'Directive 8020' Review: In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream...in Frustration

May 12, 2026 - 00:32

I have long been a fan of choice-driven narrative video games. From basically everything Telltale Games ever made to Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human, I have played and enjoyed them all, always willing to overlook occasional narrative missteps or uninspired gameplay to be swept up in a good story. That patience, however, is tested by "Directive 8020," a new title that tries to blend sci-fi horror with branching dialogue and quick-time events.

The premise is promising. You wake up on a damaged starship adrift in deep space, with a shapeshifting alien creature picking off the crew one by one. The atmosphere is thick with tension, and the sound design does a decent job of making every creak and groan of the hull feel ominous. The problem is that the game keeps getting in its own way. The controls are clunky, often failing to register a button press during a critical moment, leading to cheap deaths that feel less like consequences of your choices and more like technical glitches.

The dialogue trees are also a letdown. Instead of feeling like you are shaping a unique story, most paths funnel you into the same few outcomes. The illusion of choice is paper-thin. By the third chapter, I was less invested in the mystery of the alien and more frustrated with the repetitive stealth sections and the game's refusal to let me explore freely. It tries to capture the dread of classics like Alien Isolation but lacks the polish to pull it off. For fans of the genre, this one is a hard pass unless you have a very high tolerance for jank.