The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes

The best enemies to lovers story. Jason and Salim my beloved <3

Rarely I finished a game and raise my fist while yelling "YES !!". The ending is epic. It's a movie-game and every action you take will have a consequence. This studio (Supermassive Games) knows their stuff.

A Toxic Trio: How Rachel, Eric, and Nick Weaken House of Ashes: The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes strands its characters in a subterranean Akkadian temple, forcing them to confront ancient, terrifying creatures. It's a fantastic premise for a horror game, blending historical mystery with visceral monster-movie action. However, the true horror for many players isn't the winged monstrosities hunting them in the dark, but the deeply flawed and frustrating love triangle at the center of its story. The dynamic between Rachel, her husband Eric, and her lover Nick is so poorly handled that it actively detracts from the experience, with Rachel's character in particular making the game feel, at times, terrible. The Rachel Problem: An Unsympathetic Core Rachel King is positioned as a tough, capable CIA officer, but her primary role in the narrative is to be the abrasive center of a toxic romance. Her treatment of her husband, Eric, is consistently appalling. She is dismissive, cold, and openly hostile to him from the very beginning, long before the life-or-death situation could be blamed for her attitude. The game does little to justify her contempt. We are told their marriage has struggled, but we are primarily shown her disdain, not the reasons for it. This makes her subsequent actions infuriating. Whether she is rekindling her affair with Nick or offering a glimmer of reconciliation to Eric, her choices often feel baseless and driven by the immediate needs of the plot rather than consistent characterization. It becomes incredibly difficult to sympathize with or root for a character who treats others so poorly. When the narrative expects the player to care about her survival, it feels like a chore. Her survival often means condemning other, more likable characters, making her a narrative anchor that constantly threatens to drag the entire story down. Eric's Futile Chase Eric’s character is a casualty of Rachel’s poor characterization. He is a brilliant, if by-the-book, Air Force Colonel, yet his primary motivation throughout the game is to win back a wife who has shown him nothing but scorn. He is aware of her affair with Nick, yet he repeatedly debases himself, pleading for a second chance from a person who clearly does not deserve it or even want it. This relentless pursuit makes him appear weak and foolish, undermining his authority and intelligence. Players are forced to watch a supposedly competent leader abandon all self-respect for someone who has treated him horribly. Instead of a compelling story about a strained marriage tested by terror, we get a frustrating spectacle of a man chasing after a woman who offers him no reason to do so. His character arc is one of desperation, not of strength or reconciliation, which makes his moments of potential heroism feel hollow. Nick's Selfish Pursuits While perhaps the most sympathetic of the three, Nick is far from blameless. His willingness to openly cheat with his superior officer's wife, in the middle of a warzone, is a staggering act of selfishness. His motivations are presented as a genuine love for Rachel, but his actions are driven purely by what he wants, with little regard for the consequences. He shows a shocking lack of loyalty and professionalism. This affair creates an immediate and obvious rift within the command structure of the team, endangering everyone before the first monster even appears. Nick’s focus is not on the mission or the well-being of his team, but on his personal desires. He sees Rachel not as a person enmeshed in a complex and difficult situation, but as a prize to be won from Eric. This single-minded pursuit, while understandable from a purely emotional standpoint, paints him as a character who prioritizes his own wants over his duty and the safety of his comrades. Ultimately, House of Ashes is crippled by this central dynamic. The game forces players to spend hours with three people who are, in their own ways, deeply unlikable. The tension between them feels less like compelling drama and more like an exhausting, toxic relationship that you're forced to mediate. Instead of uniting against a common enemy, they pull the narrative apart at the seams, making what could have been a great horror story a truly terrible character study.

good game. fun and entertaining story

Yes. Play it. This was indescribably awesome. Eternal props to the dev team and all involved.

Way better than the previous two games in the series, with a longer story, much more action and more interesting character dynamics. Even better in coop!

The game is a nightmare. Those quick time events fucked me several times just like those heart rate things. The graphics are very good but I had some shadow issues maybe because raytracing, all in all the game was very nice I'd definitely recommend it

I've played all four so far (still haven't completed The Devil In Me, and it's hard to with how woke it is), but I legitimately think this is the best one of the four. It's got the right amount of absurdness coupled with great story-telling. Definitely give them all a try as the Dark Pictures Anthology games are great, and as I said, I think this is the best one.

