Directive 8020 adds online multiplayer for up to five players

Supermassive Games has added online multiplayer to Directive 8020: A Dark Pictures Game, letting up to five people play the science-fiction horror adventure together from separate locations. The free update is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC via Steam, according to the release details reported by Gematsu and the game's official store listing.¹²

How the multiplayer works

The update builds on the game's existing Movie Night Mode, but moves the shared decisions online. Each player needs their own copy, and the group can divide control of the Cassiopeia's crew between multiple locations. The arrangement is flexible: five people can play from five places, or friends can combine local and remote players in the same session.¹

Custom Mode lets the group choose characters at the start, with each player taking control when their character is active. Round Robin Mode removes that allocation and instead changes control after a set amount of time. Both modes are designed around the anthology's central idea that a single choice can change who survives the story.

The update also adds Choice Voting. When the game presents a major decision, players can see who voted for which outcome before the group commits. That means a majority can settle the question, but an individual player can still break ranks and push the story in another direction. It is a small but important change to the social rhythm: players are no longer arguing over one screen without knowing whether anyone else agrees with them.

More than a co-op option

Online multiplayer arrives with additional content rather than as a standalone networking patch. Supermassive has added a wardrobe of retro silver spacesuits, 13 new Premonitions and a set of downloadable customisation options. The Premonitions offer glimpses of possible futures, giving players another reason to explore the Cassiopeia carefully and weigh whether a warning is worth following.

That combination makes the update more than a convenience feature. A remote group can now bring the full choice-driven format to friends who cannot meet on the sofa, while the extra Premonitions give returning players new information to chase. It should also make the series' familiar post-decision debates more chaotic: everyone can vote, everyone can see the split, and nobody can claim they were the only person who wanted to take the risky option.

Directive 8020 is the latest standalone entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology. Its story follows the crew of the colony ship Cassiopeia after it crash-lands on Tau Ceti f, where an alien organism can mimic its prey. The new multiplayer mode therefore fits the game's premise particularly well: trust is already a survival mechanic, and adding more human players gives every suspicious pause and disagreement a second layer.²

Our opinion

This is the sort of update that suits Directive 8020 rather than simply extending its feature list. The game was already built around shared decisions, so online play removes the biggest practical barrier without changing the story's identity. Choice Voting should make group sessions easier to follow, while Round Robin gives larger groups a simple way to keep everyone involved. The five-player limit is sensible for a cast-led horror story, though every participant needing a copy will make a full group more expensive than a couch session with one owner. Still, for friends who could not previously gather in one room, the update is a meaningful expansion rather than a token multiplayer toggle.