The Casting of Frank Stone Review – Death is Not the End

Over the years, Behavior Interactive’s Dead by Daylight has become a worldwide phenomenon and one of the most popular multiplayer games still running today thanks to its unique gameplay and the setting, which, from the limited information available in-game, seems to be much deeper and complex than it what may seem at first glance. With The Casting of Frank Stone, developed by Supermassive Games, this setting is now at the forefront, receiving much-deserved development that should please every fan of the original game.

Despite being a Dead by Daylight spin-off, the studio behind Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology managed to create an adventure that can be thoroughly enjoyed even by those who aren’t into Dead by Daylight, making The Casting of Frank Stone a game that can be enjoyed by every sort of player, granted they can look past a few issues.

The Casting of Frank Stone stars a diverse cast of characters, including police officer Sam, the young wannabe actor Jaime, her girlfriend and up-and-coming movie director Chris, their friend Linda, who’s also working on a movie career, and Madison, a young woman who, on paper, doesn’t seem to have any relation with every other character. Their destinies, however, are tightly linked with Frank Stone, a serial murderer who acted in the town of Cedar Hills in 1963 and was killed by officer Sam himself during an investigation focused on a missing boy.

The heroic act of the police officer, however, did not truly spell the end of Frank Stone. Decades later, the serial murderer continued to threaten the lives of many, and it was in 1980 that Jaime, Chris, and Linda realized how there was much more behind the serial murderer than just simple madness.

As you may have surmised from the above, The Casting of Frank Stone is set in different timelines – 1963, 1980, and 2024 – and most of the main cast appears in multiple timelines, their destinies not only chained together by their hometown but by the movie Murder Mill shot in the same steel mill Frank Stone worked at, and died in. Bringing them all together is the mysterious Augustine Lieber, who seems to have a strong interest in the movie for some reason. During the course of the adventure, the mystery unfolds multiple timelines, which alternate rather often, giving players the answer to every question as they go from one critical choice to the next, in true Supermassive Games style.

The story of The Casting of Frank Stone is definitely among the game’s best features, if not the very best. Supermassive Games managed to create a story that, while rooted in the lore of Dead by Daylight’s universe, is thoroughly enjoyable even by those, like myself, who aren’t too familiar with it.  The multiple timelines also work quite well, and it is extremely interesting to see how characters have changed over the years. Some of the twists of the story contribute to making the experience memorable, although Dead by Daylight fans are unlikely to be shocked by most of them. The writing is also very solid, and so is the voice acting, so much that, at times, it feels like watching a real movie and not playing a video game.

As is tradition for Supermassive Games, the story is at the center of The Casting of Frank Stone, and the gameplay features all revolve around it. Very often, during the course of the game, players will have to make choices that have an impact on the story as a whole and the fate of certain characters, potentially even saving them from death. Keeping track of all these choices is made easy by the Cutting Room Floor, a special mode where it is possible to see the many possible outcomes of any given decisions, the percentage of players who made them, and even receive some hints of what they may lead to if yet to be experienced. Needless to say, this addition is extremely welcome to discover everything the game has to offer, as there are a lot of different potential outcomes that would have been difficult to keep track of without such a mode. Additionally, the Cutting Room Floor makes it easy to pinpoint collectibles, as the mode details what can be found in any sequence that features a little bit of exploration.

Besides making choices and exploring some small closed-off areas in a third-person view, The Casting of Frank Stone doesn’t offer a whole lot of gameplay. Some of the playable sequences feature simple environmental puzzles that can be completed easily and even some very straightforward combat powered by the camera, an item that plays a rather important part in the story as a whole. Every now and then, players will also have to complete quick-time events called Skill Checks, which is the only gameplay mechanic that made the jump from Dead by Daylight into The Casting of Frank Stone.

All of this results in a game that has a very short run time, around 6 hours or so for a first playthrough that doesn’t utilize the Cutting Room Floor to go back and experience the consequences of different choices. With a relationship system that keeps track of what each main character thinks of others and the aforementioned many potential outcomes, those who wish to see everything the game has to offer will spend way more than 6 hours with The Casting of Frank Stone, although that time will eventually get stale as the game doesn’t really offer much in terms of gameplay. Still, with the story being so enjoyable and the characters so compelling, it wouldn’t surprise me if most players completed multiple playthroughs, one after the other, to reach an ending they would find most satisfactory.

Powered by Unreal Engine 5, The Casting of Frank Stone looks gorgeous. Locations and character models are extremely detailed, and the wise usage of lighting gives the game a great atmosphere that only makes it all the more engaging. On PlayStation 5, the game comes with a single display mode that runs at a relatively smooth 30 FPS, with little to no stuttering, which isn’t always guaranteed for a game powered by Unreal Engine 5. Though it seemed to have been an isolated case, I wasn’t able to get the game running on my PC (i7-13700F, RTX 4080, 32GB RAM), always crashing on startup, so if you have similar specs, it may be a good idea to confirm the game can actually run on your machine before purchasing. For the record, the demo ran fine, and the issue has yet to be fixed at the time of writing.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much of The Casting of Frank Stone, given how I only have a passing knowledge of Dead by Daylight, but after a few hours, I was hooked. This is a testament to the quality of the experience, which manages to be a great one for all sorts of players, granted they can stomach the little gameplay the adventure features, and the short run time for a single playthrough. The asking price of $39.99 is maybe a little too high for a six-hour-long game, but if you are into well-constructed horror stories, it could be a price worth paying.

PlayStation 5 version tested. Review code provided by the publisher.

The Casting of Frank Stone

The Casting of Frank Stone

The Casting of Frank Stone is yet another hit from Supermassive Games, delivering an engaging horror story deeply rooted into the lore of Dead of Daylight equally enjoyable by fans of the original game and those with no knowledge of the multiplayer game created by Behaviour Interactive. While its short length and limited gameplay may slightly hinder the experience, the game remains a worthwhile purchase for those who appreciate well-crafted supernatural horror stories.