Directive 8020's post-game teaser hints at what's next for Dark Pictures
Directive 8020, the fifth entry in Supermassive's Dark Pictures series, launched May 12 to a mixed reception — but buried inside the game is a teaser that points toward whatever comes next. The studio has a long habit of hiding next-chapter previews after the credits roll, and this time the teaser is harder to reach than usual.
The hidden teaser
Rather than playing automatically after the credits, the preview is locked behind five collectibles called O Death secrets. Find all five and you'll trigger a Curator scene, followed by a short, unsettling clip. According to the GameSpot guide, the footage shows VHS tapes and an experiment recording — a woman levitating, a voiceover announcing "Stage 4: Contact," and phrases like YOUARENOTSAFE, ITKNOWSYOU, and TOBECONTINUED stamped across the screen. Years flash up: 1988, 2019, 2028, 2029.
The Ukrainian article speculates the next game is The Craven Man, a title long associated with Dark Pictures season two. But the paranormal experiment footage — possession, psychic ability, lab settings — lines up more closely with O Death, another trademark Supermassive filed years ago. No official title has been confirmed.
A franchise at a crossroads
The teaser is also a quiet memorial: the Curator scene was dedicated to actor Tony Pankhurst, who died in May 2024.
Directive 8020 itself had a rough landing. It scores 72–73 on Metacritic and 76 on OpenCritic, with just 63% of critics recommending it — and only 40% positive ratings on Steam, where players were particularly harsh on the new stealth mechanics and third-person camera shift. As Gagadget EN noted, the $49.99 / £44.99 release suffered from the studio's troubled 2025 period, which included significant layoffs in July of that year.
Supermassive has also stepped back from the rigid structure that defined the series so far. Executive producer Dan McDonald confirmed in April 2026 that the studio is dropping both the eight-game cap and the seasonal branding — future releases will be standalone experiences rather than numbered anthology entries. Directive 8020 itself absorbed a second planned space title during development, collapsing two games into one.
What to watch for
The next game has no release window yet. Given that Supermassive appears to be moving away from the rapid six-month release cadence of season one, a gap of a year or more before the next announcement seems likely. For now, the VHS tapes and floating figures are all there is — enough to keep fans speculating, if not enough to confirm anything concrete.
