The Devil In Me Keynote Presentation – Not the Holmes or the Triple H You Know

The Devil in Me is the Season One finale of The Dark Pictures Anthology from Supermassive Games. I had the pleasure of sitting in for a keynote presentation of the game from Tom Heaton, the game’s director. If you’re not aware of what the anthology is, it’s a set of primarily standalone, interactive, narrative, horror games. The Devil in Me is the fourth of these.

In brief, the The Devil in Me keynote goes through some details about the game, its setting, influences and features. The Curator makes his cryptic return, with Heaton suggesting that “maybe, he’ll have a few tricks up his sleeve”. As with the other games in the anthology, the game takes from real life myths and / or actual occurrences, so that fans can speculate on what element they might adapt in. “It also makes our games more believable and scarier,” as Heaton puts it.

Check out our interview with Tom Heaton here!

CHECKING IN

Let’s set the stage first.

The game is inspired by Herman Mudgett. Born in 1861, he studied medicine at University of Michigan, specializing in anatomy. He moved to Chicago in 1886, which also saw a name change to Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, otherwise best known as H. H. Holmes.

His establishment, The World’s Fair Hotel, welcomed guests who came for the World’s Fair Columbian Exposition that was happening at the time. Needless to say, none of the guests who were lured in left. The 3-storey Murder Hotel was full of secret passages, hidden rooms, trapdoors, bricked-up doorways, cellars of acid and lime pits and hospitable implements and contraptions.

At his trial, H. H. Holmes admitted to 27 murders, with speculation the number was much higher. The man’s body was encased in concrete – at his request – to “make sure his spirit didn’t escape and murder more people”.

H. H. Holmes aside, the game also has elements of the Saw series, The Shining, classic slashers in Psycho, Halloween and Friday the 13th. This makes for a mix of ingenious traps, dilemmas, claustrophobia, and the rising tension of malevolence.

“Look carefully and you’ll definitely see the hat tips the team have made to those movies.”

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

The little lambs of the day consist of a small TV production company, Lonnit Entertainment. They’re making a series called Architects of Murder, revolving around famous American serial killers. The final episode is slated to be about H.H. Holmes, and they want it to be spectacular so that they can get a Season 2 greenlit.

They’ve hit a little snag, though. They have no money, no ideas, and no content. That is, until Granthem Du’Met. This supposed wealthy architect and collector offers to bring them to an old hotel he inherited from an old relative who was obsessed with serial killers. The rooms being accurate reproductions of the aptly named H.H. Holmes’ Murder Castle meant this would be the crew’s big break, when the most people know is simply the exterior. They agree to Du’Met’s terms to secrecy, and hand over their phones.

Before the Lonnit Entertainment crew is a building authentic to its core to a hotel of the 1890s. As you might expect, the crew are due to get separated, lost, and confused amidst the sliding walls and trapdoors that threaten to keep them in place.

For now, have some cliff notes on the fates in your hands:

• CHARLIE LONNIT: The British owner of Lonnit Entertainment, and the documentary director. His passion, drive and mentality of “only the content matters” can make him bad tempered and difficult to handle
• KATE WILDER: Played by Jessie Buckler, the presenter of the show is simultaneously introverted and unsure of herself, yet also fiercely determined to do the right thing
• MARK NESTOR: Kate’s cameraman ex-boyfriend who still has some unresolved tension with Kate
• JAMIE TEIRGAN: The chief grip who handles the lighting and electrics. Her opinions and advice can often be laced with deep sarcasm
• ERIN KEENAN: The intern who has a passion for audio production. Problem is, Charlie only has her run errands and do the accounts

How will you be balancing this latest eclectic crew? Heaton makes it clear the team are always looking to improve and refine their formula as according to the feedback they get from the community. As for the deaths?

“We believe the deaths are the most gruesome, extravagant and over-the-top that we’ve ever done.”

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

The anthology has a whole has always encouraged exploration and immersion, and they have upped the ante for this Season One finale. As The Devil in Me keynote shows, there are much more actions you will be able to do. This includes:

• Climbing onto or over objects
• Squeezing through gaps to find hidden rooms
• Shimmying across ledges
• Jumping over gaps
• Balancing on narrow beams / fallen trees
• Pushing / pulling boxes to create paths
• Switch between running and walking
• The ability to hide from danger

“These make for new experiences in The Dark Pictures, but are actions familiar to most gamers.”

This is meant to give you the freedom to find your path, as well as explore the lovingly designed levels. You will be able to find secrets and items that could help the characters survive.

Speaking of use of items, The Devil in Me features a simple inventory system. Characters themselves have tools that are related to their job, such as:

• Charlie’s business card, which he can use to jimmy latches on drawers
• Mark’s camera can be used to photograph evidence
• Kate’s reporter pencil can shade over paper to see what’s been written
• Jamie’s multimeter lets her rewire electrical circuits
• Erin’s directional microphone can let her hear through walls

These tools may be altered, broken, lost or given to other characters, with their usage able to impact the narrative as you investigate the hotel. Accordingly, the addition of these systems mean there will be puzzles that require the use of these tools.

This results in a longer runtime of the game. The previous games have been roughly 4-5 hours, while The Devil in Me is at an estimated 7 hours.

WELCOME TO HOTEL CALIFORNIA

With the rundown section of the keynote done, it was time for a glimpse of gameplay for The Devil in Me. The stage is set at The Island Hotel, with our crew split up. They need to find their way out of an underground spa complex that’s crumbling and been long abandoned, though you can find evidence of contractors brought in to renovate the place. No time to ponder, though; Erin and Charlie are missing and they know they’re in danger.

Throughout the presentation, Jamie takes me through the rundown, unlit hallways. There’s lots of rubble and scaffolding about, or furniture under dust sheets. The person on the PA system goes by Laura, welcoming people to the Columbus Spa. Interactable items have this glow to them as has been typically the case. The first thing you can find is a body, a foreman. It seems like we know where the contractors went.

The bottom left of the screen is the directional keys to which tools are assigned to. The flashlight is its own tool here. There don’t seem to be prompts for all the exploration actions, as Jamie climbs the scaffolding and jumps over a gap. The place has definitely been abandoned for a long time, as the previous owner had no money for repairs. Shimmying across a ledge gets an action prompt so it seems dependent on the situation: I won’t be pointing out every instance from here on out though.

Laura continues to speak through the PA system as they try to find something, anything. They do eventually find a door which Jamie and Mark bust through through an action prompt. There’s no time to celebrate when a shutter comes down behind them and the floor drops them down below. Laura seems to be protesting about diverting from a script. There’s a business card with “Granthem Du’Met – Builder” neatly printed on it, apparently one out of 5 that you can find.

More of “his” machinations are on display as there are more dead bodies and animatronics showing off the gruesome fates that await his latest guests. When you’re forced to choose between your coworkers, friends, your traits and bearings are naturally going to change.

AND DOORS WILL OPEN…

I avoided mentioning more of the story so that you can learn more about the game for yourself, considering the narrative is what’s important after all.

You can look forward to finding out 18 November 2022 on Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One, PS5 / PS4, and PC Digital.

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