The Dark Pictures Anthology is an interactive horror survival game series developed by Supermassive Games where players interact with a cast of characters and help them survive through terrifying events. The series has had three entries so far, with the latest one being The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes, which was released in 2021.
Like previous entries, The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes centers on a cast of five playable characters trying to survive to the end of the story, in this case after falling into a subterranean Akkadian temple. From there, they discover that there's more than ruins down there, and player choices paired with quick time events will either help the cast survive or hinder their progress. Whether the characters live or die is in the players' hands, and now the game offers different ways to experience the story.
A new trailer announces The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Curator's Cut will be available for free. The Curator's Cut, named after the enigmatic Curator himself, is a game mode that lets players replay House of Ashes' chapters and experience the campaign from the perspective of other protagonists. However, some chapters and scenes will be unaffected by the Curator's Cut. This will offer different playable characters in House of Ashes' story, along with new scenes, player choices, new story outcomes, and of course, new character deaths.
The other two entries in the game series, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope and Man of Medan, also had the Curator's Cut mode. The Curator's Cut was originally released as part of a pre-order DLC bonus for The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan. Now, the Curator's Cut can be unlocked in the game for all players, once they have completed a playthrough of the story in the Theatrical Mode on normal difficulty.
The trailer also reveals that the Friend's Pass will be available now on all games in The Dark Pictures Anthology series for free. The Friend's Pass allows game owners to invite a friend online to play the story with them, even if they don't own any of the games. They can join a playthrough of either of the games through the Multiplayer Shared Story mode that each one has.
Players who are invited to play will first need to download the Trial version for any of the games in the series. Also, the invited friend must be playing on the same platform as the game owner. The free Friend's Pass for The Dark Pictures Anthology games will be available to players starting today, January 28, to Monday, February 28.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
