The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope

Little Hope is a return to form for Supermassive Games. After the somewhat slow and dry Man of Medan, Little Hope arrives with a narrative audacity and assured performances that place The Dark Pictures Anthology squarely on the top of the interactive filmic adventure game heap. With a rich, complex, and wickedly surprising narrative, Little Hope is well worth playing, despite some awkward moments and transitions.

Little Hope is a fantastic horror experience that really shows what Supermassive can do with the Dark Pictures series. Though it's a short experience and it exhibited a crash during review, it's a fantastically crafted thrilling drama with amazing characters who are genuinely fun to interact with. If this kind of game is something that seems interesting, don't pass up on this experience!

Supermassive Games doesn’t have much competition in “cinematic interactive horror” genre, but they keep improving their product: Little Hope fixed most of Man of Medan’s problems. [Issue#249, p.46]

The second chapter in the Dark Pictures Anthology is a major improvement over Man of Medan. With better pacing, a well written story and a great multiplayer mode, Little Hope is ideal for fans of horror and their friends.

However you choose to experience the game, Little Hope restores players’ faith in Supermassive Games to continue making decent narrative horror titles. The story ties together well regardless of player decisions, and there’s a great mix of character personalities. Friendlier QTEs and better character movement make the title an improvement over Man of Medan, and there are barely any technical issues. The Dark Pictures Anthology has a bright future ahead.

The latest Dark Pictures Anthology installment takes narrative risks and refines mechanical gameplay. While I still take issue with photorealistic graphics, Little Hope is still worth visiting.

The atmosphere is, in a word, anxious - and it’s impossible not to internalize it. Particularly when faced with Quick-Time Events (QTE) which, more often than not, lead to a horrifying death.

If not for a few clunky gameplay mechanics, Little Hope would be the perfect horror game.

Little Hope is the game that ends up establishing The Dark Pictures Anthology as the greatest benchmark for interactive horror stories. Man of Medan took a promising first step, but this time the balance between script, acting and interactivity is perfect.

Little Hope is a chilling experience with enough nail-biting tension, horrible monsters and lovable characters to mark it as one of the better horror experiences this year.

Little Hope is an atmospheric, mysterious and brilliantly presented horror story, with you being in charge of the course of the story via decisions and reaction tests. The movie-like experience dominates at the expense of rudimentary mechanics, though.

The Dark Anthologies: Little Hope improves on the franchise’s previous entry in all aspects and is one of the most compelling narratives that I have experienced in recent times. With an incredible ending that left a profound, lasting effect, this is a game that fans of interactive dramas need to experience. Supermassive Games have slowly honed their skills in order to be considered one of the giants in storytelling and Little Hope has left me excited in anticipation of the next entry in what is proving to be a landmark series.

Little Hope is a solid spooky story best enjoyed with popcorn and friends. The tension is high, the fear is real, and the mechanics are improved from the previous Dark Pictures instalment. If you’re interested in some witchy goodness and moral judgements, this might be the spooky story for you.

Little Hope uses the same concepts as Man of Medan and tries to improve them by providing a welcome warning before the QTEs or by trying to smooth out the sequences which, unfortunately, still suffer from some slowness. The story is quite good and effectively mixes three eras, but we will probably have to redo the game several times to fully understand it. Unfortunately, the Curator's Cut that seduced us in Man of Medan is unfortunately no longer on the menu. Nevertheless, we spend a "pleasant" moment in the middle of repulsive creatures and we now await the third episode with curiosity.

All things considered, I enjoyed my time with Little Hope. While still marred by some unfortunate technical issues, it is a more polished and engaging experience than the first game and the perfect way to spend a dark and spooky night (with friends if you can manage it!). With this game, The Dark Pictures Anthology has hit its stride, and I can’t wait to see what Supermassive Games has in store for us next.

Although this part is somewhat a bundle of clichés compared to Man of Medan and the acting performance does not look like it improved a lot, Little Hope offers enough freaky moment and interesting mystery to keep you entertained (and scared?). I will be back for more when the next part of this anthology drops.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope isn’t a long game by any measure, but what it delivers in its time is used effectively enough to purvey a sense of dread. While not necessarily a traditional horror game full of jump scares or horrific machinations, Little Hope attempts to deliver nuance in the style of an arthouse horror film. It mostly gets there depending on a player’s choice, but overall it doesn’t completely stick the landing. Little Hope’s themes put in a 2020-context make it stand out as a horror title but otherwise, it offers very little in terms of true horror.

