The Casting of Frank Stone Deluxe Edition

I went in expecting Until Dawn with a Dead by Daylight skin. What I got was something more fatalistic, more lore-heavy, and noticeably shorter than either of those comparisons might suggest. The Casting of Frank Stone runs about six hours on a single playthrough, which is lean even by Supermassive's standards, and that brevity shapes everything else you feel about it. The structure is the studio's bread and butter: branching narrative, environmental exploration, dialogue choices that shift character relationships, and quick time events scattered through tense sequences. What is genuinely new here is the 8mm camera mechanic, where you switch to a first-person viewpoint through a film lens to interact with certain threats and environmental details. It is a clever idea that fits the 1980s aspiring-filmmaker premise, but in practice it never generates quite the dread it promises. The QTEs themselves carry a Dead by Daylight flavour this time, which is a nice thematic touch for fans. The story spans three timelines from 1963 through 1980 to the modern day, weaving between a police officer at a steel mill, a group of teens shooting a horror movie in that same condemned building, and a present-day protagonist named Madison Rivera picking through the aftermath. When those threads click together the narrative has real momentum. Where it struggles is the tension between what Supermassive does well and what the Dead by Daylight universe fundamentally is. In Until Dawn or The Quarry, the survival instinct is the engine: your choices matter because characters can actually escape. Frank Stone is set in a world run by a cosmic entity that traps victims in endless loops, which makes the stakes feel predetermined in a way that undercuts the branching-choice hook. Critics noticed this friction loudly. Some found it a fascinating, melancholy comment on the DbD universe. Others found it deflating. Your mileage will depend almost entirely on how much lore investment you carry in. Fans of Dead by Daylight will spot weapon references, killer callbacks, and easter eggs throughout; newcomers can still follow the story but will miss the deeper resonance. On the rougher side: pacing problems in the final act are well-documented, character performances are inconsistent, and some reviewers flagged bugs at launch. The Cutting Room Floor feature, which lets you jump back to key decision points without a full replay, softens the replayability argument but does not fully solve the feeling that consequential divergence is thinner here than in the studio's earlier work. Mixed Steam reviews at 62% positive reflect a genuine split, not a disaster, but not a crowd-pleaser either. If you are a Dead by Daylight fan who has always wanted a single-player story in that universe, this is made for you. If you are a Supermassive devotee expecting the freedom of Until Dawn, temper those expectations and you will find a competent, atmospheric, occasionally striking horror drama that just does not fully commit to either master it serves.

Alex · Scout Team

Catch-all

Be the first to comment on The Casting of Frank Stone Deluxe Edition.