[Timgt5]

Until Dawn

A –“Uplay it” Teen Horror Movie for the modern age

Review by Timgt5

Over a large number of years there have been numerous games released in the survival horror genre. Each developer tries to put their own unique touches on their respective titles. Does Supermassive’s entry into the series, Until Dawn bring something new to the table, indeed it does, read on.

Until Dawn
Released 2015
Type: Horror-Survival, single player only.
Genre Contemporary teen horror film
Platforms PS4 exclusive
Rating M (mature)

Highs: Outstanding Visuals and sound, well written narrative, plenty of good jump scares, makes extensive use of branching story line, easy to learn controls.

Lows: Feels sometimes like a passive experience, little margin for mistakes.

The Plot: Our story starts a year prior to the game’s events. A group of ten friends go off to a Canadian ski lodge to hang out, party and get in some skiing. One of the young women (Hannah) becomes a victim of a sadistic prank played on her by the group. Traumatized by the events, Hannah runs off into the woods at night (you know this is not going to turn out well). Hannah is pursued by her twin sister Beth. Both are chased by a mysterious killer and fall over a cliff. Unable to be found, the girls are pronounced dead by the authorities.

A year later, the girl’s surviving older brother Josh, convinces the remaining group of friends to reunite at the ski lodge and gain closure on what happened. As our teens arrive old connections reform and old issues also surface. They become cutoff during a blizzard and have not means to communicate with the outside world. A mysterious “pyscho-killer” is stalking them, but there is an even darker danger than lies in wait.

The narrative of the game is pretty well written. In fact it’s frankly better than a lot of films in this genre. Some of the dialogue is a bit cringe-worthy (and makes me worry about modern adolescence at times) but overall the writers did a nice job with plot twists that abound. One of the unique elements in the game is that the narrative is shaped by choices the player makes along the way. There are multiple endings depending on how the player plays the game. Other games employ a similar branching mechanic, but this one may be the best thought out of its kind, the subtlety of the implementation is brilliant, kudos to the writers for putting a lot of work into this aspect.

Game Play: The mechanics of Until Dawn are relatively simple and very straight forward. The games control set up is similar to Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls. Actions are driven primarily by context sensitive prompts interspersed by numerous QTE situations. At some point you play almost every character (save the psychologist and the flame throwing stranger). The controller response is rather smooth, and the QTE’s add intensity and tension. Overall the mechanics are well executed.

Helping the player make decisions, there is a menu function that allows the monitoring of the emotional state of each character being played as well as their state of their relationship to other characters. Clues found throughout the environment, help fill in the backstory and totems found provide glimpses of possible futures.

The only downside is some players may find these mechanics create somewhat of a passive experience. The branching path is also rather fixed. Once a decision is made or a QTE missed, it cannot be replayed until the game is actually completed.

Sights and Sounds: Until Dawn is easily one of the best looking games this generation. The scale and scope of the environment is always appropriate. The surfaces and textures found throughout the environment are outstanding as are the particle and lighting effects. The dark atmosphere is sufficiently creepy, as the characters explore the lodge, the nearby abandoned sanitarium and the dank mines. Of particular note are the character models. The facial animations and mo-cap are top notch, only matched by Uncharted 4 and Zero Horizon Dawn. It is a shame the Sony did not scale this one up to 4K as it would be really astounding in super hi-def.

The sound quality is equally good. In horror games like this, the sound quality can make or break the emersion. Here it is very much the former. Sound effects are well mixed, detailed and hit the appropriate volumes at the right times. The voice work is pretty solid as well, with the cast led by Hayden Panitterre (CMT’s “Nashville”) The sound track is terrific as well, finding its rhythm and pitch at the right times and adding to the creepy factor.

Kids’ Corner: Until Dawn is rated M (Mature) and that is rather accurate. As these are teens, you can expect a lot of rough language. The game is also very violent, depicting murder in numerous and sometimes rather graphic ways (no surprise it is a horror game). There is some innuendo and titration (The (Hayden character spends some time walking around in nothing but a towel), but no actual nudity. Overall I think this is way too intense and scary for younger players.

