Supermassive Games has told us not to expect The Dark Pictures to tackle a classic alien abduction story in future games, with its focus on narrative ideas being elsewhere for the time being.

Series producer Dan McDonald sat down with TheGamer earlier this month to talk about House of Ashes, the latest entry in its horror anthology starring The Suite Life of Zack and Cody’s Ashley Tisdale. It looks great, and you can check out our full preview here.

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Beyond House of Ashes, we also talked about what might be coming next for The Dark Pictures, and what spooky shenanigans players can expect from the studio as it moves forward and continues work on future projects. Sadly, things won’t be going exterrestrial anytime soon.

“That’s not on the horizon,” McDonald tells us when we ask if aliens might ever come into the equation, “But that’s something we’re always looking at. There’s so much short-form horror out there whether it’s American Horror Story or the Supernatural TV series. There’s so many movies and stuff at Supermassive that we watch, and it’s a great frame of reference for us to talk around.”

As for House of Ashes, McDonald also expanded on what influenced the latest chapter, ranging to everything from The Descent to Alien vs Predator: “It’s not that we’re trying to make Aliens and Predator or in the future a potential alien abduction [story]. It’s not that we’re trying to make that, it’s what parts of that can we bring in. Is it the sound the creature makes, not to mimic that, but what can we learn from it and take it and mold it in our own way,” McDonald explains. “It’s always about evolving, and learning, and there’s a lot of evolution within [House of Ashes]. I’d love to sit and talk to you about what’s in game four, game five, or game six - there’s so much stuff that’s coming and we’re growing, trying new things and that evolution is just a part of what we’re doing,” 

Due to complications relating to the pandemic, Supermassive Games is yet to announce a concrete release date for House of Ashes, but it is expected to launch for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in 2021 - perhaps we'll see it arrive just in time for Halloween.

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