Directive 8020 Finally Has a Release Date and It Is Sooner Than You Think

After a delay that tested the patience of Dark Pictures fans everywhere, Supermassive Games has finally put a firm date on the calendar. Directive 8020 drops on May 12, 2026, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam.

The announcement came with a new trailer titled "Comply", which leans hard into the game's paranoia-driven premise. You watch Cooper, the ship's medic, standing outside a sealed door while her crewmate Mitchell begs to be let back in. You do not know if he is still human. You have seconds to decide. That is very much the energy Supermassive is going for here.

The game was originally meant to launch in October 2025, but layoffs at the studio last July pushed it back. May 12 is the first confirmed date since that delay, and it sits comfortably within the first half of 2026 window the studio promised at the time.

What Is Directive 8020?

It is the fifth entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology, though Supermassive has moved away from the structured season format to let this one stand more on its own. The story follows the crew of the colony ship Cassiopeia after it crash-lands on Tau Ceti f, a planet twelve light-years from Earth. A shapeshifting alien organism has infiltrated the crew, capable of perfectly mimicking any crewmate, and your job is to figure out who to trust before it is too late. Yes, it is very much giving The Thing.

Bond actress Lashana Lynch leads the cast as Brianna Young, the ship's co-pilot. Lynch has had a solid run recently between Bob Marley: One Love and The Woman King, and she's a genuinely good casting choice for something this tense.

What Is New This Time Around?

A fair bit, actually. The camera is now fully under player control, rebuilt from scratch, and character movement has been made smoother than in previous entries. Supermassive has also added live combat and stealth. You will not be picking up a gun and blasting aliens. The idea is you stay in the shadows, move quietly, and avoid detection. The studio calls it "threatening exploration" and says it is something they have wanted to bring into their games for years.

There is also a new mechanic called Turning Points. This lets players rewind to key story moments and explore alternate outcomes, meaning if you lose someone you wanted to keep alive, you are not necessarily stuck with that result. You can also turn the feature off entirely if you want decisions to carry permanent weight, the way they did in older entries.

The game also supports single-player and up to five-player couch co-op at launch, with online multiplayer arriving later in a free post-launch update.

Pre-Order Incentives

Pre-orders are live now on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, with Steam digital pre-orders opening soon. Physical editions will also be available on console. Anyone who pre-orders gets a free upgrade to the Deluxe Edition, which includes a Dark Pictures outfit pack, a cosmic visual filters pack, a digital artbook, a digital soundtrack, and an exclusive collectible heirlooms mission.

The soundtrack, for what it is worth, will be composed by Jason Graves, who has scored every previous Dark Pictures game. If you have played any of those, you will already have a good idea of the kind of atmosphere he brings.

Directive 8020 arrives May 12. Given how long it has been in development and the turbulence the studio went through to get here, it will be interesting to see how it all comes together.