The Casting of Frank Stone is a new game from the Supermassive which is the studio behind Until Dawn, The Quarry, and The Dark Picture games. It is a narrative-driven adventure game. Similar to other games from the developer, the game has branching paths. Its biggest strength lies within the fact that it takes place in the Dead By Daylight universe. This aspect can be the biggest turn-on for many players. However, unlike Dead By Daylight, the game is not as aggressive and does not throw you into carnage.
The game opts out for a slower less aggressive experience. It can feel like a good change in the beginning but once it keeps on going it starts to feel slow even when 40 minutes near the finish line. It is fun in the beginning and at the end and everything in between is just the stuff thrown in the middle. The developers might be calling it world-building and character development but for many players, it is backtracking.
In the first hour, the game is good but after that, the game starts to lose its momentum. As the game progresses, the killer is revealed who will take you to fireworks but even that is not as good. It’s kind of a shame because that’s what the game makes you believe in the beginning. All this makes you wonder, Is The Casting of Frank Stone worth it? Let’s find out.
The Background
There is a really good setup here with the story being set in three different parts. The prologue takes place in the 1960s. In the prologue, a young police officer is searching for a serial killer in a steel mill. There is another story in 2024 where three strangers meet in a bizarre mansion for strange reasons. The main narrative is set in 1980. It follows three teenagers who are making a film.
The basics of an amazing story are present because the premise is interesting. There is a ghost of a serial killer, a haunted movie, and a mysterious witch. The 1980s setting is really good for horror and the spooky mansion has different puzzles spread throughout The Casting of Frank Stone. There is a good setup and background but that’s all that it is. A good setup is supposed to have a good payoff but that’s not the case here. By the time horror is in full swing, the game is almost over.
Environment and Segments
The Casting of Frank Stone looks good and the animation of the characters is top-notch which is better than the developer’s previous game. At times, animation struggles but most of it is amazing. The environment is spooky and there is a verity to an environment especially in the first half of the game.
Each segment is different from the others. You will be in the steel mill in one section. The 2024 section takes you to a haunting mansion while 1980s segments go back and forth between different areas. Eventually, you just end up going back and forth in the steel mill and stuff. That’s when things start to go boring. The setup is interesting enough to make you come back for more.
Characters
There seems to be a focus on making characters more sympathetic. In these types of games, there are usually characters thrown in just so they could die. There is one rude guy like that from the 2024 segments that players are supposed to hate and he gets gruesome death. For the rest of the characters, the game wants us to care about them.
While other such games throw you into action early on, The Casting of Frank Stone focuses on character-building before doing that. If all of that build-off resulted in something really interesting then this might have been good but that’s not the case here. At some point, the game just stops as players keep wandering around in the hallways. There are some places where you will go multiple times one such place is the furnace which can get tedious.
For the most of it, the game does not even try to be scary. Most of the time you are in a location and not doing anything. The Casting of Frank Stone is supposed to be the origin story of Frank Stone but the game just loses it along the way. Dead by Daylight has some lore and can be explored but not to the level of this game. At least the way this game is designed. Frank Stone just starts to feel like an afterthought at the end of all this.
Dead By Daylight Elements
There are a lot of easter eggs for the fans of Dead By Daylight. In the beginning, it’s a good surprise but by the end, it goes out of hand. Finding parts and repairing the generator is fun but when you are asked to do it multiple times throughout the game, it starts to feel like a drag. At times, it feels like The Casting of Frank Stone is throwing so much easter eggs and lore that it forgets about itself.
It stops feeling like its own thing and feels more like a gateway to Dead By Daylight and even struggles to pull off that as well. The ends up being a place for collecting references. The base game is good but when Dead By Daylight references kicks in it starts to become a drag. Dead By Daylight stuff is there to support the multiple players not to make it a central part of the game throughout. It should have been a game with the Dead By Daylight thing, not the whole game revolving around it.
It should just be a connection to a universe and when players start playing the game it lets them explore a new story. It is a narrative-driven game and the focus on narrative has to be the main focus.
Gameplay
Most of the games from the Supermassive are telltale-like with their own flavor. You can select different dialogues and walk around a bit. The Casting of Frank Stone is fast-paced and cinematic but there are things that it does differently. For the most part, you are exploring the environment and solving puzzles. In some sections, it feels more like The Last of Us. There is a lot of walking around, you will go through narrow places and crawl through holes. Going through these areas also acts as a disguise for the loading screen.
The clam section in video games is there to offer a break but what if the entire game is a break that has more breaks? That’s exactly the case with The Casting of Frank Stone. At times the game is just too slow. You do make choices occasionally but a lot of the time it doesn’t matter. Early on in the game, you get a chance to climb a fence or not. The only thing that does is change the scenery for a minute because nothing interesting happens. There are a lot of such choices in the game that have no consequences. Sure there are choices has consequences but that’s not the case for the most part.
Less Horror
Most of the characters start dying at the end of the story but you can kill some of these characters early on clearly predictable patterns. A lot of the kills are similar, it is just impaling. Most of the kills just come out of nowhere which is a problem for horror games. That’s when we get to the main issue, The Casting of Frank Stone is not scary. When people buy horror games they expect scary stuff which is something that the game lacks. Even if that was not the case, it is still not as intriguing.
$40 for four hours with not much happening on the screen sounds like a lot. Developers could have thrown multiple killers or characters from Dead By Daylight if they were really itching to go that route. It could have provided a better foundation for a game that takes place in the Dead By Daylight universe. Frank Stone could have done better but there is not enough of him.
There is a lot of walking around in the steel mill and it seems like Supermassive games are approaching it differently. That difference does not sit well with me and a lot of other players will agree with that. There is a sort of action mechanic where you have to point the camera at the ghost. Which is not something new but it is there.
Verdict (Is The Casting of Frank Stone Worth It?)
The Casting of Frank Stone is not a failure for the most part. It has a strong start for a simple horror adventure with some twists and most of it does not come together in a satisfying way. The game is not a disaster but it is not in the same league as Until Dawn. Until Dawn had good pacing and many choices had implications that changed how a scene is approached. There is nothing like that and at some points, not even close to it.
The idea of a horror adventure game can be intriguing and Supermassive has the potential to pull it off because they have already done it. The budget is an issue holding it back and stops it from achieving the same level as Until Dawn. It would have been a great four hours but that is not the case here. It offers a decent time but the moment you start comparing it with Until Dawn things start to fall apart.
At full price, it might be hard to recommend. If you are interested in the game then there are things to like about The Casting of Frank Stone. Its four-hour experience is poorly paced with most of your decisions having no impact on the outcome. If you are not into this kind of game then this one is not going to work for you either.
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