The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes

As the Iraq War draws to a close, Special Forces operatives stumble upon a long-buried Sumerian temple harboring a horde of otherworldly beings. To make it through the night, they must form an unlikely alliance with their adversaries from the surface world. Players will take control of five characters (four of whom are Americans and one of whom is from Iraq), guiding them through situations and quick-time events and (hopefully) helping them survive. Narrative themes in this game include war, death, vampirism, and sacrifice.

• Release date: 10-22-2021
• Developer: Supermassive Games
• Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Triggers for this game

Animals & Wildlife

• Fictional Creatures

  Bat-like creatures

  • Can't be avoided

• Insects

  Beetles, scarabs, flies

  • Can't be avoided

• Mutated Animals

  Bat-like creatures

  • Can't be avoided

• Parasites

  • Can't be avoided

• Snakes

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Pazuzu has a snake decoration on his outfit

  • Can't be avoided

Crime

• Attacks on Law Enforcement

  Creatures attack military personnel

  • Can't be avoided

• Being Held Against Will

  • Can't be avoided

• Explosions & Bombs

  Dynamite

  • Can't be avoided

• Fights

  • Can't be avoided

• Guns & Shooting

  • Can't be avoided

• Murder

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Jason shot an unarmed civilian at a checkpoint and expresses both grief and guilt

  • Can't be avoided

• Stalking

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Player characters are stalked by vampire creatures

  • Can't be avoided

• Torture

  • Can't be avoided

Death & Loss

• Abandonment

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  You can choose to abandon other characters at various times.

  • Is avoidable

• Death of Friend

  Depending on player choices

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Joey dies in the gunfight with enemy forces that starts the main storyline. Others deaths can occur, depending on player choices and responses to quick-time events. POSSIBLE DEATH SPOILERS: Players can be killed by being ripped apart by creatures, turned into a creature, shot before turning into a creature, accidentally suffocated by a friend trying to keep them quiet, impaled, crushed (heads), blown-up, shot, disemboweled, eaten, and by lighting themselves on fire.

  • Is avoidable
  • Can't be avoided

• Death of Loved One

  Depending on player choices

  • Is avoidable

• Death of Parent

  Depending on player choices

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Salim is shown spending time with his son at the beginning of the game. If he dies, the son will lose his father.

  • Is avoidable

• Death of Spouse or Partner

  Depending on player choices

  • Is avoidable

• Family Estrangement

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Rachel and Nick have been estranged for some time

  • Can't be avoided

• Suicide

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A dying character may commit suicide. A character is heard shooting himself on a tape recorder.

  • Can't be avoided

Disturbing Sounds & Sound Design

• Bone Crushing

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Player characters may have their arms broken or necks snapped during death scenes

  • Can't be avoided

• Clicking Sounds

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Creatures make screeching and clicking noises

  • Can't be avoided

• Distorted Voices

  • Can't be avoided

• High-Pitched Prolonged Tone

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A portion of the game involves playing tunes on a musical item, and the initial music sounds similar to 'playing' wine glasses full of water. As characters turn into creatures, there is also a prolonged high-pitched tone.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Eerie Noises

  Screeching

  • Can't be avoided

• Scratching

  • Can't be avoided

• Screams

  • Can't be avoided

• Sirens & Alarms

  • Can't be avoided

• Wet Sounds

  • Can't be avoided

Drugs & Alcohol

• Casual Drug Consumption

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Morphine

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Drugs & Alcohol Content

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Blocks of heroin are found. Characters joke about one being a stoner, and another mentions stoned during a story.

  • Can't be avoided

• Tobacco & Smoking

  Nick smokes briefly

  • Can't be avoided

Gore

• Beheading

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Decapitated heads are on a table in the prologue. There is also a scene of decapitation.

  • Can't be avoided

• Blood

  So much blood

  • Can't be avoided

• Body Horror

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A minor NPC gets dragged into a tight cave, crushing him to death.

  • Can't be avoided

• Cannibalism

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Humans infected by the creatures attempt to eat other characters

  • Can't be avoided

• Dismemberment

  • Can't be avoided

• Guts

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Gore

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The creatures can kill characters by smashing their heads. Salim can help prevent creatures from coming back by stabbing them through the heart.

