The Casting of Frank Stone Preview

With a lightning storm in full swing outside my window, I recently sat down to play a brief preview of Supermassive Games’ upcoming cinematic horror experience, The Casting of Frank Stone, a terrifying tale set in the killer-filled world of Behaviour Interactive’s Dead by Daylight. I love it when the weather pulls through to make a spooky gaming sesh spookier, and those deep rumbles of thunder certainly created the perfect mood as I stepped into the shoes of Sam Green, a police officer investigating the disappearance of a missing child.

This 45-minute prologue takes place in the year 1963, nearly two decades before the 1980 summer we’ve seen depicted in the game’s trailers. The search for a baby boy has led Sam to the Cedar Steel Mill in the dead of night with his flashlight and the mill’s watchman as his only company. It immediately feels like you’ve just been dropped into a horror movie, similar to Supermassive’s previous titles, such as Until Dawn, which had us running through a snowstorm at the start, and The Quarry, which featured two camp counsellors breaking into a lodge’s bunker and stumbling after a mysterious figure in the dark. Frank Stone’s preview opens with that same looming feeling that death is in the air, and a lot of familiar core mechanics make an appearance through its duration, including choice-and-consequence-style dialogue, hidden items to collect, and quick time events.

While there are little snippets of dialogue as the demo’s protagonist remarks on horrid smells or announces his presence in seemingly empty rooms, much of this early chapter’s conversations take place between Sam and Tom, the mill’s night watchman. In the three runs that I’ve played so far, none of their interactions have felt the same; each of the chats has had completely different vibes and levels of tension based on my choices. During our first meeting, I was a concerned, somewhat friendly cop (I always opt for the nicest responses at the start), questioning Tom about the extent of his job and harmless inquiries like, “Noticed anything suspicious?” As such, Tom’s responses were a bit more open, and he offered up his name with an outstretched hand as if he were introducing himself to a new friend. Upon replaying, I went a different route: serious, firm, and cold. I took Tom’s name as if it were a procedure, and I got straight to the point: where’s the missing boy?

In one playthrough, I don’t glean much from the conversation, and being as non-confrontational as possible, I even evade discussing an alcohol flask spotted in Tom’s desk; we end on reasonably good terms. However, Tom still doubts whether the boy could be in the mill. In my next run, our dialogue ends with an argument, and I leave an insulted watchman behind as I head out to conduct my search. Then, in my latest save, I manage to discover a logbook that Tom hesitantly agrees to show me, opening up a new accusatory dialogue path about Tom’s trustworthiness and what employees he’s fudging entries for. All that to say, these choices feel weighty, shifting relationships and revealing vital clues depending on how you play. Later on, I can encourage Tom or snap at him in a make-or-break moment, and upon choosing, the game notifies me that my Fate has changed — though to what end is still a mystery.

If I had to create a classified ad for the Cedar Steel Mill, no amount of buzzwords could make this place somewhere you’d want to be for more than two minutes. It’s dingy, rusty, and dusty, so much so that I can almost feel the grime beneath my own fingertips as I have Sam investigate clipboards of employee records and pull on locked filing cabinets. The creepy, abandoned atmosphere makes a good first impression, and we even get quite a bit of gory imagery that we have to get up close and personal with. For example, Sam holds a severed ear with his bare fingers at one point, which he picked up from a pile of misshapen globs of guts.

On the topic of visuals, it’s nice to see the detailed facial animations for the characters thus far. Every sceptical grimace and stern glare from Sam counters the forgetful, almost innocent-looking eyebrow raises from Tom. You can easily get a feel for each character, as their distinct personalities are conveyed wordlessly with every squint and glance. These detailed touches round out the already fantastic voice acting, allowing the visual and auditory pieces to meld together to make these characters feel alive. As such, I’m excited to meet the rest of the cast in the full game.

Beyond exploring and conversations, you will encounter some QTEs along the way, especially during intense moments when you’re running toward danger or fighting off an enemy. The way Supermassive has implemented these events does slightly diverge from previous titles: while they’re still time-based, they have been revamped to closely resemble Dead by Daylight’s skill checks. These feature a red pointer that travels along a dial, and you need to press the spacebar (if using a keyboard) when it’s in the white success zone. Do it well, and you’ll likely save your character from injury or death. Be a bit hasty like me, and you might end up with more wounds than necessary. That said, QTEs aren’t the only time-based mechanics, as they’re joined by instances where you need to aim a weapon or button-mash your way to safety.

All in all, The Casting of Frank Stone is shaping up to be the unsettling, story-heavy journey that you’d expect from Supermassive Games. But can you enjoy it if you haven’t played Dead by Daylight, considering the world and lore are based on its universe? I’d say yes. While there are Easter Eggs you might not recognise, the mystery behind the Entity, Frank Stone, and Cedar Hills is still intriguing. In fact, this prologue felt rather grounded, as I could easily get on board with the search for a missing child. If you like Supermassive’s flavour of storytelling and gameplay, it’s definitely one to keep an eye on, and as someone who is only lightly familiar with Dead by Daylight, I didn’t feel lost for a second.

I’m glad I won’t have to wait long until I delve back into this strange, haunting world. The Casting of Frank Stone is launching on the 3rd of September 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.