Guess how long you'll be playing this game? Until Dawn is an epic
interactive survival "horror" game. "Horror" meaning it flops majorly in
its target genre. But, it makes up for that with excellent writing and
characters. Eight characters rejoin on a mountain lodge on the
anniversary of a tragic event that occurred one year ago. Unbeknownst to
our characters are new tragedies of their own that could mean life or
death. Said characters have the usual cliché personas of the horror
genre. However, the usual personas of the well known horror genre are
thrown in the ring to mix with unique situations and traits for each
character that breathe new life into them. These now unique characters
either have you go through hell itself in heart-pounding moments to
protect them, or act like a god trying every action possible to get them
killed.
Being a PS4 exclusive, Until Dawn utilizes the Dualshock 4's
capabilities to its fullest extent. For example, it uses its touchpad
and motion controls to make it feel more interactive. While the controls
are relatively simple, they get the job done in engrossing the player
and in accompanying the strong emotion and tone of the game. Though, I
would say the motion controls are a bit too engrossing. While the game
may have a tutorial for all the mechanics it introduces, the motion
control sessions are spontaneous occurrences, leaving little room to
actually remain still with the remote. This unbalance leaves me baffled
because quick time events even give newcomers to gaming enough time to
react fast enough.
Controls aren't always literal. Remember a certain movie called the
"Butterfly Effect?" Well, its concept of every decision, whether it be
big or small, having a pivotal outcome, is the main mechanic for how
Until Dawn functions. Until Dawn features multiple branching paths of
dialogue, actions, and of course, endings. Every one of these components
will lead to other outcomes that could mean the end or bright future
for your character. Also, this unique mechanic influences personalities
of characters and relationships with them that also influence the plot,
but to a slightly lesser degree.
Exploration is also important to your discovery of the situation. Along
with the other mechanics is simply moving around (shocking right)? Well,
unlike most horror games, Until Dawn provides a twisty-turny,
heart-poundingly emotional story while also providing a more in depth
plot for those willing to explore and discover the cryptic meaning and
future of the game. Exploration will heed findings of clues to multiple
mysteries of the game, and totems that will provide foresight into
future possible outcomes. Totems may help the player decide what to
prepare for in the future if they connect the dots correctly as well as
provide insight onto the events of the past and how/why they happened.
Until Dawn has spectacle as well as substance. Using capture technology
for accurate representations of facial expressions and actions was pure
genius, despite the common odd and sometimes stiff motions.
Additionally, the soundtrack is very satisfactory since it increases the tension and horror like it should.
Until Dawn crafts an excellent story. It takes what would seem like
boring plot aspects at first and molds them into an excellent story. It
gives you a unique gameplay experience with various fresh and dare I say
again unique controls. I certainly felt like I got a bang for my buck. Unlike games like Telltale that barely focus on decisions
and feel like shameless cash-grabs and force you to get involved into an
episodic series whereas Until Dawn does all of this in one game. This is the first I'm
saying this for a game, but Until Dawn is definitely a game of the
year.
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