The mouse controls were a BIT janky, and pretty much unusable for me with Xbox controller. aside from that story is half way decent and I had a fun time during act 3

Good horror aspects, with more of a fight than flee feeling. All-round great mechanics which are more in not better than the first game, leaving it feeling more like the true sequel.

While the game has some very low moments in the game. Low moments are described as very boring or easy seen in them for a small portion of the game. This game is very different from Little hopes story. However, it makes up for these dull moments with interesting cut scenes. While the ending is very different and can be disapointing out come based on the a person choice in the story.

One of the better ones. I like Jason/Salim as characters. Especially Jason is voice acted really well. Ending was too crazy for me. Eric and Nick fighting over a girl while being attacked from all sides was also stupid. Exploration in these games is always fun but there is just not enough of it, you keep jumping from one cutscene to the next. Fun to play through once but even though it's getting a little bit better, story/characters could still be improved a lot upon.

So even tho the game isnt really that bad, its got some major issues to it that are reall ypissing me off. Some dialoges seem to give u choices that both seem rather good and shouldnt result in something gamebreaking. You would think. Quite the opposite it is tho. There are some choices in the game that make u think its a good path and then a character dies from taking that choice even tho it seem very safe. And der is abolutly nothing you can do about it. Then there are some branches of the story u get intentionally forced into by the game even tho u executed QTE's flawlessly. this just fucking sucks, why put a QTE in if passing it wont change a think. Something major happened to one of my characters i was intentionally avoiding all game until that point and i passes every QTE and it still happened. Nothing that could have been done i just got forced into that striyline i was desperatly trying to avoid. There was no explanation what so ever why this should have happened. and i know it can be prevented. If i faul the QTE and it happens thats alright but if i pass all of them flawlessly this just shouldnt happen. Its a terrible game mechanic and totally ruined the game for me. Not that the game is anywhere close to being a really good game anyways, but this really fucking ruined it.

This one really delivered. The story was intense with a cool setting twist, and the visuals and sound design were top-notch. Gameplay felt smooth and the added action elements gave it a different energy compared to the others. Easily one of the most memorable entries in the anthology

I really enjoyed the story, its commentary on the Iraq War, and its characters, but it just felt a lot more linear compared to the other games I've played. Maybe it's just because I very recently played the original Until Dawn for the first time, where you're practically spoiled with impactful choices to make at every turn. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of choices, but they never had me thinking "Man, if I'd made the other choice, I'd be way more screwed than I am now," or, "I really shouldn't have done that," it felt more like the quick time events were the more impactful part of the game. I had fun, but it didn't leave me itching to dive right back into another playthrough like The Quarry and Until Dawn did.

i was skeptical. it seemed like another shitty desert storm flick full to the brim with cheese and the beginning really embodied that... until it didnt. the story was intriguing and the finds were interesting, caught myself wanting to read all of the lore, and then it went full badass! shit hit the fan the way it needed to to drag me into the story deeper and want more, even made me sit through the credits with badass music and a feeling of success regardless of the loss, get past the boring beginning and sink your teeth in, trust me. i give this an 7.5/10 still not enough to stare out the window afterwards and not know what to play after but definitely a rewarding experience. id say try it, it felt like a good movie and truely felt like i had survived hell

Not the game i usually play but the story is good

House of Ashes was an amazing experience! The mix of horror, action, and mythology was exciting and felt refreshingly different. The characters especially Salim were well written and emotionally engaging. The dark underground setting created great tension, and the choices once again felt truly meaningful. Absolutely recommended!

If you liked "choose your own adventure books" as a kid, you will like this game.

great game to play wtih a friend/friends

Semper Fi. 10/10

boring ass game

Good game

Solo Salim ez ez ez

salim and nick should kiss

Amazing story!!!

best one

History channel at 3am be like:

Pazuzu Pazuzu

OORAH

Peak

Between Man of Medan and Little Hope this one is just pure genius. Variety of characters and how they change depending on your choices is awesome. Between all the Supermassive Games I player or watched this one stand firmly IMO as Top 1. I really hope that whether they do season 2 of Dark Pictures they will be more like this part if it comes to story, pacing and characters.