This second chapter preserves the average quality level of the Anthology unchanged, and our "little hope" is that this standard will at least be maintained (and perhaps exceeded) for future horror stories as well.

Little Hope is a little step up from Man of Medan but not as good as Until Dawn, due to some flaws in the storytelling, the pacing and the gameplay itself.

This new chapter of the Dark Pictures Anthology delivers another solid, but still not fully convincing, horror experience from Supermassive Games.

Little Hope is an evolution from what we saw in Man of Medan, but it also has a fair amount of shortcomings. We are really enjoying the series, though, and we look forward to the new entries.

In terms of plot, it's clearly superior to Man of Medan. Little Hope keeps the Supermassive style, but adds a risky twist that you may love... Or hate.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope improves on several aspects from Man of Medan, and shows that Supermassive Games is actually taking notes so as to make its horror collection one to remember. Although there are still some elements to work on, we can certainly recommend Little Hope, especially when it is enjoyed as a group experience.

Little Hope is, both from a technical and gameplay point of view, a step forward compared to Man of Medan. The changes do not impact the gameplay greatly, but still make the experience more pleasant overall. The storyline is well thought out with numerous branches leading to an interesting plot twist at the end.

The Dark Pictures: Little Hope is the most successful Supermassive studio's Game. The themes and the cast are more interesting than usual, and the moment with Little Hope is pretty pleasant.

These games aren’t interested in the darker aspects of the human psyche, the vulnerabilities and existential questions which impart the lingering sense of dread that lasts after the story is told. No, The Dark Pictures so far has been all about popcorn-horror, the kind where the viewer screams and jumps before remembering that everything’s all right after. They’re not elegant, but they’re not trying to be - and that’s perfectly acceptable, especially if it’s what the player knows what they’re getting into. And as much as I’d wanted the next Dark Pictures title to take a more cerebral approach to horror, I’m happy to welcome a well-crafted witch-themed slasher game all the same.

I often felt like the game gave me multiple chances to save a character so that, even if I missed a vital item previously or erred in judgement otherwise, one bad decision isn’t a death sentence. Like a horror trivia night centered around a game you’ve never played or a movie you’ve never watched, Little Hope feels best when you try to get in the heads of the characters and imagine what they’d do and how others would respond. There are characters that’ll make you swear in the beginning that you don’t care what happens to them, and you may even root for their downfall, but you’ll be cheering them on by the end.

Little Hope is inconsistent, like a witch-in-training still learning how to fully weave a spell. It sets up its story well and keeps you guessing, but the execution is lacking. It needs more variety and interesting things for your characters to do. The action comes too late, and by then, you’re already nodding off. However, seeing the fantastic ending makes putting up with those boring moments a little more bearable.

There are certain things that don’t quite connect and a handful of plot holes that stick out, but Dark Pictures: Little Hope is definitely worth your time if you’re a fan of the genre or liked Until Dawn and were disappointed with Man of Medan. It’s a game that’s best enjoyed when being played with a group of people to shout out which decisions to make and pass the controller around. At its best, Little Hope is chilling and gripping and creates an internal conflict in the player between wanting to press on and being too scared to see what lies behind the next door.

An engrossing, frightening experience and may well be Supermassive’s greatest game to date.

A great second step in the new horror franchise of Supermassive Games. Creepy and spooky, with lots of jump scare. A perfect plan for Halloween.

With a more engaging cast of characters and an intriguing mystery at its core - leading to an insane mindfuck of an ending! - Little Hope is a definite improvement over its predecessor and hopefully a sign of even better things to come.

If there was ever a time to sit down with some friends and play a scary game, it's Halloween 2020. Little Hope fits the bill perfectly. The annoyances found in Man of Medan have been almost completely removed leaving a spooky tale with jump scares to giggle about, heart racing action, and tonnes of atmosphere. For £25 Little Hope is an absolute steal and highly recommended.

While Little Hope may not be the fright fest some wanted, it’s still a fascinating game that’s well worth playing once or twice, if you can get over the nonsensical ending.

Though it has some problems with pacing and minor bugs, Little Hope is a brilliant Halloween pick thanks to its over the top narrative and gruesome deaths, making it hard to say no to another visit.

Little Hope has some of the best branching narrative that Supermassive Games has ever done, it looks lovely and packs a horror punch throughout.