With the first game in the Anthology out of the way, I was curious if Little Hope is going to be any better. I still liked the concept, after all, and the fact that every story can be completely separate was promising. Overall, I liked Little Hope far more. Yet, I feel, not everyone will feel the same.
So, just like with Man of Medan, this plays like a modern “interactive movie” type cinematic adventure in the vein of Quantic Dream titles. You get your choices and consequences, a reliance on scenes, rather than a level to explore and lots and lots of QTEs. You still have the option to play the game in coop, with the other player experiencing the alternative view on the story and both player choices affecting the outcome. And also returning is the Curator Cut mode added post-release that allows people like me, who prefer to play games solo, play this other side of the story alone, without the need to play coop.
Being a completely separate story, Little Hope is more like a psychological horror title, contrasting with more of a slasher approach of Man of Medan. Its story is also full of witch trial references and curious facts, something that I, not well familiar with the topic, found interesting to check. Though, all these things, along with lots of visual and story elements, mean that there are unavoidable comparisons with The Blair Witch Project and even more with the Silent Hill titles. Except, with constant annoying jump scares instead of artful suspense. But, I’d say Little Hope stands on its own here. Even if it did remind me that the last time I played a big budget anthology of games it was actually the trilogy of Blair Witch titles from the early 00s.
Personally, I found both gameplay and the story of Little Hope far more interesting and engaging than most of what happened in Man of Medan. Unlike the previous game, while you can still guess what the big twist would be relatively early on, at least it’s not the first 10 minutes of the game and at least the game tries to keep you wondering if your guess is correct. Additionally, while the gameplay itself isn’t widely different, the pace of the story fits far better with the exploratory nature of the gameplay. The previous game wanted you to explore, despite the constant need to run and escape. In this one, exploration and narrative go together.
I do feel, though, that some people might find the story disappointing and the end reveal unsatisfying and I can totally get that. I thought that it worked well enough and I was invested despite correctly guessing what’s going on early on. Still, I can see people not being happy about it. Or about the choice-consequence flow of things, as like in the previous entry and like in the vast majority of these types of games, not all of your choices lead to meaningful or even any consequences. I don’t usually care, as long as one playthrough is enjoyable, so it was fine for me. Plus, at least this time what you do and why was far less obscure than in the previous game.
Is this Dark Pictures Anthology shaping out nicely so far? Not really, but there’s still promise. I would still not be able to outright recommend Little Hope for everyone, but it’s a game that you might want to check out.