No one can deny that at Supermassive Games they have an affinity for horror. In the past, the British studio has created a whole collection of promising and well-received horror experiences, many of which are grouped under the banner of The Dark Pictures Anthology. The truth is, whether they belonged to that group or were independent projects from The Quarry, Supermassive had become synonymous with a very own and familiar approach, but one that needs a thorough overhaul. That’s what we’ll have next year, with the launch of the second season of The Dark Pictures, which will begin with Directive 8020. But for 2024 we have the last gasp of the old formula thanks to a spin-off of Dead by Daylight , a game called The Casting of Frank Stone.
Okay, before we go on and discuss things like gameplay and narrative, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the Dead by Daylight connection. This is a spin-off based on Behavior Interactive’s hugely popular asymmetrical horror game, but you don’t need to have played Dead by Daylight to enjoy The Casting of Frank Stone. There are plenty of nods and little references that those interested in the game’s backstory will understand and enjoy, but the story stands perfectly as a standalone game about the terrifying entity from Dead by Daylight.
Leaving aside the Dead by Daylight connections, let’s talk about the story and the gameplay mechanics. First of all, The Casting of Frank Stone is set in three different eras. You’ll experience part of the story in the late ’60s, when Sam, a local cop, confronts serial killer Frank Stone and tries to stop him from sacrificing a baby. Then a jump to the ’80s, where a group of teenagers, including Sam’s son, sneak into the steel mill where Frank Stone killed countless victims to film an indie horror film. The situation eventually evolves into an invocation ritual, after which Stone’s ghost begins terrorizing and murdering the young people without any remorse. And finally, we have the current day, where a collection of unusual characters (including the daughter of one of those ’80s teens) are gathered in a mansion that makes your hair stand on end thanks to deception. There, they soon find themselves at the mercy of supernatural, bloodthirsty creatures. Why do I mention the three eras right at the start? Since Supermassive loves to jump from one to the other as the narrative progresses, it’s a little confusing to know what is what… especially when you add in that there are multiple timelines as well.
Advertising:
For me, a story with too many complications is a nuisance at best, and even more so in a horror title where the plot doesn’t need to have so much depth to entertain and hold attention. But to be honest, this detail wouldn’t have caught my attention if we could count on a Supermassive title and great game mechanics being synonymous. But this hasn’t been the case for a long time, and in most cases the strength of games lies in their story, and in this sense The Casting of Frank Stone often fails to create a captivating narrative. The only problem is not that the plot is convoluted, but also that the narrative rhythm becomes an obstacle in a story where, after a great beginning, five or six chapters pass before something important and interesting happens again. I say again that it wouldn’t be so disturbing if the tour of the steelworks and the mansion were interesting and you could discover many secrets, but neither one nor the other.
The Casting of Frank Stone, like many other recent Supermassive projects, is not very fun. The game has its moments, either when you indulge in the fantastic local multiplayer experience or when you use the more automatic cinematic mode to skip the exploration parts. The latter is partly because the characters respond poorly to the controls and feel slow, and partly because in reality there is very little to do outside of these narrative sequences. Supermassive presents us with a world where you can walk through narrow corridors to reach doors that don’t open, or collect documents and other objects that give information about the lore but otherwise have no impact on the story. There are some puzzles to solve along the way, but they are not very entertaining at best and most of them focus on running around looking for the necessary object (lying on the ground) to continue progressing. If we talk about the gameplay experience, The Casting of Frank Stone strives to fall short of expectations.
Advertising:
Constant QTEs don’t help improve the experience either. They pop out of nowhere and require a level of precision to complete successfully that seems completely out of place compared to the rest of the game. Yes, you can progress even if you don’t complete the button sequence in perfect timing, but the way they’re designed seems absurd. But regardless of opinions on QTEs, the truth is that Supermassive has always used them a lot, and I can see the mechanic’s usefulness in local multiplayer, as it forces people to keep their eyes on the screen for attention alert. So while I tend to be lenient on the QTE system, I don’t tend to be lenient on the disastrous recording camera system. Long story short, when Frank Stone’s ghost shows up and starts attacking the teens, they’re able to temporarily eliminate Stone using an old camera. There are lore-based reasons for this, but in practice it feels like a missed opportunity, as it completely removes the fear factor of becoming prey to a malicious enemy and just becomes a silly trick with no depth at all that the monster doesn’t even have a chance of getting close to you.
But while The Casting of Frank Stones is definitive proof that the changes planned for next year with Directive 8020 are more important and necessary than ever, it also highlights the studio’s strengths. The time branching system, which allows you to discover one of several possible endings, creates a game in which many different plays are entirely possible, experiencing not just endings but different parts of the story. The atmosphere, setting, environment design, character models and acting are also fantastic. The graphics aren’t photorealistic (though that level of detail would greatly benefit a studio like Supermassive) and there are odd niggles with the way the character models react and emotion, but overall the game looks fantastic, has a great setting and theme, and there are no technical issues when playing.
And for that reason, The Casting of Frank Stone feels like a very moody game to me. There are elements that stand out and impress, but there are also too many parts that drag the game down and come across as a disappointment. A smoother gameplay system would do wonders, but more importantly, when it comes to a game of this style produced by Supermassive, they could have further refined the story and narrative to ensure it isn’t so complicated and feels more balanced and paced. The Casting of Frank Stone will be the final chapter of an era of Supermassive, a chapter with its successes and its mistakes, where despite those mistakes, the potential of the collaboration between Supermassive and Dead by Daylight is glimpsed, a potential that they hope to explore again in the future.
