The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope (PS4)

Lost in the fog

In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a box that unleashed all the evils of the world—leaving only hope inside. Little Hope probably should have stayed there as well.

The second entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology by Supermassive Games tries to follow in the footsteps of Until Dawn, which nailed the teen horror vibe with great characters and sharp writing. Their follow-up, Man of Medan, wasn’t quite as strong but at least had personality and an interesting twist. Little Hope, unfortunately, loses its way almost immediately.

On the surface, there’s promise here. The game opens with intrigue and a mysterious, fog-covered town that looks genuinely eerie. The atmosphere is spot-on, with spooky lighting, good sound design, and a few nice environmental details. It really sets the stage for a good horror experience. But once the characters start talking, it all falls apart.

The dialogue is painfully bad and sometimes outright nonsensical. The characters make one bad decision after another, and not in a fun slasher-movie kind of way. It’s the sort of writing that makes it hard to care about anything that’s happening, even when the story itself has some interesting ideas beneath the surface.

Without going into spoilers, the narrative touches on the 17th-century Witch Trials, which could have been fascinating if handled with more nuance. Instead, the pacing feels uneven, and frequent scene cuts kill any tension the game manages to build. There’s a sense that Little Hope wants to be deep and psychological, but it never quite lands.

The presentation is strong, though. Visually, it’s moody and well-crafted, and that thick, oppressive fog does a lot of heavy lifting. It’s just a shame the story and characters don’t rise to meet the same level of quality.

Overall, Little Hope is a stylish horror game with solid atmosphere and an interesting premise, but it’s dragged down by clunky writing and characters that are impossible to root for. It’s not terrible enough to be entertaining, and not good enough to recommend.

Final Rating: 5/10

Pros:

•  Great atmosphere and visuals
•  Genuinely eerie fog and lighting
•  Some intriguing story ideas

Cons:

• Awful dialogue and poor character writing
• Constant pacing issues and abrupt scene cuts
• Wastes a potentially interesting premise