Until Dawn Reviews
Until Dawn delivers on multiple fronts and it's a welcome addition to any PS4 owner's library.
Due to its thrilling nature, wide cast, and focus on choice, it's one of the few adventure games we could even recommend for parties. It's more fun than we expected, and we can't wait to relive the night with our own group of friends.
Until Dawn is a horror themed version of Heavy Rain or Beyond if they were made by talented work-for-hire journeymen instead of an inconsistent auteur
Until Dawn is everything that Quantic Dream games have tried to be – unsuccessfully – for the past decade. It emulates horror movies while demonstrating a clear understanding of what makes those movies work, its focus on consequence is nervewracking and intricate, and its story is silly but strongly delivered.
There's a well written and unchanging lore here. It's campy, but it's horror and was never billed as anything else. The events on the mountain are set in motion and then wrapped around each of your decisions and characters' fates. There are certain points and choices that will cause each character to die, some in a variety of nasty and horrific ways, and something about taking the reins of a character in a horror movie is just satisfying. Instead of yelling at the screen that they made a stupid choice, you get to beat yourself up for what you did to get them killed. When the sun rises and the final survivors are tallied up, you'll realize Until Dawn isn't perfect, but no matter which choices you make, it's one hell of a ride.
There is no doubting the actors commitment to their archetypes, though, and their performances are a big part of why you start to warm to even the coldest character. You end up wanting them all to survive, unlikely as that seems.
Until Dawn is a pleasant surprise, and something that fans of interactive stories will really appreciate. As a schlocky horror it's a success, but its fiction actually goes beyond simple slasher – even if it remains intentionally silly throughout. The sometimes sloppy controls will irritate, while the performance capture could have been better, but neither of these issues are nightmarish enough to pull you out of the popcorn flick plot, which is buoyed by the impressive, if not gigantically impactful, butterfly effect. A ridiculous romp is what was promised, then, and this one will keep occupied all night long.
Until Dawn is definitely a nice surprise. Despite not being marketed as a huge exclusive like Uncharted or God of War, it's arguably the best one available on PlayStation 4 with the exception of Bloodborne; if you like horror/thriller movies and you don't mind Quick Time Events, you're definitely in for a treat.
Despite the butterfly effect's premise, a ham-fisted story means you won't care about who might live and who might die. It's not enough to save the game from disappointment, and in the end, Until Dawn is its own self-inflicted nightmare.
Equal parts teen slasher, action adventure, and psychological horror, Until Dawn throws a lot at the board and nails only some of it. But its biggest win is choice--permanent, unpredictable, and meaningful.
Sometimes funny, sometimes cheesy, sometimes downright scary and tense as hell, Until Dawn is one wild ride, and while not everyone will think it's worth the entry price, I couldn't be happier with the end results.
While Until Dawn lacks complex gameplay, it counters with compelling characters, astounding visuals, and a thought provoking storyline. A masterful fusion of art forms, Until Dawn is a refreshingly self-aware experience that no thriller fan should pass up.
I really enjoyed my time with Until Dawn, and I'm itching to replay it. In many ways, it reminds me of Quantic Dream games like Heavy Rain, except it works and works very well. It respects its characters and the player while offering those same kind of immersive cinematic experience those games went for. If you're a horror fan, Until Dawn is a must-play. It's a love letter and a fresh creation of its own and worth seeking out.
If you like this genre, then Until Dawn is worth checking out for its outstanding production values and its solid, but somewhat predictable, writing.
Suspenseful, engaging, well-written horror story. Very good voice acting. Highly detailed world to explore.
"Until Dawn's" overall experience is inconsistent. The production values are impressive, but too seldom did it rely on atmosphere and score to build its tension and regressed into predictable jump scare tactics. And as a game that bills itself as one of near endless possibilities, the choice system doesn't change much of the story. It fills the horror spot in the PS4's library that has since been vacant, but a better thriller is bound to take it's place soon.
When Until Dawn was announced, expectations were low, because I was afraid that Supermassive would simply follow the same horror movie tropes without innovating. But how wrong I was, as, thanks to the "butterfly effect" and some savvy game design, there are multiple ways to experience fear here. Some groan-worthy moments do set in (especially when it comes to some character behaviors), but overall it's an experience that horror fans will gleefully eat up. And that's something you can't really say every day with products from this genre.
Until Dawn is an excellent change of pace from the norm. There aren't a lot of games quite like it.
Until Dawn expertly combines choice-based gaming with horror movie mechanics, delivering a game that will be tough to forget. It's so good, in fact, that it will be hard to overlook when it comes time to name this year's best.
The story feels as confused about its direction as Until Dawn feels confused about its identity.