Supermassive Games' 2015 horror game Until Dawn has recently received a remake courtesy of Ballistic Moon, just in time for the Halloween season. Though this remake makes a few significant changes to the original Until Dawn, it is mostly the same experience, with the same story, structure, and set of rules for the player to adhere to.
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Until Dawn is a narrative-driven game with an emphasis on high-fidelity visuals, true-to-life facial capture, and a branching story steered by the player's choices. It's rather similar to Supermassive's more recent releases like The Quarry, with games from studios like Quantic Dream being another easy point of comparison. Inspired by campy slasher flicks and creature features of the 1990s, Until Dawn's narrative stakes are notably high, which is reflected by its implicit promise that characters can die at virtually any moment. Of course, this isn't actually the case—players can't decimate the cast in the first hour, for example—but this illusion is what drives engagement with the game, supporting its interactive elements. As such, understanding the intricacies of Until Dawn's choice-based mechanics can be the difference between virtual life and death, and can maximize player enjoyment.
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Until Dawn 101
Until Dawn's Quicktime Events Run the Gambit of Consequences
From a mechanical perspective, Until Dawn mostly boils down to quicktime events, which can vary in terms of margin for error and associated consequences. In other words, failing certain quicktime events can have virtually no consequences, while others can lead to minor repercussions, and some can even result in the deaths of major characters. In the case of major character deaths, failing these key quicktime events can sometimes supersede all previous decisions: a player could make all the "right" choices for a particular character, but if they fail a key QTE, then they will give up the ghost no matter what. As such, it's important to treat all quicktime events with equal gravity, especially if getting the perfect ending is a priority.
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Varying the consequences of quicktime events helps lend weight to decision-making in Until Dawn as, just like in real life, one doesn't always know when a particular choice will lead to a severe outcome.
Until Dawn Isn't Designed To Be Played Just Once
Many games are better on subsequent playthroughs, but Until Dawn is a special case, as a significant amount of its content can't be experienced in just a single run. For example, saving every Until Dawn character will result in what many would consider the "best" ending, but with many death circumstances being unexpected or hard to avoid without extraneous knowledge, it's extremely difficult to achieve such an ending on a first playthrough. Conversely, rare character deaths and interactions are a big part of what makes Until Dawn enjoyable, so experimenting with different factors on subsequent playthroughs will lead to the best overall experience with the game.
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Until Dawn Is Better With Friends
This is less of a rule about the game itself and more a guideline for how to best enjoy it, but Until Dawn greatly benefits from being played in a social setting. It's not that there's no fun to be had with it while playing solo, but the combination of different opinions and personalities, with each participant lending their own voice to the confluence of in-game decisions, will often lead to the most surprising and unique scenarios. Plus, playing the game with a group can lead to debates about which decisions to make, sparking discussion and thus deepening how one engages with the story. Considering how barebones Until Dawn is mechanically, it can be significantly enhanced by the presence of others contributing their own perspectives and decisions, for better and for worse.
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8/10
Until Dawn (2024)
When eight friends return to the isolated lodge where two of their group vanished a year prior, fear tightens its icy grip, and their mountain retreat descends into a nightmare with no escape. Face your fears and determine who survives Until Dawn in this seminal horror classic, rebuilt and enhanced for PC.
Cult horror rebuilt: Immerse yourself in a gripping slasher horror rebuilt from the ground up with stunning visuals in Unreal Engine 5. Enhanced by movie-like cinematography, refined gameplay mechanics and more, venture into a thrilling exploration of an isolated mountain where nothing is as it seems.
Their fate in your hands: Create your own gripping tale as you control a group of unique characters portrayed by an all-star cast, including Hayden Panettiere, Brett Dalton, and more, and decide their fate through your choices. Through dynamic animations and nuanced facial-capture performances, learn what makes each character tick, and who among the group has what it takes to survive.
Terror never looked so good: Explore a rich and detailed environment that will leave you breathless with every step. With new visual enhancements for PC, the original game has been rebuilt from the ground up – utilizing cutting-edge visual technology to bring the nightmare to life.
Rebuilt for a new generation: Discover new collectibles, all-new environments to investigate, and re-cut narrative sequences that deepen the mystery further. Get closer to the action with an all-new, immersive third-person camera, and enjoy a brand-new musical score and reauthored audio that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the journey.
Horror
Systems
- Platform(s)
- PC , PS5
- Released
- October 4, 2024
- Developer(s)
- Ballistic Moon
- Publisher(s)
- PlayStation PC LLC
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- ESRB
- m
