House of Ashes is the third installment in The Dark Pictures Anthology, and it represents a noticeable step forward for the series in scope, pacing, and narrative cohesion. Moving away from haunted houses and maritime ghost ships, this entry shifts to a military horror setting during the 2003 Iraq War. The result is a hybrid of survival horror, creature feature, and character-driven interactive drama that blends cinematic storytelling with player agency.

Unlike its predecessors, which leaned heavily into ambiguity and psychological horror, House of Ashes embraces a more direct, visceral threat. The tone is darker, more urgent, and more action-oriented, while still preserving the series’ trademark branching narrative structure and life-or-death decision-making.

The narrative centers on a CIA operative and a squad of U.S. Marines who, alongside an Iraqi military unit, become trapped in a buried Sumerian temple after a firefight. What initially appears to be a political and military confrontation quickly transforms into something far older and far more terrifying.

The ancient underground structure draws inspiration from Mesopotamian mythology and cosmic horror traditions reminiscent of H. P. Lovecraft. The story weaves together themes of imperial conflict, mistrust, survival, and the cyclical nature of violence. The setting—claustrophobic ruins beneath the desert—creates a sustained atmosphere of isolation and dread. Verticality in level design (descending into darkness) symbolically mirrors the characters’ descent into chaos.

Importantly, the geopolitical framing isn’t merely decorative. Character tensions—especially between U.S. and Iraqi soldiers—drive interpersonal conflict that can either fracture the group or strengthen it depending on player choices. Trust mechanics and relationship variables significantly influence dialogue options and survival outcomes.

As with other entries in the anthology, five main playable characters form the emotional core of the story. The cast includes familiar faces, notably [/]Ashley Tisdale[/i], whose performance as Rachel King adds nuance to a character caught between professional duty and personal relationships.

The writing is stronger and more grounded than earlier entries in the anthology. Characters feel less like archetypes and more like flawed individuals shaped by stress and trauma. Dialogue can occasionally veer into melodrama, but overall, the performances—facial capture and voice acting in particular—deliver convincing emotional weight.

The relationship system is critical. Every interaction subtly shifts loyalty, hostility, or respect between characters. These variables affect cooperation in combat scenarios and influence who may risk themselves for others later in the narrative. The branching narrative structure allows for significant variation, with multiple endings and permutations of survival outcomes.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes represents a maturation of the anthology formula. By fully committing to its creature horror premise and integrating geopolitical tension into character dynamics, it delivers a more cohesive and engaging experience than its predecessors.

While it remains closer to an interactive film than a mechanically complex game, its atmosphere, improved pacing, and meaningful branching structure make it one of the strongest entries in the series. For players who appreciate narrative-driven horror with high production values and replayability, House of Ashes stands as a standout chapter in the anthology.

DISASTER | BAD | MEDIOCRE | OKAY | GOOD | GREAT | AMAZING | MASTERPIECE

Reviewed on: Win11 Home 64-bit, Intel i5-11600K, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB PRIME, 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, 2 x Kingston NV1 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, Internet Broadband 1000/1000 Mbit

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Wow. This was my first "Dark Pictures Anthology"-Game, but I loved it.

The gameplay (or the lack of gameplay?) is rather nice. It's more an interactive movie than a game, but I personally totally like this genre. Gameplay wise, you may can compare it to the Quantic Dream games.

The graphics are great - in my personal opinion - but I'm not a graphic junkie, so idk. There were some graphic glitches with some textures, but I could handle them, and besides this, I never encountered any bug.

About the plot... ....light to mid spoilers following.
I was totally perfect for me. I love military stuff, ancient civilizations, vampires, and sci-fi. Thus, House of Ashes is just MY mix. Besides this, the decisions to make felt really important, and some of them were truly hard to make.

A lot of ppl complain the plot twist, but I think it's totally fine.

There ARE some plot holes, but as I told you, it's kind of an interactive (action-) horror movie, and what would be a horror movie without plot holes? They exist, but if you are not too supercritical, they should be tolerable.

The characters may not be the best ones, but they are okay. Eric was kind of too whiny, Rachel felt a bit out of place, and Nick... Nick was kind of boring. But I really cared about Salim, and his bromance with Jason felt great.

Besides this, especially the last third of the game felt like an hours-long version of Mass Effect 2s suicide mission - for many reasons. Of course without the ME2 gameplay, but it still felt awesome as ♥♥♥♥.

Due to the rather short length, it's not worth the full price - depending on your budget. But I had much more fun with it than with many other games, so if you have some spare $$$ to spend and/or there's a nice discount, I totally suggest giving this a chance.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☑ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☑ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☐ 8
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☐ 10