With the oxygen aboard the crashed Cassiopeia in The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020 quickly running out thanks to some sabotage in the previous episode, you’ll begin episode six, Hostile Takeover, trying to work your way toward confronting a few impostors that have infiltrated the ship.
There are a staggering 13 potential deaths in episode six of Directive 8020, with a handful of secrets to be found and another Simms Recording on deck for those looking to complete their Secrets collection during this run of the game. Confront your doppelgangers and keep every human crew mate alive in Directive 8020.
Making The Call – Scanner
Once more, you’ll begin the next episode of Directive 8020 with a conversation between Stafford and Young before they left for their mission. Immediately after, you’ll see figures outside of Hydroponics, but the door is unpowered. Who you control here depends on who’s alive – you’ll be Stafford if he’s around.
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The ultimate goal in this area is to find a power cell with which you can power the door into Hydroponics, and you’ll need to crouch through the vents to navigate. When you emerge where the waypoint directs you, you’ll see a large mechanical crane in the center of the room, but for now, go toward the waypoint at a closed door on the end of the platform and watch a short cutscene verifying that the power cell is within this locked room.
Your player character sees an open door on the opposite platform, but the way there is blocked at the moment by an innavigable gap in the walkway to get there. As such, you’ll need to head down to the lower level of this area and sidle through the debris on the ground to begin using the crane to make a walkway using the container it can move.
Scan the area and you’ll see a power control unit to your left past a shelf just when you come out, and it’s this that controls the crane and its drop mechanic that you’ll need to alter before you can actually pick up the crane. Before you use the crane control panel, you’ll want to redirect power to the lock and disengage it to clear the way, then switch power back to the crane control and go use the panel to move the container and make a walkway for you.
When you’re finished, go up the stairs opposite the crane control panel and climb up to take the power cell from the locked room. Leave the area and instead of taking the vents back now that the power is disengaged, use the previously locked door to return the long way around. Once you get back, plug in the power cell at the unpowered door, go through, and you’ll see the access door for Hydroponics just ahead.
Before you go into Hydroponics and progress episode six of Directive 8020, you’ll find six secrets hiding around the area.
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Cernan (Science Crew) |
When you enter the vent after taking control of your character, exit the first door on your left and play the video on the wall. |
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McNamara’s Secret (Conspiracy) |
Between two shelves in the room off the one where you found the previous secret. |
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Making the Call (Cetus Mission) |
Redirect power from the crane control panel to an oddly-labeled “Door” option, and go through the door to the left. Hop through the broken glass on the window and round the shelf to find a Datapad. |
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Meet the Tardigrades (Cetus Mission) |
Enter the Astro Science lab after leaving the crane area but before reaching Hydroponics. |
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Stafford (Science Crew) |
On a wall down the short hallway to the left of the door to Hydroponics. |
There’s also a Simms Recording in the Geoscience lab near where you take control of your character here. Override the door and view the video on the wall inside the Geoscience lab.
When you go into Hydroponics, you’ll discover body doubles of the present characters, and a fight sequence ensues. What happens here depends on if you lose the fight here, as well as who’s even alive at this point to be fighting.
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Escape The crew member escaped unscathed. |
Reach Volunteer as Eisele and escape the area without getting caught. |
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TBD TBD |
Have Eisele send Cernan to Hydroponics to see the Engineered scene, and have them get caught. |
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TBD TBD |
Reach Volunteer as Eisele in the previous episode, and get caught by the life form. volunteered (ep 5), get caught |
When you’re finished with the fight and the following cutscenes, you’ll be back with the remainder of the crew of the Cassiopeia trying to deduce if Williams is human or not during the scene titled Accusations, and the debate is quite heated.
Again, what ensues depends on not only who’s alive to deal with the consequences of your decisions so far, but also on whether you chose to drug Williams back in Episode Five.
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Only Human Williams is spared; the scanner reveals he is human and has been drugged |
Drug Williams during Episode 5, and either refuse to shoot or time out when given the choice between the two options. |
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TBD TBD |
Fail or neglect to drug Williams in Episode 5. |
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Shot Down Williams is shot and killed just before the scanner reveals that he was human. |
Drug Williams during Episode 5, and shoot him when given the choice during the Point Blank scene. Williams dies with this choice. |
You’ll next move into a scene called Split Up, which sees the group rushing to get to the biometric scanner at Bridge Ops to prove themselves before things get out of hand, and what happens here depends on not only if you escape here, but whether Cernan escaped Williams in episode three, at the very beginning the first time you played as Cernan sneaking away from Williams.
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Cernan Escapes Cernan successfully escapes the duplicate of Williams. |
Have Cernan evade Williams in episode three, and evade the creature during Split Up. |
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TBD TBD |
This node unlocks if Cernan was caught in episode three when running from Williams, and you evade the monster in Close Encounter. |
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TBD TBD |
If Cernan was caught in episode three and was sent back down here in the Engineered node, this unlocks if he gets caught during this chase. |
Now, once Cernan’s fate is sealed, you’ll have a similar thing happen with Eisele next, and the decision about what happens to her is made by whether you powered up the incinerator during episode five, when Eisele is on the run from the Stafford duplicate.
