Until Dawn Reviews
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.
It lives up to its title, as players will be glued to it all night, exhilaratingly racing to one of the many potential endings.
Until Dawn doesn't always live up to the potential Supermassive Games envisioned for its ambitious PS4 project, but the game succeeds in enough ways to make it a fascinating and engrossing twist on the horror genre.
Until Dawn is an excellent change of pace from the norm. There aren't a lot of games quite like it.
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.
Considering the number of cliches thrown in, it works surprisingly well, mostly due to exceptionally good voice acting. Bar some attempts at motion controls which don't quite fit, the control scheme is sensible.
It may not be a masterpiece, almost solely relying on jump scares to shock, but it is fun to play, and that's what matters most. Once it gets going, it is a non-stop rollercoaster of visceral excitement. Letting players have control as they take a selection of disparate characters through the nastiness awaiting them is a fantastic idea that is also well executed. The fact these characters quickly go from looking fine and dandy to resembling someone that's been dragged through a hedge backwards only adds to the fun!
Niggles creep in due to the rudimentary control scheme - and the option to reconsider decisions that are obviously heading a bad way would've been nice - but otherwise I still found I couldn't put this slaughterrific adventure down.
Until Dawn is gripping through its nine-odd hour running time and never lets off the gas. It's scary — although sometimes cheaply so — and does a great job illustrating the butterfly effect. What Supermassive has accomplished so early in their tenure is impressive and something all horror fans should experience.
Self-aware and deconstructive
What we have here is a fun story with actual impactful choices lending a level of replayability unseen to date in similar games.
One of the best, exclusive games you can find on the PS4.
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.
Fans of interactive story experiences, or just horror in general, would be wise to give this a shot. Supermassive Games has done a great job and hopefully they will have the chance to experiment more with titles of this ilk in the future.
This interactive horror movie is heaps of fun and packed with moments that'll have you and anyone watching jumping out of their skin. Being able to kill off characters you don't like is more fun than you'll want to admit. You'll definitely want to play it more than once too to put the cast through hell again and again.
Until Dawn is a very, very fine game, with a quality, intriguing, and intelligent narrative rolled around the concept of player choice. It's also another example of why Sony is the best blockbuster publisher out there because it's happy to do stuff that breaks away from the safe conventions of expensive games.
Until Dawn is a fantastic title from Supermassive Games with plenty of scope for replay given the amount of alternative choices available. If you've missed out on it so far, get it in time for Hallowe'en, but just remember to watch your back...
Until Dawn is a game that knows exactly what it is - a gleeful mash-up of horror genre tropes that succeeds by wearing its influences on its sleeve, excellent casting, and using well-chosen gameplay elements that give the player choice but fit with the movie-like aesthetic of the game. Despite its flaws, Until Dawn is an easy game to recommend, both to fans of and newcomers to the horror genre.
I expected Until Dawn to be a silly horror game due to its long development time, it was originally slated to be a PS3 move title. But this was not the case, I quickly got pulled into the game's story thanks to the sheer idiocy of the eight teenagers actions and the over the top nature of the horror story. In terms of gameplay mechanics, it's incredibly simple, but that works in the game's favor. Leaving you to become fully engrossed in the story and narratives that the writers were trying to create. If you fancy a gory slasher style game that hits plenty of high notes, then I can highly recommend Until Dawn.
Until Dawn's story isn't particularly long. Unskippable Cutscenes and characters walking very slowly make it feel dragged out in subsequent playthroughs and a lot of things will repeat themselves. All in all, it was a good experience for me though and I enjoyed it. Great actors, great writing, great graphics, great sound, great setting and a spooky atmopshere. I recommend this game, but it might be better to rent than to buy due to the relatively short story length. If you are a trophy hunter you will be happy with this short and easy platinum trophy.