Sometimes, a video game just does what it says on the tin. In the case of The Casting of Frank Stone, the newest game from Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology, and The Quarry developer Supermassive Games, that’s not a bad thing. It just means that, after playing the demo I was sent, I don’t have a ton to say other than, “Yeah, man, that’s a Supermassive game, and as someone who likes those, that’s pretty cool.”
The Casting of Frank Stone is set in the world of Dead by Daylight, but you don’t have to know what those words mean to enjoy what’s going on (though there are some references that you’ll only catch if you’re a fan). The demo I played is set in 1963. You play as Sam, a black cop who has come to Cedar Hills Mill late at night looking for a missing kid. He runs into Tom Holt, the mill’s white security guard, who is less than helpful. There is some initial, under-the-surface tension there given who the characters are and the time period, which makes for compelling drama and helps underline the feeling that while Sam might need Tom’s help, he can’t fully trust him. Like all Supermassive games, how you treat Tom affects not only your relationship with him, but who Sam is as a person. You can choose to push him about the obviously doctored entries in his logs, or shame him for his drinking, but that might not be the best idea if you actually want him to help you.
No matter what you choose, you’ll eventually set off and explore the mill by yourself. If you’ve played a Supermassive game before, this part will feel familiar. You’ll walk around, navigate the environment, and look for clues that shed light onto what’s going on at the mill. It’s appropriately creepy; Supermassive understands that the scariest things are what you can’t see: a dark corner your flashlight doesn’t quite get to, a repetitive sound that might be normal but you can’t quite place, a character commenting about an unnatural smell, subtle musical cues. The Casting of Frank Stone does a good job of building up a sense of creeping dread, the unrelenting feeling of “Oh, God, oh God, I should not be here.”
And it keeps you wondering. Is Tom part of what’s going on at the mill? What’s the deal with his dog, Merlin? Why is Sam so dedicated to finding this child that he’s here alone, at night? Those questions create compelling drama — I love the quick but notable moment where Tom, after running into Sam again while he’s investigating the mill, calls him “mister”; “Officer,” Sam immediately says. It’s subtle, but telling — but it wouldn’t be a horror story if characters weren’t also making bad decisions. I don’t know about you, but if I were investigating a spooky mill with a guy I didn’t fully trust and I found his dog chowing down on a pile of bones and meat that contained a human ear, I’d get the hell out of there, or at least call in some backup. Sam, however, doesn’t seem to share my sense of self-preservation.
I won’t spoil what happens from that point on; part of the joy of a Supermassive game is seeing what happens. But all the pieces are there. You’ve got your conversation choices, quick-time events that appear during action sequences and affect how scenes play out, branching paths, and so on. The demo I played wasn’t long enough for me to get an idea of how much the choices I’d made would play out in the long term, or if they would matter at all — if you’ve ever played a Supermassive game before, you’ll know that being involved in the cold open generally doesn’t bode well for any of those characters — but it was enough to get me hooked on the mystery of what was going on. Supermassive’s games are generally very beautiful and well-acted interactive films; The Casting of Frank Stone is no exception, and I appreciated how it was creepy and compelling while finding space for Tom to say things like “Dangmannit!” and “Jesus married a milkmaid!” That’s the thing about horror; it’s scary, yeah, but there’s also moments that are genuinely funny and mundane to break things up, too. The Casting of Frank Stone gets that.
If you don’t like them, The Casting of Frank Stone doesn’t seem like it will do much to change your mind. But I left my time with the demo interested in what Supermassive is doing here, and excited to see more. Sometimes, a game is what it says it is on the tin. The surprise is in seeing how things play out. And in this case, that’s fine by me.
This preview is based on a PC closed beta code provided by the publisher. The final product is subject to change.
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replyWill Borger posted a new article, The Casting of Frank Stone is Definitively a Supermassive Game And That's Just Fine
