The Curator is in Directive 8020, but he does not show up automatically. Unlike previous Dark Pictures Anthology entries, the new Supermassive Games sci-fi horror does not open with a Curator framing scene, and he does not appear before death moments by default. He has to be unlocked by collecting five hidden clues spread across the Cassiopeia, after which his classic appearances return and a dedicated cutscene becomes available.
Quick answer: Yes. To activate the Curator, place the first of five "O Death" secrets in Episode 8 (The Way Back), then collect the remaining four in Episodes 1, 3, and 5. After the first pickup, he begins appearing before death scenes again.
What the Curator does in Directive 8020
The Curator, voiced by Pip Torrens, is the recurring narrator of The Dark Pictures Anthology. In Directive 8020, he is treated as endgame, secret content rather than the host of the experience. There is no opening repository scene and no between-chapter check-ins out of the box. Once you trigger the unlock, he resumes his usual role of appearing before death scenes, and a separate Curator cutscene plays after all five clues are found.
Directive 8020 does not include a Curator's Cut alternate playthrough. The game ships with a single playable story, similar to Until Dawn, so the Curator's involvement is limited to the hidden track described below.
The five Curator secrets and where to find them
The clues are tied to specific exploration chapters. They must be collected during normal play of those episodes, and the first one (in Episode 8) is the trigger that re-enables the Curator across the rest of the game.
| Order | Episode / Chapter | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (trigger) | Episode 8 — The Way Back | Behind a battery-locked vent; reached through the server-rack power puzzle and Gorp tunnels |
| 2 | Episode 1 — Medical (exploration) | Inside the gap in a table, past the locked door you override |
| 3 | Episode 3 — The Sample, chapter Search | Wall terminal in the main mess hall area, past the two vending machines |
| 4 | Episode 5 — Radio Silence (Cernin) | Wall terminal up the stairs from the command center, down the hallway |
| 5 | Episode 5 — Radio Silence (Cernin) | On the couch in the lower lounge area; take the stairs down and back up instead of following Cooper |
Episode 8 trigger: The Way Back
Step 1: At the start of the chapter, find the vent that requires a battery. Pick up the battery from around the corner and bring it back to power the vent.
Step 2: Open the vent and head right through the tunnel. The objective is the computer screen across the room, blocked by movable server racks.
Step 3: Move the first server rack, scan the wall, and switch the power to the door. Move the next set of racks, walk around to the right, and switch power again to lower another rack.
Step 4: Squeeze through the Gorp tunnel, power the next server rack from the far side, and route power to the left for the next control panel. Return through the Gorp tunnel and activate the panel between the two remaining racks.
Step 5: Ignore the Sims message ahead and look down to the left. Pick up the Curator's "O" — the first of the five O Death secrets. Place it down. The Curator appears immediately, confirming the unlock.
From this point on, the Curator returns as a presence before death scenes for the remainder of the playthrough.
The remaining four clues
Episode 1 (Medical): During the exploration chapter, override the locked door. Inside, find a table with a gap in it. Step into the gap to pick up the second clue, which shows Sims dreaming about the Curator.
Episode 3 (The Sample — Search): Reach the main mess hall, walk past the two vending machines, and interact with the terminal on the wall. The message references another character having nightmares about the man in the bowler hat.
Episode 5 (Radio Silence), clue 4: Playing as Cernin, leave the command center, go up the stairs, and continue down the hallway. A new message appears on one of the wall terminals.
Episode 5 (Radio Silence), clue 5: Continue the level until you reach the lounge area. Instead of following Cooper into the lounge, take the stairs down, then up on the opposite side. The final clue sits on the couch and contains Joseph's encounter with the Curator.
How to verify the unlock worked
Two confirmations exist. The first triggers the moment you place the Episode 8 pickup: the Curator visibly appears in the scene. The second is the dedicated Curator cutscene, which only plays after all five clues have been collected. The cutscene opens with the Curator's familiar greeting from his repository, including a line hinting that he may be known by a different name by the end.
Collecting all five also unlocks "O Death" as a secrets set in the game's menu, the Supermassive equivalent of the franchise's signature end-credits track being tied to a hidden track rather than a default feature.
Common reasons the Curator does not appear
- The Episode 8 pickup has not been placed. Finding the item is not enough — it must be put down at its spot for the Curator to materialize.
- The server-rack puzzle in The Way Back was bypassed via the exit door. The Curator's "O" is in the side room, reached only through the vent and power routing.
- An exploration chapter was skipped due to a character death earlier in the run. Clues tied to Cernin in Episode 5, for example, require that character to be alive and controllable at that point.
The short version is that the Curator's role in Directive 8020 is deliberately hidden. Players who finish the game without exploring carefully will likely never see him, while those who work through the five-clue track get both his standard pre-death appearances and a new cutscene that ties the Cassiopeia's events back to the wider Dark Pictures Anthology framework.