Until Dawn Review (PlayStation 4)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Until Dawn
  • Platform: Playstation 4
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Until Dawn quality

Until Dawn could have been the Cabin in the Woods of horror video games, the kind of experience that has the power to redefine the genre and set a new standard for all other titles that try to follow in its footsteps.

The title created by Supermassive Games and published by Sony on the PlayStation 4 certainly has the initial setup to justify this claim and the first few chapters of the story, with their focus on interactions between teenagers, will capture the attention of many players.

But after a while, Until Dawn chooses to focus on a more traditional view of the horror genre and it becomes clear that the game is more concerned with the spilling of blood than the exploration of emotional turmoil.

The choice is not necessarily a bad one, and a lot of fans of the genre will be happy with the twists, the turns, the screams and the action that Supermassive Games has created, but many will also be disappointed with the limited range of the game and its limited mechanics.

Story

Until Dawn is a video game that tackles a wide range of subjects, from loss to human relations to how we deal with fear and the way we can make our lives heroic, but unfortunately it does all this by using the classic medium of horror, which at times is ill-suited for the ambitious nature of the title.

The prologue tells a story about two sisters and the way they die in mysterious circumstances, basically because of the insensitive nature of their group of friends, but also because something is lurking in the woods around the cabin where they spend a cold winter's night.

The survivors, led by the brother of the sisters, meet one year after the incident in the same location, ostensibly to celebrate their lives and to bond over memories, but what they find instead is terror.

Until Dawn character work
Until Dawn character work

The development team at Supermassive Games knows the tropes of the horror genre and uses them liberally throughout Until Dawn, which is both a good and a bad thing.

One playthrough takes around ten hours, depending on some choices, and initially the game is quiet and gives its characters the space they need to establish their personalities and to interact with each other, often in ways that seem life-like and exciting.

But after a while, the story goes to some places that every fan of the genre will know pretty well and the spark that powered the initial interest tends to be gone, with characters reduced to their essence and given little space to breathe as more blood gushes and adrenaline is pumped.

Peter Stormare, as the weird psychiatrist that conducts sessions between chapters, introduces some variety and some genuinely creepy moments that do not rely on jump scares, but after about five hours, Until Dawn loses steam even as the action ramps up.

The theme of the entire experience is the Butterfly Effect and how choices and consequences mix, and after playing through some sequences twice, there's a lot of replayability included in the title.

Unfortunately, this also means seeing again some of the more unappealing parts of Until Dawn, so it's value will depend on how much players like the writing and the characters.

Supermassive Games has managed to create some very real looking situations, especially when the focus is on interactions and on how quickly friends can hurt each other, and I thoroughly enjoyed them and the options they open.

But the developers have also crafted some weird exchanges between pairs of characters and a skip button at times would have been a great addition to the title.

Gameplay

Until Dawn is not a complex title when it comes to its core mechanics, mostly because the focus is on the narrative and on the options gamers have.

When talking is involved, gamers will be presented with two possibilities and will have to choose by pointing their controller and pressing X, often having a limited idea about what their characters will actually say or how they will behave.

There are also moments when exploration is required, with the protagonist of the moment (Supermassive likes to shift perspectives relatively quickly, which is a good thing) able to move around the environment and to interact with a limited number of objects and clues.

During action scenes, two options are also offered most of the time, and when things get frantic, Until Dawn focuses on Quick Time Events, asking players to push buttons quickly to accomplish certain tasks.

The mechanics do not fit the theme of the game very well and the action moments feel mostly forced, with players having to split their attention between the events that are taking place and the buttons they need to press to progress.

Until Dawn is not too challenging, but I often failed at certain challenges because I felt the characters would have been unable to complete them (there are some Rambo moments that feel entirely uncalled for).

The title also features a wide variety of collectables, but the only ones that feel important and have a cool concept behind them are the totems, even if it is a little unclear what they actually do for the player.

Supermassive Games shows courage by eliminating any kind of save feature for its game, asking gamers to live with their choices and failures, but their title often feels more like a story with some interactive elements, many of them forced, rather than a video game that has a cool narrative to deliver.

Graphics and audio

Until Dawn certainly looks good, the kind of video game that was carefully crafted to pull the player in as much as possible and show him what the power of the new generation of gaming hardware can deliver in terms of quality.

In the acting department, Supermassive Games and Sony have managed to recruit some top talent, starting with Hayden Panettiere as Sam and Brett Dalton as Mike, and all the actors have moments where they fully inhabit their characters and create memorable moments of tension and emotion.

The quality of the motion capture and animations is also above almost everything else available when it comes to detail, with the faces a clear standout, although there are some moments when they flirt weirdly with the Uncanny Valley, especially Peter Stormare when he goes up close.

The dialog is another bright point for the game, especially when the characters interact in groups rather than in pairs, and I like the way subtle early game intonations and choices of words become important later on.

The soundtrack and the ambient sounds of Until Dawn feel a little out of step with the rest of the game, with a constant whispering of voices almost always in the background, a very horror touch, and with the music sometimes preempting tense moments and scares.


The Good

  • Character interactions
  • Graphics quality
  • Focus on choice and consequence

The Bad

  • Reliance on Quick Time Events
  • Some scenes are too long

Conclusion

Until Dawn is a video game that should jump to the "to-play" pile for those gamers who love classic horror and want to see the high-quality that the PlayStation 4 can deliver when it comes to faces and character interactions.

Supermassive Games is using the power of the Sony home console, good actors and great motion capture to offer some great scenes and set-pieces, designed to get hearts beating faster and to make palms sweaty.

But Until Dawn is longer than it should be, has a lot of gameplay elements that feel inconsequential, and its replayability will only be an asset for the most dedicated of gamers.

I like the first four chapters of the game very much, mainly because they feature limited classic horror elements and focus on the way a circle of friends interacts and the quick cruelty that can emerge between them.

The experience then becomes a little too conventional for my liking, but Until Dawn shows that Supermassive Games has the potential to someday revolutionize the horror video game genre, as long as it chooses experimentation over classical appeal.

story 8
gameplay 6
concept 8
graphics 9
audio 9
multiplayer 0
final rating 8
Editor's review
very good
 
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