The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope

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A fog that will not lift, and a witch trial that keeps repeating.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Price: Paid
Rated: Mostly Positive on Steam (74% of 10,827 reviews)
Players: 1, 2 online (Shared Story), up to 5 on one screen (Movie Night)
Controls: Keyboard and mouse or a controller; quick-time events and timed choices.
Made by: Supermassive Games
Released: 2020

Get it on Steam PlayStation Store (PS4 and PS5)Xbox Nintendo Switch

What frightens After a bus crash, four college students and their professor are trapped by a fog in an abandoned New England town, where visions of a 17th-century witch trial show them people who look just like them, and twisted apparitions chase them through the mist; any of them can die for good on a wrong choice or a missed prompt.
Content: violence, gore, strong language, jumpscares, alcohol use.

The second story in Supermassive's Dark Pictures Anthology. A bus crash leaves four students and their professor stranded in Little Hope, a deserted town where visions of the Andover witch trials show their own faces among the accused, and things from the past hunt them through the fog. Every choice decides who lives, alone, with a friend online or with up to five on one couch.

About The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope

Little Hope was made by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco on 30 October 2020 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A free upgrade for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S followed in 2022, and a Switch version came out in October 2023. It is the second standalone story of The Dark Pictures Anthology, with the Curator again watching from his library between chapters.

You play as four college students and their professor, John, after their bus crashes on a closed road at night. Trying to find help, they walk into the town of Little Hope, long empty, and find themselves unable to leave as the fog closes around them. Visions pull them back to the 1690s, where a family faces accusations of witchcraft, and the people in those visions wear their own faces.

You walk, examine clues and pictures, and choose how each character speaks and acts. When the apparitions come, quick-time events and a heartbeat-hold mechanic decide whether a character escapes. Traits and relationships change with your choices, and any of the five can die and stay dead, so the story can end many ways.

The dread is in the fog itself, in broken houses and woods, and in the sense that the town's past is repeating through you. The upgraded version adds difficulty settings, warnings before quick-time events and better accessibility options, and the Curator's Cut opens after the first finish. It suits players who liked Until Dawn, The Quarry or Man of Medan.

How to play The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope

Buy it on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox or Switch and pick Theatrical (alone), Shared Story (two online) or Movie Night (up to five on one screen).
Walk each character through the scene and examine objects for clues and premonition pictures.
Choose what to say and do in dialogue; your choices shape each character's traits and relationships.
React to quick-time events and hold your nerve in heartbeat moments when something is near.
Play through to the end, then try the Curator's Cut or a new run to save the ones you lost.