Trademark filings by developer Supermassive Games have seemingly revealed the titles and logos for the next five The Dark Pictures Anthology installments. In the years following the success of PS4 cult classic Until Dawn, Supermassive inked an eight-game deal with publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment, an agreement that first bore fruit in the form of The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan in 2019. The Dark Pictures Anthology's first season of content consists of four separate adventures: Man of Medan, Little Hope, House of Ashes, and the as-yet-unreleased The Devil in Me.
Each title in the anthology plays like Until Dawn, with a horror setting, branching narrative paths, and quick decision-making. However, based on critic reviews and player reception, none of the first three Dark Pictures Anthology entries have struck the same chord as the beloved PS4 exclusive. Supermassive Games still manages to carve out its own lane in the yearly release schedule, though, and it seems the studio has the next several years on lock, too.
Despite Bandai Namco originally signing Supermassive Games for eight titles, new trademark filings for The Dark Pictures Anthology indicate several more installments are on the docket. Twitter user The_Marmolade spotted the listings on EUIPO - the agency responsible for European Union trademarks - and found that Supermassive filed trademarks for no less than five new games, with titles and graphic representations of logos attached (via Gemsatsu). The titles themselves include The Dark Pictures: The Craven Man, The Dark Pictures Presents: O Death, The Dark Pictures: Directive 8020, The Dark Pictures: Intercession, and, finally, The Dark Pictures: Winterfold. The publication notes every filing date fell on January 31, 2022, and featured the following logos:
The news suggests Bandai Namco has enough faith in The Dark Pictures Anthology to secure an extra title out of Supermassive Games. This contradicts widespread assumptions that the series has been underperforming, and seemingly secures even more horror anthology adventures for 2022 and beyond. While many fans are hoping for a Dark Pictures game as immersive and terrifying as Until Dawn, it's not yet clear if any of the upcoming games will be able to reach its level.
In terms of the new titles, there are a few things worthy of note. For one, Until Dawn's slasher adventure fittingly opens with a song called "O' Death," drawing an explicit connection between the upcoming Dark Pictures entry and the 2015 hit. While a direct spin-off seems unlikely, the supposed title is perhaps more than a mere coincidence. Meanwhile, Directive 8020 sounds as though it could bring a futuristic sci-fi bent to the horror series. More details likely won't surface until after The Devil in Me launches later this year.
The next The Dark Pictures Anthology entry, The Devil in Me, hits PC via Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S platforms sometime in 2022.
Source: EUIPO, The_Marmolade/Twitter (via Gematsu, Gematsu/Twitter)