From the studio behind Until Dawn and The Quarry comes an immersive cinematic horror experience. Directive 8020 blends intense survival gameplay with a branching narrative storyline featuring Hollywood actor Lashana Lynch (Bob Marley: One Love, The Woman King) as the groundbreaking astronaut ‘Young.'

In a dramatic step forward for the series, the game features persistent real-time threats, all-new stealth gameplay mechanics, and enhanced interactive cinematics powered by Unreal Engine 5.

Earth is dying and humanity is running out of time. 12 light years from home, Tau Ceti f offers a small sliver of hope. When the colony ship Cassiopeia crash lands on the planet, its crew soon realize they are far from being alone.

Hunted by an alien organism capable of mimicking its prey, the crew of the Cassiopeia must outwit their pursuers to make it home alive. As they battle to survive, they are confronted with the hardest choice of all: to save themselves, they must risk the lives of everyone on Earth.

The Turning Points mechanic is a series-first feature gives players the ability to rewind to pivotal points in the story, replaying decisions to unlock different narrative paths, discover missed content, or change outcomes entirely, offering a new level of player control. And for players who want the full-pressure experience, Survivor Mode keeps things unforgiving with no rewinds.

In space, death takes many forms.

Originally scheduled for October 2, 2025, Supermassive Games revealed today that Directive 8020 is being delayed until 2026, resulting in 36 employees losing their job.

The games industry remains a challenging and ever-evolving environment. As we adapt our team structure to better align with these changes, we’ve had to make the very difficult decision to begin a redundancy consultation process where we anticipate losing up to 36 of our colleagues.

This decision was not taken lightly, and we know this will be an incredibly difficult time for everyone. Our absolute priority will be to offer full support to all those affected.

We remain focused on our upcoming projects and have made the decision to move the launch of Directive 8020 to the first half of 2026. The response to the game so far has been fantastic, and this additional time will help us deliver the very best experience for our fans. We’re deeply grateful for the patience and support of our community.

There is no impact on the development of Little Nightmares III.

Key Features

• Next-Gen Cinematic Survival Horror: Experience immersive cinematic storytelling and edge-of-your-seat horror on a deep space mission to save humanity.
• Real-Time Alien Threats: Evade a deadly alien threat that roams the dark corridors of the ship, intent on eradicating human life. Overcome your enemies using improvised weapons, lightning reflexes, and stealth. 
• ALIEN INVASION: The colony ship Cassiopeia is infected with an alien organism, capable of transforming into any member of the crew. While you may be human, others in your crew may not be, and killers can hide behind familiar eyes. New stealth mechanics have been added to help players evade these deadly foes: you must keep your wits about you as enemies can emerge from unexpected places, and you’ll need to sneak and hide to get past these deadly alien stalkers.
• BRAVE RECRUITS: Introducing the Cassiopeia’s crew. You’ll control five crew members over the course of this expedition, but as paranoia and fear builds, so does distrust. With their lives in your hands, your decisions will determine not only the crew’s fate, but all of humanity's, too.  
• NEW MECHANICS: Directive 8020 introduces several new tools. Throughout the game, you can use these to locate secrets, solve puzzles and overcome enemies. The mission is all about survival, so every tool has its purpose in helping you think on your feet and stay alive.
  •  The Flashlight – As is to be expected from our games, you’ll spend a lot of time creeping around in the dark! Just be careful when using your flashlight, as aliens can spot the beam.
  •  The Scanner – You'll have a scanner at your disposal for detecting electronics and remotely activating systems, helping to distract enemies and overcome obstacles.
  •  The Messenger – Your messenger lets you communicate and strategize with crewmates while staying under the radar.
  •  The Wedge Tool – Made for opening doors… but as a last resort, can also be used as a weapon to temporarily stun enemies, giving you a chance to slip away and evade death.

Directive 8020 is coming to for PC (Steam), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2026.