  • Can't be avoided

• Viscera

  • Can't be avoided

Hate & Discrimination

• Appearance Discrimination

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  One character tells another to "eat fewer cakes" and that they are "too heavy"

  • Can't be avoided

• Dehumanization & Objectification

  Jason is extremely Islamophobic

  • Can't be avoided

• Islamophobia

  Jason is extremely Islamophobic

  • Can't be avoided

• Misogyny

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Two characters make sexist and sexual jokes, then are berated for doing so

  • Can't be avoided

• Racism

  Islamophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Sexism

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Two characters make sexist and sexual jokes, then are berated for doing so

  • Can't be avoided

Horror Themes

• Aliens

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The parasites are from another planet

  • Can't be avoided

• Chase & Pursuit

  • Can't be avoided

• Demons & Devils

  • Can't be avoided

• Infection Horror

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Humans infected by the creatures attempt to eat other characters

  • Can't be avoided

• Jump Scares

  • Can't be avoided

• Mind Control

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Via parasite

  • Can't be avoided

• Monsters

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The creatures in the game are somewhat vampiric, somewhat parasitic.

  • Can't be avoided

• Possession

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Via parasite

  • Can't be avoided

• Psychological Horror

  • Can't be avoided

• Vampires

  • Can't be avoided

• Zombies & Undead

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Characters who die can turn into creatures, attacking the group

  • Can't be avoided

Law Enforcement

• Police Brutality

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Jason shot an unarmed civilian at a checkpoint and expresses both grief and guilt

  • Can't be avoided

• Prison & Incarceration

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  In the prologue

  • Can't be avoided

• Racial Profiling

  • Can't be avoided

Mental Health

• Dissociation

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Nick is heavily implied to have PTSD, exhibiting dissociation when recalling past memories

  • Can't be avoided

• Grief

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Jason shot an unarmed civilian at a checkpoint and expresses both grief and guilt

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Mental Health

  Guilt

  • Can't be avoided

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Nick is heavily implied to have PTSD, exhibiting dissociation when recalling past memories. Jason shot an unarmed civilian at a checkpoint and expresses both grief and guilt.

  • Can't be avoided

• Relationship Management

  Through choices

  • Can't be avoided

Natural Events

• Misc. Natural Events

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  An eclipse occurs at the end of the game, allowing the creatures to come up from their den

  • Can't be avoided

Non-Sexual Abuse & Violence

• Altercations

  • Can't be avoided

• Assault

  • Can't be avoided

• Gaslighting

  • Can't be avoided

• Manipulation

  • Can't be avoided

Phobias

• Aerophobia

  Riding in helicopters

  • Can't be avoided

• Agliophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Agoraphobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Claustrophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Must crawl in tight caves as well as underneath heavy rocks

  • Can't be avoided

• Emetophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Gagging turning into vomiting (Clarice and Rachel)

  • Can't be avoided

• Hemophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Megalophobia

  Large statues

  • Can't be avoided

• Merinthophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A player character may have their hands tied behind their back or handcuffed to a table briefly

  • Is avoidable

• Misc. Phobias

  Decidophobia (Fear of making decisions)

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Acousticophobia (Fear of noise), Atychiphobia (Fear of failure), Autophobia (Fear of being alone), Basophobia (Fear of falling), Sanguivoriphobia (Fear of vampires), Spectrophobia (fear of specters or ghosts), Tapinophobia (Fear of being contagious), Zelophobia (Fear of jealousy)

  • Can't be avoided

• Necrophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Nyctophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Ommetaphobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Monsters can claw out the eyes of NPCs and player characters

  • Can't be avoided

• Traumatophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Jason wears a hat that reminds him of 9/11 and talks about how the event encouraged him to sign up for the army.

  • Can't be avoided

Physical Health & Body Issues

• Acquired Disability

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  One character has a prosthetic foot

  • Can't be avoided

• Pain & Physical Suffering

  • Can't be avoided

Religion & Sects

• Ritual Sacrifice

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Prologue

  • Can't be avoided

Sex & Erotica (Consensual)

• Adultry

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Rachel is cheating on her estranged husband Eric with Nick. Depending on player choices, Nick and Eric will act jealous towards each other and fight.

  • Can't be avoided

• Kissing

  • Can't be avoided

• Sexual Commentary

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Two characters make sexist and sexual jokes, then are berated for doing so

  • Can't be avoided

Traumatic Events

• Accidents

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A car crash is shown in a flashback, helicopter crash

  • Can't be avoided

• Apocalypse

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The group is trying to prevent an apocalypse

  • Can't be avoided

War & Military

• Middle East Wars

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. War & Military

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  WAR CRIMES: Discussion of whether or not to bring white phosphorus weapons (illegal to be used near civilians) on the mission — the player can make the ultimate decision and doing so will affect the rest of the game

  • Can't be avoided

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