Directive 8020

Directive 8020 is an interactive drama and survival horror game developed and published by Supermassive Games as the fifth entry in The Dark Pictures series. Built in Unreal Engine 5, it launched on May 12, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. Lashana Lynch leads the cast as Brianna Young, an astronaut and co-pilot, and Jason Graves returns to compose the music.

The story is set aboard the Cassiopeia, a colony ship sent to survey Tau Ceti f, a planet 12 light-years from a dying Earth. After the ship crash lands on the planet, its crew finds itself pursued by an alien organism that can copy the appearance of the people it hunts. Play moves between five protagonists: Young, commander Nolan Stafford, senior mission officer Laura Eisele, medical specialist Samantha Cooper, and technical engineer Josef Cernan.

The game is viewed from a third-person perspective and split into eight episodes. Decisions shape a branching story and the relationships between the crew, and some choices can kill a character for good. Alongside quick time events, the game adds threatening exploration, where characters must stay hidden and evade enemies, since they carry no gun. Each character wears a utility strap holding a flashlight, a scanner, a wedge tool, a text messenger, and a remote control for hacking computers from a distance.

A new Turning Points feature lets players return to a key moment or decision without erasing their progress, while a survival mode removes rewinding but still shows the decision trees. An optional safe mode guarantees survival in stealth sections, and the Movie Night multiplayer mode returns with couch co-op, with online play announced as a free post-launch update. A Digital Deluxe Edition adds an outfit pack, visual filters, a digital artbook, the soundtrack, and an heirlooms mission.

Directive 8020 was first teased after the credits of The Devil in Me in 2022 and formally announced at Gamescom in August 2024. In June 2025, Supermassive stepped away from presenting it as the start of a second season, and a month later the planned October 2, 2025, launch was delayed. Its title comes from a NASA directive on biological contamination control. The game received mixed reviews, with praise for its visuals, sound design, and Turning Points system, and criticism aimed at its stealth sections and divisive story.