Until Dawn is an interactive drama survival horror video game. It was originally scheduled to be released on the PlayStation 3 and feature PlayStation Move support, but in August 2014, the game was reintroduced as a PlayStation 4 exclusive.
Until Dawn is designed to be played multiple times, as players will miss out on quite a bit of content with a single playthrough. Each will last about nine hours in length and the game mechanics utilize a new in-game system called the “Butterfly Effect” in which any choice of action by the player may cause unforeseen consequences later on. For example, locating a weapon in an earlier chapter may allow the player to pick it up down the line when a chase scene leads back to the same room. Throughout the game, players will make difficult decisions during ethical or moral dilemmas, such as sacrificing one character to save another. The Butterfly Effect system blurs the line between right and wrong decisions and it is possible for players to keep all eight characters alive as well as having all eight of them die, allowing for many different paths and scenarios as well as offering several different endings. Until Dawn has a strict auto-save system to prevent players from reloading a previous save file to an earlier point in the game if they regret an in-game decision they have made. The only way to change the player’s choice is to restart the game from the beginning or continue to the end and start a new game. In a developer interview, it has been said that Until Dawn has “hundreds of endings”. Different endings have different variations depending on the combination of characters alive at the end of the game.
The gameplay is focused on exploration, quick-time events and discovering clues as well as making decisions. There is an in-game system that will keep track of all of the clues and secrets players have discovered in total, even if there are multiple playthroughs; these clues will allow the player to piece together the mysteries of Blackwood. In terms of the gameplay mechanics and theme, Until Dawn has been noted to be similar to Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls.
Until Dawn was met with a positive critical response upon release, with praise directed at the visuals, choice mechanic, horror elements, music, voice acting and gameplay design. Most of the criticism the game drew was concerning the story, mostly the second half, camera angles, character movements and partially linear plot.
When a trip to a remote cabin leaves eight friends stranded on a mountainside, sinister events make them suspect they're not alone...
Gripped by fear and with tensions in the group running high, step into the quaking boots of each of the eight terrified characters as you search for clues to the deranged killer's identity. By making life or death decisions using the sophisticated "butterfly effect" system, everything you do will drastically alter the course of the story - and the fate of each character.
Minimum System Requirements | Recommended System Requirements | |
CPU | AMD Athlon X2 2.8 GHz or higher; Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or higher | AMD Six-Core CPU; Intel Quad-Core CPU |
VRAM | 1 GB | 2 GB |
RAM | 4GB or more | 8GB |
OS | Windows 7 and the KB3135445 platform update | Windows 8 64-bit or Windows 10 |
Graphics Card | AMD Radeon 3870 or higher; NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or higher | AMD Radeon 7870 or higher; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or higher; Graphics Memory: 3GB |
Direct X | 10 | 11 |
SOUND CARD | DirectX Compatible | DirectX Compatible |
HDD Space | 9GB | 9GB |
Game Analysis | One night, you and seven other teenagers are on a remote mountain on the anniversary of your friend’s mysterious death. The power’s out, there’s no phone reception and you’re trying to get the hot cheerleader to notice you. What could possibly go wrong? | |
Optimization Score | 10 |
Visuals- as close to photo realistic facials animation and environments as the PS4 can achieve.
Sound FX- the voice acting and ambient sounds make you feel sucked into the situation like you're actually part of the game.
Innovation- the adventure formula has been done before, but the speed and level of branching narrative is unmatched for being approachable by everyone.
Linearity- even though the concept of the "Butterfly Effect" is novel, how your decisions REALLY effect the overall story are minimal to how you progress.
This is the best looking game I’ve seen to date, was really fun to play. Kind of tricky with quick time events but still fun to play. Would love to see somebody else play it for their choices.
Score Breakdown
“The Tale”
Story- 6
Pacing- 8
Characters- 7
Originality- 7
Linearity- 5
Length- 9
Epicness- 8
“The Presentation”
Visuals- 10
Display- 9
Music- 8
Sound FX- 10
“The Mechanics”
Ease of Use- 9
Innovation- 10
Replayability- 8