Fear’s Take on Until Dawn
Wow… Having just completed Until Dawn wow is about the first word that pops into mind. Not only “wow” in the sense of “what a great game”, and somewhat of a hidden gem, but also “wow why did I wait so long to play this?” To anyone like me that was wondering how this game played the best way I can sum it up is that this game reminded me of the little I played of The Walking Dead, and Heavy Rain, with the large areas to wander in of the original Resident Evil. Here is the thing, I didn’t like Walking Dead or Heavy Rain’s gameplay. To me they were boring, so when those were the games I thought of before playing Until Dawn I was very hesitant. But I recently received the game as a gift so I finally tried it out, and I got to say, this is one of the most unique but great games I’ve played.
Before I get too deep into the review let me start off by saying I will not spoil any of the major, unchangeable plot points. Understand the game is about choices that lead to different outcomes, aka the butterfly effect. The game is built around the choices you make that can kill or lead to the death of characters. I had characters die not meaning to kill them, chances are you will to. I’ll try my best to not give anything away so that during your play through (Beau and Mike I’m talking to you here) I won’t affect your choices. With that I will probably mention a few deaths but I’ll stay away from the details as to the how it happened. So with that, let’s get to the review!
The gameplay in this game honestly is a lot like the Telltale Walking Dead games in that there is a lot of walking around, QTE events, and like Heavy Rain you control a lot of the smaller details of movement. But as I mentioned in the intro the areas give you that big but isolated feel of the first Resident Evil. The game also surprised me by reminding me a lot of LA Noire with the way you do a fair amount of investigating or looking for clues. Getting back to the QTE, they are in this game a lot, but for the most part when you are doing them you are in an intense situation so they really feel like a good game play choice as opposed to performing the moves manually. Now here is a tip, in almost any situation you have to choose between climbing or jumping, just jump. They both have QTE, both have pretty much the same amount of them, the only difference is you get less time to complete them jumping. Every aspect of the gameplay is crafted around making sure you PLAY the game, but also feel like you are really watching a horror movie. The only issue I ever had playing was sometimes the camera angle would switch, which would have me walking a different direction than I wanted. And I should also point out the first few chapters are setting everything up, so expect a lot of just walking.
The story in this game is really what it is all about. Now I’m sure if you are reading this you know that this is a game about making choices and trying to save the 8 young adults you play as. And yes, all 8 can die, I even went back and made sure to kill all of them. But here is the detail about the story I didn’t know going in. It starts off like a Slasher film, revolving around a killer(s) stalking the characters, including the scary clown you have probably seen in all the artwork for the game. However, by the time you reach the halfway point, it becomes more of a straight Horror film. I won’t spoil how that happens, but what I will say is if you are a fan of the film genre, you will understand it more. If not you will notice a tonal change, but the writing is so well done it won’t do anything but make you want to see what happens next. I can’t speak highly enough about the writing of this game.
The characters are all the typical tropes of the horror/slasher film, but the acting is so well done that the tropes end up playing to the games advantage. That’s the big thing about this game’s story, it has just enough self-awareness to make it not too serious that it isn’t enjoyable, but at the same time has enough of a serious tone that you don’t feel like it’s all “camp” either. The story is so well done, that even when you have a character death, it affects the story in a way that makes sense, and should you replay and see the opposite story, it still makes sense. I honestly can’t point out one flaw, or odd story moment. One my first play through I managed to save 4 of the 8 people, I couldn’t wait to see how I could have played that out differently. Now I haven’t replayed the whole game yet, I’ve just replayed a few chapters to earn the Trophy for everyone dying, and I can say that when the people died in different spots, it didn’t affect the story in a negative way. There is another topic that I need to include, there are a few different endings to get to the game. The survivors all have messages during the credits, the game has a special ending for 1 character if you complete a certain task, and another ending if you make a quick judgement with another character.
What makes all this work is the game’s “Butterfly Effect”. The game keeps a track of your actions, big or small and those can have huge impacts later on. Shoot an innocent animal and you may lose out on an extra area with a collectible. Choose the wrong time to hide or run and it might not end well. Not to mention the character interactions that can change outcomes completely. I loved this aspect of the game. It gives so much replay for the game, more so than a lot of games out there, even if this is an 8-10 hour game.
Now from my other reviews you probably know I’m not a huge graphics person, but I have to highlight how great the artwork and design is in this game. The areas remind me of the lonely and creepy areas of Resident Evil, and all are beautiful. The characters are all spot on. I honestly knew 3 actress just by looking, did a little an IMDB search and every character is spot on for the real life actor/actress. This is a great looking great. It’s not mind blowing to graphic diehards I’m sure, but it more than did the work for me.
The final thoughts on this game is that this is a somewhat hidden gem on the PS4. I truly hope they do a sequel with a different setting and characters, more of a spiritual sequel but just a chance to play a game like this. The only hindrance to this game is the first few chapters are building to the story so it is more of a “walking simulator” and that has help me back from jumping right to a new game play through.
Overall I have to give this a strong 9.5! Truly impressive.
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