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Eisele Escapes Eisele escapes Waste Management after burning the duplicate of Stafford. |
Successfully have evaded the Stafford duplicate as Eisele back in Episode 5’s Close Encounter scene. |
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TBD TBD |
Get caught by Stafford during Close Encounter back in Episode 5, but escape him here during your second chance. |
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TBD TBD |
Get caught during the Close Encounter scene in Episode 5, volunteer to come down to Hydroponics in Episode 5, and fail to evade the monster in Close Encounter. |
When the team leaves to go through the Scanner, the characters involved and the events that take place will all depend on who’s still alive and how you handle the proceedings. Stafford being alive or dead is a pivotal splitting point for this branch of the Turning Points. If he’s alive, Stafford enters the area holding the gun from earlier and takes control of the situation, but if not, it’s Eisele.
Regardless, you’ll now be made to test the humanity of your crew members one by one, and whoever is last through will have a clone appear and make you decide between them with a bit of pleading. From there, you’ll need to decide which of these crew members you believe is the real one, and which is the alien entity copying them.
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Eisele is Alive |
Eisele Double As Eisele moves through the scanner, another Eisele appears! |
Eisele Interrogated The crew member holding the gun tries to identify which Eisele is real. |
Eisele’s Test The crew member holding the gun asks Eisele to prove she’s human. |
Which Eisele? The crew member holding the gun must choose which version of Eisele to shoot. |
Eisele Saved Duplicate Eisele is correctly identified and shot. |
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Time Out TBD |
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Eisele Shot Human Eisele is mistakenly shot |
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Order Eisele TBD |
– |
– |
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Eisele is Dead |
Cernan Double TBD |
Cernan Interrogated TBD |
Order Cernan TBD |
– |
– |
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Test Cernan |
Which Cernan? |
Shoot Newcomer |
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Time Out |
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Shoot Cernan |
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Both characters have additional nodes to unlock here on the Turning Point tree – Eisele’s comes if Stafford is alive and you saw the Word of Advice path between the pair in Episode Two, and Cernan’s comes if Stafford is dead and you saw the Confide scene in Episode Three.
Attack
After this scene, if the you shot the impostor or timed out during thre last scene, the group will be attacked by the entity, and depending on who’s alive and what happens next, you have your first chance for one of the endings in Directive 8020 here after a series of QTEs.
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Escape The crew member evades the attack |
Stafford must be alive, and you’ll need to pass the QTEs and overcome the entity when it attacks. |
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TBD TBD |
Stafford is alive to make it to the scene, but this path unlocks if you fail the QTEs during the attack. |
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TBD TBD |
Stafford must have died before this point, and you’ll need fewer than three playable crew members remaining aboard the Cassiopeia. |
Directive 8020 Hands-On: The Dark Pictures Makes Its Return With Some Huge Upgrades
The Dark Pictures is back from hiatus with a sci-fi horror that evokes The Thing and Alien.
Bridge Ops – Title
Anyone remaining aboard the Cassiopeia at this point will assemble in Bridge Ops to assess the situation, trying to establish what to do and dealing with the fallout of whatever just happened with the monster a moment ago. You’ll be controlling Briana Young, and she heads off to the Cockpit to speak to whichever crew member is alive to be up there.
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Stafford is alive |
The Crown Falls Young talks to Stafford in the Cockpit, and he has a crisis of confidence. |
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Stafford: The Supporter (Raise Stafford’s Supportive Trait) |
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Stafford: The Commander (Raise Stafford’s Resolute Trait) |
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Stafford is dead, but Eisele is alive |
TBD TBD |
Lead |
Eisele: The Sympathetic (Raise Eisele’s Sympathetic Trait) |
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Eisele: The Rational (Raise Eisele’s Rational Trait) |
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Follow |
– |
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Stafford and Eisele are dead |
TBD TBD |
– |
Proceed to Storm |
Stafford will have the Recoil node here if he shot the human Eisele during the previous scene. It does not unlock if you shot the imposter.
Once you make it to the Turning Point node titled Storm, you’ll get quite a lot of information about what Directive 8020 is and what it means for the crew when it comes to the alien material aboard the ship – you’ll need to choose whether you ask the Andromeda for help when it arrives as scheduled in six months’ time, or whether you warn the Andromeda about the breach and biohazard before they arrive, even if that means sacrificing your own lives.
Who gets to choose depends on who’s alive.
- Stafford is alive: Stafford makes the decision.
- Stafford is dead: Eisele makes the decision.
- Both Stafford and Eisele are dead: Young makes the decision.
The ending node here changes with your decision.
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Save Your Souls The survivors decide to send a warning to the Andromeda and turn them back to Earth. |
Choose to Warn the Andromeda. |
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Save Our Ship The survivors ask for help from the Andromeda. |
Choose to Hope for help from the Andromeda. |
No matter what you choose to do, the episode ends when you’ve made your decision.
Directive 8020 Will Fix One Of My Biggest Gripes With The Dark Pictures Anthology
We won’t need to crowd into my apartment anymore.
