The Casting of Frank Stone
Developer: Supermassive Games
Publisher: Behaviour Interactive
Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PlayStation 5
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $39.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
Supermassive Games has worked on a variety of titles since their founding, but they have truly become known for their adventure horror games, bookended by two stellar standalone entries with Until Dawn and The Quarry with the shorter Dark Pictures Anthology series settled right in the middle. As such, when it was revealed that Behaviour Interactive would be teaming up with the studio to develop their first ever story based Dead by Daylight game, it came as a great surprise to both fans of horror games and the asymmetrical multiplayer title alike. Telling a story that looks to expand upon the lore of the world it’s based on, is The Casting of Frank Stone a worthwhile scare or a poor ghost story trying to prop itself up on existing popularity?
Story
Now, before we get into the actual story the biggest question most will likely have about The Casting of Frank Stone is whether or not it requires a lot of knowledge or investment in the Dead by Daylight universe to actually enjoy it and the answer to that is, a little. For the most part players unfamiliar with the greater lore will still be able to enjoy most of what is shown throughout the game as the writers do a solid enough job fleshing out events to keep those looking for a new adventure horror feeling like they are sticking with the game without feeling lost. As for those who are familiar with Dead by Daylight, it will become quite evident just how many easter eggs, references, straight up call-outs to the multiplayer game, and more are dropped and referenced from beginning to end.
The Casting of Frank Stone tells a tale across three time periods spanning quite a few decades apart, with Sam Green facing off against the twisted killer in 1963 in the steel mill, a group of ambitiously dumb teens eager to film a movie right there in that same shut down steel mill in 1980, and finally a group of strangers arriving in a far off mansion in 2024, called to sell their pieces of the film strip made back in 1980. It is worth noting that since the 1963 time period serves as basically the prologue only, the majority of the time players will be spending is with two mostly separate groups of characters with the plot jumping back and forth between timeframes as chapters progress.
The storyline throughout 1980 is an interesting one and perhaps the most “horror” filled among the rest as it tries its best to establish these characters as ones that players want to root for but does a pretty poor job about it, mostly thanks to the fact that interactions are kept so basic and minimal. Oddly enough, The Casting of Frank Stone easily features the least amount of actual character interaction of most Supermassive Games which does its already weak cast further disservice. Ironically, the only two characters that serve as any standouts among the group happen to be the blunt Linda who only grows more sardonic with age and Sam who retains his presence throughout all three time spans, ironically with the most variation depending on how things play out as well. It also doesn’t help that the titular character, Frank Stone himself, is barely in the game at all. Despite making an appearance across three timelines, he feels like only the most basic of threats in two instances entirely. Even then, with players gathering collectables to help expand the lore of the world and Frank a bit, it really makes him feel like a rather poorly thought out killer despite all of Augustine’s machinations.
The current setting in 2024 is where many of the mysteries finally come to light. Players will meet with the mysterious Augustine whose mansion is filled with haunting curiosities and eventual danger that brings most of the plot to its head, even if players can’t ultimately change too much in the end. Now, that isn’t to say that there aren’t plenty of choices to be made and nowhere is that more evident than a brand new mechanic we’ll detail more later called the Cutting Room Floor which shows just how many branching and alternative paths scenes can go depending on what actions or choices players have made up to certain points, including the ability to reload at the nearest “playable” section to try a different path.
What we mean here is, the actual ending of the game is something of a letdown despite being a perfectly fitting one given the lore. After playing through a few times and changing things up, the final sequences remain almost rigidly strict with only slight variations depending on who may or may not be alive or have a certain item on them, though even this changes little. Ironically this makes the whole “Your choices have consequences” mantra from the game feel like a bit of a lie this time around, especially with how many variations the usual Supermassive offering can end up with. While still offering a plethora of branching paths and potential deaths at various random choices of failed QTEs, it really feels like there are few scares to even be had as well, something that is rather disappointing considering the setting. In fact, it almost feels like things are being held back by the setting at times, the writers not willing to brush too closely against the direct lore of Dead by Daylight beyond the Entity’s existence and fleshing it out a bit more as well.
