Dead by Daylight is one of the most popular multiplayer games around, but if you have little interest in the online gaming space, then its developer Behaviour Interactive may be a relatively unknown quantity to you. To combat this disconnect, the company has employed other studios to create their own, unique take on the universe. The Casting of Frank Stone from Supermassive Games is first in line, which plays like everything else the team has produced over the past decade.

With a focus on story and how your choices shape the journey through to its conclusion, you'll control a few different characters across three time periods: 1963, 1980, and 2024. Linking the three years together is a cult classic horror film with a monster and some dark secrets inside, and the game depicts the fallout when three people carrying copies of the movie are brought under one roof. The game has been written so it can be enjoyed without any knowledge of Dead by Daylight, but even for those fanatics — who will pick up on subtle references — there's very little to get your teeth stuck into.

The Casting of Frank Stone plays like something made before Supermassive Games evolved its gameplay capabilities. It's incredibly basic, with very little environmental interaction and a lot of setting reuse — particularly in the latter half. Across a roughly five-hour playthrough, the characters do little to really leave their mark or make you care for them, resulting in a narrative that fails to resonate. It feels like you're simply going through the motions of what it means to be a Supermassive Games... game rather than an experience born out of love for the source text.

You'll make a few choices to impact the plot. You'll rummage around rooms to find a few interactable objects and collectibles. The Casting of Frank Stone is just like any other title out of Supermassive Games, except without a lot of the depth and charm. It's average in just about every facet — even the visuals are worse than what the developer is known for.

We generally love the marriage between story and gameplay that Supermassive Games creates, but without the many advancements of The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Casting of Frank Stone feels far too simple. With an uninteresting narrative to boot, the first effort to expand the Dead by Daylight universe is a misfire.