Directive 8020 Will Be Optimized For The Steam Deck With A Verified Badge - Summer Game Fest 2025

If you haven't yet, follow us on X (Twitter), Mastodon, or Bluesky to know when we post new articles, and join our Reddit or Subscribe to us on YouTube to check out our content and interact with our awesome community. Thank you for supporting us!

At Gamescom last year, I had the pleasure of checking out Directive 8020 behind closed doors. The next game in the Dark Pictures Anthology stunned me, mostly due to the new direction they were going with adding in some survival elements. Part of the appeal of the anthology is that the story-driven experience focuses more on the narrative with gorgeous visuals, so I was surprised to see these new mechanics. However, after playing it at Summer Game Fest, the worry was washed away, and I left even more excited since I learned that developer Supermassive Games is optimizing it for the Steam Deck.

While I was there, I got to talk with the team behind Directive 8020, and they confirmed that they are working on optimizing for the Steam Deck and will aim to launch with the Verified badge. On top of that, the developer confirmed that while they are still optimizing the game, it was actually already running at 30 FPS on the Deck! This was a game I had no expectation of playing on the go, so this was a huge boost of confidence that made me overwhelmingly happy.

The game is still in development, so this is subject to change, but the team does care about making sure it's playable on the Steam Deck, and that's already huge.

On top of that, the game is just a blast to play. My demo was short, but I got to take a look at the stealth mechanics and make some narrative decisions. The game is beautiful visually, and from what I played, the mechanics involved are pretty solid. Admittedly, I didn’t get to do much other than sneak around a monster and make it up to a ladder to escape their clutches, but it was tense and exciting all the same.

Even in the short time frame, it did a great job of starting to bring up feelings of anxiety with no idea of what could be lurking around the corner. Even as we got away from our alien clones, I never once felt like the tension let up since they could be anybody, and I was on the edge of my seat curious as to what would happen next.

The big takeaway from my time with the game is actually their new rewind system. In games like this, we usually make decisions that can change the trajectory of the story. However, if we want to see how another decision would play out, we’d usually have to replay the game or go back to a specific chapter. Well, with this rewind system, we actually can go back to specific scenes inside of each chapter to make different decisions instead of needing to replay chunks of the game just to see what’s different. It all takes place on a sprawling tree, and it’s awesome to see just how massive the scale is.

The only downside, which is also very cool, is how each decision can reverberate throughout the game. One decision in episode 1 can affect the choices you have in episode 6, and I love it. However, the rewind system doesn’t save those choices, so you will have to replay the game from the first initial point in episode 1 instead of being able to skip through and see its effects in episode 6. It would have been nice to be able to skip through to see what changes are different, especially if the decisions are so far apart, but it isn't the end of the world.

Still, nothing quelled my excitement for Directive 8020, and I can't wait for its release. It looks like it's going to be a great time, and even though I am a big baby when it comes to horror, my curiosity and excitement for the enticing sci-fi world are going to drive me into nightmare territory, and I can't wait.

Directive 8020 can be wishlisted now ahead of its October 2nd release date.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that will help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got you covered!