Join Liv, co-host of The Top 10ers Show as she shares a wonderfully spooky Horror game to enjoy this Halloween season!
Game: Until Dawn
Developer: Supermassive Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Original Release Date: August 2015
DISCLAIMER: This review may have spoilers
Until Dawn was the very first horror game that I’ve ever played and it left a lasting impression on me. This game was released in 2015 and I’m still talking about it! Until Dawn is a narrative choice based horror game where you play as several characters and try to survive the night. Every choice matters as it pertains to each character’s life or death! I was hooked on the genre ever since I played this game with my friends.
I was a freshman in college when I played Until Dawn for the first time. One guy brought his PS4 to college and played it in the common room for anyone who wanted to play with him or watch him play. During Halloween, he said he was going to play Until Dawn and it sounded very intriguing! There were a handful of people who watched and helped make choices all night long. People would bring snacks and drinks to the common room just like you would if you went to the movies. Newer Supermassive Games have added a multiplayer mode, so you can pass the controller to your friend when it’s his/her turn to play. They’ve also added an online mode to invite a friend to the game and play with you as well. Maybe Supermassive Games heard about our little get together for the game and added it as a feature for others to enjoy! I digress.
The prologue of the story kicks off with a prank that goes wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. A group of friends go to the Washington Family’s winter home and decide to have a little “fun”. Hannah had a crush on a popular guy, Mike, and the friend group set up a camera to record Hannah trying to hook up with Mike just to make fun of her. Hannah is obviously embarrassed and runs out of the house, followed by her sister, and things take a turn for the worse. The sisters were not seen again.
1 year after the prank, Josh Washington invites everyone back to the lodge because “that’s what his sisters would’ve wanted”, but he wants to prank everyone back. A night of chaos and mischief becomes a night for survival as there are other entities lurking in the shadows. Now, everyone needs to try and survive the night as there’s no help coming until dawn. You see what I did there?
Is there a killer on the mountain? Is it something else? Well, maybe it’s both! However, the supernatural forces you’ll face that night are terrifying! You will encounter the ugliest and most unsettling creature I’ve ever seen. The Wendigos haunted my dreams for months! As scared as I was, I wanted to keeping playing! Needless to say, I was hooked.
This game fueled my love for choice based narrative games. Until Dawn introduced something called The Butterfly Effect which you may have heard of before, but the premise is every action has a consequence no matter how big or small. After you make a choice in the game, you will be able to track the path of your decisions. Did one character find the scissors? Was he/she able to defend against the monsters? Maybe you decide to take a short cut and miss a quick time event (QTE) which leads to your death.
The QTEs in this game are unforgiving! You can make all the right choices, but if your reflexes aren’t quick enough, a character may die. This can be very frustrating! The later Supermassive Games let you disable QTEs or enable a more forgiving reaction window. However, the QTEs in Until Dawn had me always on edge!
Another gameplay feature which was exclusive to Until Dawn was “Don’t move”. If the controller moves even in the slightest bit, your character would flinch or breath too hard and become discovered. “I swear that I didn’t move at all!”, yeah I’ve yelled that a few times at my TV. It was a very punishing mechanic! On subsequent playthroughs, I’ve put the controller down on the table, so I didn’t accidentally move. In the later Supermassive Gamss, this mechanic was replaced by pressing a sequence of buttons. I think the “Don’t move” mechanic may have been a bit finicky, so the button sequence may be the better mechanic. However, the tension isn’t the same! I felt like I was holding my breath trying not to make any subtle movements.
Until Dawn is being remade for the PS5 in October of 2024, but to be honest, I don’t believe it’s really needed. The game still holds up! The only complaint I have is the fixed camera angles which the remake will not have. The remake will also be available on PC alongside its PS5 launch. I can’t wait to see the mods for this game! In my opinion, the remake is for new fans who are interested and for the PC audience because you can just play the original on the PS5 as is!
You may find yourself wondering, what will the remake of Until Dawn include? The product description of the game states there will be new collectibles, new environments, and re-cut narrative sequences. This all sounds like new content! But, is it enough to warrant a remake? As I’ve said, the original game stands the test of time, but if there’s new content, maybe I will check this out. I’ll patiently wait for a review.
Until Dawn is my favorite Supermassive Game by a mile! If you haven’t heard of this game before or straight up just haven’t played, I strongly encourage you to check it out this October as it is the perfect game to play during the spooky season!
The original Until Dawn video game is currently available to play on the PS4 and PS5. The Until Dawn Remake released October 4, 2024 for the PS5 and Steam.
BIO: Liv is a co-host of The Top 10ers Show over on YouTube! On The Top 10ers Show, Liv and James create Top 10 video game lists and review video games. We have a few special episodes on the mix too!
If you’re looking for more of Liv’s content, subscribe to The Top 10ers Show!
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