The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Very Positive · 89%Very Positive · 89%2021

−67%~~$29.99~~$9.89

US Steam price, checked 2 h ago

The verdict

A cinematic, action-leaning interactive horror movie with a strong cast (Salim and Jason especially) and a fun setting, often called the best in the anthology. Skip it if you want real gameplay or scares.

Great for

Fans of choice-driven interactive movies, especially playing co-op with a friend or partner

Main risk

Mostly cutscenes and QTEs with little real gameplay, and not very scary

What players love

Engaging story and fun twist

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews

“the reveal at the end is very fun if you don't know anything about it going into it.”
Steam review · 15.8 h played ↗

“After the disaster game that was Little Hope, this game was a fantastic return to form.”
Steam review · 12.3 h played ↗

Best entry in the anthology

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews

“This is the best one in the series. If you only buy one, buy this one.”
Steam review · 12.5 h played ↗

“The best part of the anthology. That says it all.”
Steam review · translated · 5.6 h played ↗

“Probably the best game in the anthology, with the unique setting and characters i actually care for.”
Steam review · 37.3 h played ↗

Cool setting, creatures and action

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“It's by far the best balance between action and storyline, you really have the feeling of playing an interactive movie”
Steam review · 7.9 h played ↗

“And the underground temple is one of the most beautiful and frightening locations in the whole series.”
Steam review · translated · 6.6 h played ↗

Choices with real consequences and replayability

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“Choices do matter and replays are necessary for different outcomes.”
Steam review · 14.7 h played ↗

“There is a lot of replayability in House of Ashes with the different ways the characters can die and how one's death impacts the other survivors.”
Steam review · 22.5 h played ↗

Likable characters, especially Salim and Jason

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews

“likable characters that you actually care about not to die (Salim alone deserves huge praise)”
Steam review · 8.3 h played ↗

“Jason Kolchek and Salim Othman absolutely amazing duo!! MVPs for me”
Steam review · 16.8 h played ↗

“Jason and Salim are the best heroes!”
Steam review · translated · 8.4 h played ↗

Great co-op with a friend or partner

Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews

“My friend and I played together and enjoyed it a lot. Both players get to contribute and it functions great.”
Steam review · 5.5 h played ↗

“ngl this game sucks unless you're playing with a friend, which then turns it into the greatest game of all time”
Steam review · 7.2 h played ↗

What players complain about

Boring, not scary, silly sci-fi twist

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews

“The story was interesting until the last act when they tried to have a cosmic horror twist and it completely fell apart”
Steam review · 8.1 h played ↗

“lack of jumpscares too much cutscenes not really a horror game”
Steam review · 8 h played ↗

Weak writing and unlikable characters

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews

“The characters are laughably bad and one dimensional”
Steam review · 2 h played ↗

“Wooden, cliched characters who cause nothing but rejection and dislike.”
Steam review · translated · 9.1 h played ↗

More cutscenes than gameplay

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews

“About 70% of the game is watching, not playing.”
Steam review · 7.1 h played ↗

“This isn't a video game, it's a long sequence of quick time events with (very) sporadic user input.”
Steam review · 4.4 h played ↗

“Out of the seven hours put into this playthrough, I probably was able to actively take control for... an hour?”
Steam review · 7.5 h played ↗

Bugs, crashes and co-op freezes

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“Just gets stuck on a loading screen saying "waiting for other player".”
Steam review · 3.2 h played ↗

“Can only get 5 min of content before it freezes and no longer able to progress through the story.”
Steam review · 1.7 h played ↗

Annoying QTEs, controls and mouse issues

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“what is the point of this idiotic rapid press”
Steam review · 10.8 h played ↗

“the game doesn't allow me to choose dialogue options. Found out it's a mouse/keyboard bug”
Steam review · 0.9 h played ↗

Friend's Pass doesn't work

Mentioned in ~1 in 12 negative reviews

“The game has a friend's pass that gets automatically added to your library, making you think there's a friend's pass mechanic, but it doesn't.”
Steam review · 0.2 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Playable

Minimum

OSWindows 10

ProcessorIntel Core i5-4690K or AMD FX-8350

Memory8 GB RAM

GraphicsNvidia GeForce GTX 960, 4 GB or AMD Radeon R9 380, 4 GB

Storage65 GB available space

Recommended

OSWindows 10

ProcessorIntel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600

Memory12 GB RAM

GraphicsNvidia GeForce 2060 6 GB or AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, 8 GB

Storage65 GB available space

OSWindows 10

ProcessorIntel Core i5-4690K or AMD FX-8350

Memory8 GB RAM

GraphicsNvidia GeForce GTX 960, 4 GB or AMD Radeon R9 380, 4 GB

Storage65 GB available space

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