When I started writing my shortlist of 2024 GOTY nominees earlier this fall – in an attempt to sort out a confusing mix of widely approved hits I had yet to play and absolute heart picks I expected to go to bat for – The Frank Stone cast easily cleared my personal top 10, very clear in the last category.
Admittedly, this game was never going to be a hard sell in my case. As far as I am concerned, the result is terrible than Supermassive games there are only three tastes: “good”, “great”, and “amazing”. Literally the only bad time I've ever had with one of their games was when I got denied Little Hopeand even then, I got over it pretty quickly.
And, while my actual play time is in Kill by Daylight certainly surrounded by the hours I've spent digging into the lore surrounding it, I think that's still enough to call myself a fan. So a sequel to the Dead by Daylight story mode style developed by Supermassive was, for me, the definition of a no-brainer.
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I wasn't expecting anything earth shattering – just the promise of a Dead by Daylight style story The Dark Pictures Collection it was already more than enough to win me over. But while Frank Stone largely failed to set the world on fire when it was released on September 3rd (meaning we share a birthday, coincidentally, though I promise that only gave me a birthday. small biased in his favor), I was still surprised by how much I rated him. It's probably in my top three Supermassives of all time, honestly.
The Frank Stone cast is both interesting and grim. Documenting the adventures of five playable protagonists across three different time periods – all linked by a historic series of murders in the town of Cedar Hills, Oregon, and the subsequent release of a no-budget student film inspired by the case – only theorizing that what's going on is enough to keep you on your toes for most of the game. It's got emotion in spades, and a good mix of variety in your own adventure game, but at its core this is 100% one for the lore, alright.
Perhaps the biggest downside is that The Casting of Frank Stone ends on a brutal gut-punch narrative that only lands if you're at least familiar with the world that ' pick up Dead by Daylight. I don't think this is a failure of the game, which I believe accomplished exactly what it set out to do, and deliver a story that would hook fans of its parent series ( pun totally intended). But when I think about how it came out and then went away again with little fanfare, I suspect this may be a big part of why.
Nevertheless, in an entertainment industry that is increasingly dominated by subtle brand ties between the biggest wallets on the one hand, and brutal copyright takedowns mocking small artists in disputes small on the other hand, I don't mind telling you that I for one want. see more collaborations like The Casting of Frank Stone: just a couple of studios taking the opportunity to meet organically at the intersection of their specialties, to see what shenanigans come from the mashup. That kind of collaboration that comes out of artistic compatibility ahead of financial incentive feels so rare it's almost retro in itself.
So, even if The Casting of Frank Stone wasn't for everyone, I'd like to see more games adopt its pattern in the future. And if your two favorite games just happen to be, say, Dead by Daylight and Until the Dawnthen there's a good chance it might be your special GOTY after all – in fact, it came pretty close to being mine.
