Until Dawn

 

 

A phenomenal new horror game that is clearly a love letter towards the whole genre, Until Dawn is a surprise hit with interesting features. Designed by Supermassive Games to be replayed several times in order to grasp the full picture, this long night will surely suck you in.

A group of 8 friends (and more or less 4 couples) decide to hold a somewhat awkward reunion in a lodge at Blackwood Pines in order to commemorate/pay respects towards two twin sisters who died of unknown reasons a year earlier.

Playing from a third person perspective, you are able to control all 8 characters during the various chapters coming along. They were all likable to me except for Emily, who really seemed to be narcissistic and ego-centered to me.

The scenery is snow oriented, and to me, the developers did a really good job with realistic graphics for the environments and the locations did not only include the lodge and the snowy hills, but also dark mines and a sanatorium, alongside a few smaller buildings.

The same cannot entirely be said for the animations of the characters themselves. For the most part, they look just fine, but at some points, I couldn't help but notice that their facial expressions were quite weird despite this being a horror game.

It's still quite cool how all of them are based of real actors, such as Rami Malek playing Josh, the host of the reunion. And I wouldn't be surprised if more developers would pursue this concept and use more actors for upcoming games, especially if they are AAA.

When eight friends become trapped on a remote mountain getaway gone wrong, things quickly turn sinister and they start to suspect they aren’t alone. Every choice the player makes while playing as each of the eight friends – even the seemingly trivial ones – will carve out a unique story. The player's actions alone determine who survives until dawn.

The Butterfly Effect is intact, meaning that the slightest impact of the moral and survival choices being made could determine a total different ending. There are HUNDREDS of endings possible, from everyone surviving, towards no one surviving at all.

Scares in here range from psycho pranks and jump scares, towards hallucinations, gory deaths and the gruesome Wendigo's, who were normal humans once who worked into the dark mines with dangerous obstacles. It also turns out that Hannah, one of Josh's twin sisters, has turned into one of them, and depending on the outcome of your progression, she/it could be responsible for the deaths of the cast.

The Dr.Hill "sessions" are very reminiscent of Silent Hill Shattered Memories, only that this time, they deteriorate and get worse as it becomes clear that the doctor isn't entirely friendly and could very well be a fake persona instead.

Fixed camera angles with occasional "swooping" as characters traverse into other area's was designed with the utmost effect and care, as they heightened the suspension and eventual scares, just like Resident Evil and Silent Hill used to do as well.

Until Dawn is not a contender for one of the scariest video games ever, but it easily attempted something different what with the Butterfly Effect being intact, the possibility of seeing futuristic outcomes through the Totem System, and having a ton of possible endings, meaning that there most likely is no official ending, until Supermassive Games decides to make a direct sequel. 

Sometimes the scary elements went a bit overboard, but in overall, there are definitely some effective ones to be found. And now that I have beaten it once, I cannot wait to replay Until Dawn and collect the other clues in order to know more about what happened or could happen!

Rating: 8.3