Gameplay
For the most part, anyone familiar with Supermassive Games’ past works will feel right at home here with only a few exceptions. Players will still spend the majority of every chapter exploring a small environment, gathering the occasional collectable referencing Dead by Daylight or “artifact” that tends to expand the game’s backstory while also taking part in various button mashing sequences to succeed certain actions, aiming a reticle at a target during combat or quick time events as well. The quick time events have undergone a change to make them like Dead by Daylight, instead they are now “skill checks” with a slider that has a fail and success range. Oddly enough, getting a “great” check only matters when repairing the game’s generators in a manner similar to that of DbD.
Otherwise players will still find themselves making dialogue choices that will play a factor into how much certain characters like one another or not and making certain choices that will play into their “fate” that can spell either success or a possible death sometime further along in the game. It is interesting to note that, while there are actually very few collectables compared to other entries from the developer, players can unlock additional dialogue options occasionally if they find a specific item before talking to a character. Along these same lines, there are small little puzzles that players will occasionally need to solve, though the answers are almost always in the same room or just about and the return of moving boxes around to reach climbable locations also returns though it is used a bit more this time. It is worth noting that some mechanics such as “hold your breath” or the rhythm based heartbeat events do not return in The Casting of Frank Stone, nor does the company’s signature “premonition” items that can hint at future events.
Speaking of differences, The Casting of Frank Stone does incorporate one brand new mechanic as, halfway through the game, the film crew’s Super 8 style camera becomes magically imbued and capable of being a weapon used against Stone. These segments see players needing to pull out the camera to focus on Stone in an effort to absorb his spiritual life force and drive him away in an effort to keep everyone alive. Unfortunately, since his appearance is marked by the same glowing red of killers in Dead by Daylight as well as the obviously glowing camera indicator, players will rarely feel shocked when he appears. In fact, it feels like a missed opportunity for the camera to not reveal hidden secrets or something else along those lines as the potential for uncovering more supernatural elements left behind by Stone and the Entity’s dark influence would have made things far more interesting.
Now, perhaps the most useful feature is one that unlocks after players beat the game at least once and it happens to be the “Cutting Room Floor.” This feature, as mentioned before, allows players to see all of the choices that they have made in the past as well as how many different branches that choice may trigger off into. This can then be used to revisit any of these playable locations and make a different choice to see how things might have played out otherwise or gather a collectable they missed. It is a bit unfortunate however that despite having an offering that allows some very free flowing choice changes, there is actually no way to skip previously seen dialogue still, meaning if players want to change something that happened right at the end of a sequence, they’ll need to watch everything again. Despite this clunky replay feature, it is appreciated especially since it does reveal just how many branching paths this game has and it would be great if Supermassive considered this type of mechanic for all of their titles going forward.
Audio & Visuals
It must be said that Supermassive Games has done a wonderful job designing the appearances and character models for the cast. They are expressive and have quite a bit of detail to them, especially whenever something gruesome happens. Some of the best looking scenes ironically involve someone getting torn apart, sliced in half, or some other form of mauling as a lot of attention has been paid to making sure there is plenty of gore. Along these same lines the developer has made the various environments players explore spooky in nature and have some rather unique looking rooms in them, especially in the mansion, but unfortunately makes the grave sin of having players go back through these same small locations countless times. In fact, one location saw over four revisits throughout the course of the game, with absolutely nothing changed between trips. There also tends to be some rather noticeable texture pop-in on the Xbox Series X, with most scene transitions taking an extra second to pop everything into full resolution.
The voice work throughout the game is a bit on the hit and miss side, with some actors clearly putting in more effort than others here. Linda, Sam, and Augustine sound excellent compared to most of the other characters, though if one were to suppose that Supermassive was looking to capture the “campy 80s horror” voice work than they’ve surely captured it for the rest of the cast. Thankfully the soundtrack makes a much better impression with a great number of fitting horror themes as well as some perfectly worked in tracks from Dead by Daylight itself to help make specific moments make fans feel right at home.
Overall
The Casting of Frank Stone is at its best when it’s delving into cosmic horrors as well as the very real supernatural horrors that its characters must try to survive against, but those moments are unfortunately very few and take quite a long time to get to. The characters themselves are a mixed bag that struggle to make players care about them even if the overarching plot is actually rather interesting with the various twists it can take and how player choice factors in, at least on the journey. Unfortunately, these issues as well as how repetitive it feels at times make this feel like a bit of a letdown for even die hard Dead by Daylight fans and one that will only be seen as a serviceable but unimpressive offering for those unfamiliar with the property.
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