive horror story, a narrator called The Curator is present in all installments, who will discuss the game's events with the player. Each story heavily relies on players making choices as the game progresses, many of which can have long-lasting or even deadly consequences. Throughout each game, players can find collectible pictures that serve as premonitions of possible in-game events, often providing clues on how to survive. Eight installments total are planned for The Dark Pictures Anthology, set to be released in multiple seasons. It is not uncommon for Dark Pictures games to feature famous actors as in-game protagonists, with past stars including Ashley Tisdale, Will Poulter, and Nick E. Tarabay.
The Supermassive Games Twitter account announced that Oscar-nominated actress Jessie Buckley will play The Devil in Me's protagonist, Kate Wilder. According to the game's publisher Bandai Namco, The Devil in Me centers around a documentary film crew who receive an invitation to a replica of the mansion owned by famous American serial killer H.H. Holmes, dubbed "The Murder Castle." Alongside the announcement, Supermassive shared new art for the game featuring Buckley alongside Holmes' mansion and a threatening figure that appears to be Holmes himself.
Buckley is arguably one of the most critically acclaimed actors to be included in the Dark Pictures series, and is sure to set fan expectations high for what the next game will have to offer. The previous entry, House of Ashes, was well received and featured a fair amount of star power itself with cast members like Ashley Tisdale. However, Buckley's recent Oscar nomination for drama film The Lost Daughter adds a new element of prestige to the upcoming Dark Pictures installment and will likely garner The Devil in Me more attention than its predecessors. Combined with its appeal to true-crime buffs due to its serial killer subject matter, the game could possibly be the most successful game of the series so far.
Horror game fans have a lot to look forward to with the Dark Pictures Anthology series. The potential of The Devil in Me is exciting in itself, and a recent leak revealed several Dark Pictures titles that will be released in the future. Not only that - the addition of an actress like Jessie Buckley to the cast raises the possibility that future games will be able to recruit even bigger stars than it has in the past. Developer Supermassive Games has proven to be a master of the horror genre, and will surely be producing frights for players with the Dark Pictures Anthology series for years to come.
Source: Bandai Namco, Supermassive Games/Twitter