Co-op and multiplayer horror Horror The Dark Pictures

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
Stores: Steam
Price: Paid
Rated: Mostly Positive on Steam (74% of 10,870 reviews); Metacritic 71 (PS4); 4.15 of 5 on PlayStation Store (12,311 ratings)
Length: About 4 hours
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 in October 2020: on Steam on 29 October and on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 30 October. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions followed in September 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 takes a detour and crashes 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 17th century, where townspeople who share their faces are accused of witchcraft.

You walk, examine clues and pictures, and choose how each character speaks and acts. When the apparitions come, quick-time events and holding still to the rhythm of a heartbeat 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, which shows scenes from other characters' points of view, opens after the first finish. A first play takes about four hours. 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.

Screenshots

Little Hope screenshot: a lone figure stands on a wet road in thick blue fog between dark trees

Little Hope screenshot: a crashed bus lies on its side on a wet road at night, sparks at its front

Little Hope screenshot: Andrew crouches in the dark woods beside a hanging twig effigy as a torch shines in

Little Hope screenshot: a dialogue compass with insistent and defensive choices beside Andrew's worried face

Little Hope screenshot: a girl in a 17th-century bonnet speaks to a man in a dim, firelit room

Little Hope screenshot: the Curator smiles in his candle-lit library, holding a book titled Little Hope

Little Hope screenshot: a pale, black-eyed apparition with long cloth flaps at its head screams in the dark

Tips

Turn on QTE warnings if you want a moment's notice before each prompt.
Collect the premonition pictures: they hint at deaths you can avoid.
Pay attention to the past scenes; what happens there echoes in the present.
Play Movie Night with friends with the lights off; it is made for a group.

Questions

Can you play Little Hope with friends?

Yes. Shared Story is two players online and Movie Night lets up to five share one controller on one screen.

Is Little Hope on Switch?

Yes. It came to Nintendo Switch on 5 October 2023.

Do I need to play Man of Medan first?

No. Each Dark Pictures game is a standalone story linked only by the Curator.

Is Little Hope based on real events?

Its visions draw on the 17th-century Andover witch trials in Massachusetts, but its story is fiction.

How long is Little Hope?

About four hours for one play through, according to GameSpew, short enough to finish in one sitting. The Curator's Cut and other endings give reasons to play again.