Until Dawn

Summary: One year ago, a seemingly harmless teenage prank led to the disappearance of twin sisters. Now, on the anniversary of their disappearance, the eight friends who were there return to the mountain lodge to remember their loss. Nothing could have prepared them for what waits for them there.

Review

Plot: The story of Until Dawn is extremely well crafted. The prologue has you play the events of Beth and Hannah’s disappearance, and then jumps a year forward as the other eight teens return to the isolated mountain lodge to comfort Josh, Beth and Hannah’s brother, and try to put the demons of that night behind them. The story is full of horror tropes; a crazed psycho, an abandoned asylum, an old mine, and a spirit board to name a few. These elements are meshed together perfectly to create a single cohesive story that has multiple angles, paths, and endings. 

Characters: The characters of Until Dawn might be the strongest aspect of the game. There are eight in total, and with minor exceptions, they all have important roles to play in the story. Some are there to have a good time and get laid (Mike, Jess, Matt, Emily). Others are there because they want to provide emotional support to Josh and get past their own guilt (Samantha, Chris, Ashley). At first the characters seem to be teen horror stereotypes (the bitch, the slut, the jock, the lovers, etc.), but the game quickly progresses beyond these tropes as the night gets more harrowing. It is interesting to see the different ways the characters change in themselves, and their interactions with others.

Presentation: There is not enough to be said positively about Until Dawn’s presentation. The settings are perfect, and even when playing in a lit room with a friend, certain areas were absolutely creepy. The hidden clues and totems to find encourage exploration, and the environments are detailed and well worth exploring. The characters are rendered superbly, and it’s easy to see the resemblance of look to the actors who voiced, and motion captured, their lines. All the voice actors did a great job bringing their characters, and the story, to life, but I want to give special attention to Hayden Panettiere (Samantha) and Galadriel Stineman (Ashley) for their stellar performances. Panettiere set the stage for some chilling scenes, and her end-credits scenes if she survives the night set the tone for the hidden ending. Stineman’s performance brings to life much of the fear and guilt the characters feel as she is the quickest to believe in a possible supernatural revenge element for last year’s prank gone wrong. The game does have some very well done scares, but it’s the atmosphere of the universe and the character acting that keeps the suspense going, and makes the scares effective.

Gameplay: Until Dawn unfolds like an interactive drama. The game has three aspects to the gameplay. The first is exploration. In these segments, the player controls a character as they walk around an environment. Second are quick time events (QTEs), which require the player to tap buttons, hold the controller still, or hold the analog stick in a direction. The final aspect is interactive choices, in which the player selects how to respond in conversation and to other character actions. All three mesh wonderfully and flow in and out of each other to create some exceedingly tense moments. Holding the controller still while a psycho is after you is hard, especially with the rumble function on, and trying to decide whether to run or hide when being chased is an equally difficult choice, especially when there is a clock ticking down. The beauty of the game’s intricacies come from the Butterfly Effect element, in which seemingly inconsequential choices can drastically alter events later in the game. For example, whether you agree or disagree with a character might determine their willingness to hand a character a gun which is needed to save that character’s life four chapters later. Some butterfly effects from the first chapter have serious impact late in the game, others only briefly thereafter, but uncovering them and learning how each choice changes events adds depth to be sure.

Replay Value: The first play through is amazing, as the intensity grows due to the uncertainty of the events to come. The complete lack of a save system increases that. All decisions, good and bad, are saved immediately, and there is no way to correct mistakes until the first play through is completed. Each decision is tense, and it can be very hard to look away from the screen.  Unfortunately, this also is a very large negative once the game is completed. Upon completion of the game, the player can either start from the beginning, or replay episodes. Replaying one of the ten episodes allows the player to find collectibles they missed, and in the case of episode 10, change the ending of the game. However, no other episode will save butterfly effect changes. The only way to truly change your choices is to start a new game. There is no fast forward feature, no alternate saves, and no way to speed up the game. I loved playing the game the first time, but even going through an episode to grab a collectible I missed was a chore because of the five to ten minutes of previously seen and unskipable cut scenes. While some of these scenes change based on your decisions (for example, if one character dies, an entire section of the game might not be playable and that character won’t be able to provide the revelations discovered), as someone who wanted to save everyone, and largely succeeded (but for a cough in a hold still scene which forced me to replay chapter 10), I had no interest in going back through the game. A dedicated explorer can easily invest 12 – 15 hours in the Until Dawn’s first play through, but any further desire to play will be based on player dedication.

Grade: 8.5/10 – Until Dawn is a visual and audible masterpiece of suspense gaming that lacks in replay value with the exception of the truly dedicated.

Notes: At the time I write this review, I have completed the game with all seven possible survivors, and the hidden ending. I found 25/30 totems, 20/20 Twins clues, 26/27 1952 clues, and 24/30 mystery man clues. In total, I spent around 15 hours with the game.