In Summary: Until Dawn, to its credit firmly establishes something unique in the horror genre. The game is well produced and the multiple branching plots add a lot to the replay value. Once completed there is a lot of bonus content as well to unlock, which was worthwhile to view (interviews with the game’s cast, director, writer etc) If you have a PS4 and want an immersive scare this one is a must-buy.

Originally Posted by Timgt5

Until Dawn

A –“Uplay it” Teen Horror Movie for the modern age

Review by Timgt5

Over a large number of years there have been numerous games released in the survival horror genre. Each developer tries to put their own unique touches on their respective titles. Does Supermassive’s entry into the series, Until Dawn bring something new to the table, indeed it does, read on.

Until Dawn
Released 2015
Type: Horror-Survival, single player only.
Genre Contemporary teen horror film
Platforms PS4 exclusive
Rating M (mature)

Highs: Outstanding Visuals and sound, well written narrative, plenty of good jump scares, makes extensive use of branching story line, easy to learn controls.

Lows: Feels sometimes like a passive experience, little margin for mistakes.

The Plot: Our story starts a year prior to the game’s events. A group of ten friends go off to a Canadian ski lodge to hang out, party and get in some skiing. One of the young women (Hannah) becomes a victim of a sadistic prank played on her by the group. Traumatized by the events, Hannah runs off into the woods at night (you know this is not going to turn out well). Hannah is pursued by her twin sister Beth. Both are chased by a mysterious killer and fall over a cliff. Unable to be found, the girls are pronounced dead by the authorities.

A year later, the girl’s surviving older brother Josh, convinces the remaining group of friends to reunite at the ski lodge and gain closure on what happened. As our teens arrive old connections reform and old issues also surface. They become cutoff during a blizzard and have not means to communicate with the outside world. A mysterious “pyscho-killer” is stalking them, but there is an even darker danger than lies in wait.

The narrative of the game is pretty well written. In fact it’s frankly better than a lot of films in this genre. Some of the dialogue is a bit cringe-worthy (and makes me worry about modern adolescence at times) but overall the writers did a nice job with plot twists that abound. One of the unique elements in the game is that the narrative is shaped by choices the player makes along the way. There are multiple endings depending on how the player plays the game. Other games employ a similar branching mechanic, but this one may be the best thought out of its kind, the subtlety of the implementation is brilliant, kudos to the writers for putting a lot of work into this aspect.

Game Play: The mechanics of Until Dawn are relatively simple and very straight forward. The games control set up is similar to Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls. Actions are driven primarily by context sensitive prompts interspersed by numerous QTE situations. At some point you play almost every character (save the psychologist and the flame throwing stranger). The controller response is rather smooth, and the QTE’s add intensity and tension. Overall the mechanics are well executed.

Helping the player make decisions, there is a menu function that allows the monitoring of the emotional state of each character being played as well as their state of their relationship to other characters. Clues found throughout the environment, help fill in the backstory and totems found provide glimpses of possible futures.

The only downside is some players may find these mechanics create somewhat of a passive experience. The branching path is also rather fixed. Once a decision is made or a QTE missed, it cannot be replayed until the game is actually completed.

Sights and Sounds: Until Dawn is easily one of the best looking games this generation. The scale and scope of the environment is always appropriate. The surfaces and textures found throughout the environment are outstanding as are the particle and lighting effects. The dark atmosphere is sufficiently creepy, as the characters explore the lodge, the nearby abandoned sanitarium and the dank mines. Of particular note are the character models. The facial animations and mo-cap are top notch, only matched by Uncharted 4 and Zero Horizon Dawn. It is a shame the Sony did not scale this one up to 4K as it would be really astounding in super hi-def.

The sound quality is equally good. In horror games like this, the sound quality can make or break the emersion. Here it is very much the former. Sound effects are well mixed, detailed and hit the appropriate volumes at the right times. The voice work is pretty solid as well, with the cast led by Hayden Panitterre (CMT’s “Nashville”) The sound track is terrific as well, finding its rhythm and pitch at the right times and adding to the creepy factor.

Kids’ Corner: Until Dawn is rated M (Mature) and that is rather accurate. As these are teens, you can expect a lot of rough language. The game is also very violent, depicting murder in numerous and sometimes rather graphic ways (no surprise it is a horror game). There is some innuendo and titration (The (Hayden character spends some time walking around in nothing but a towel), but no actual nudity. Overall I think this is way too intense and scary for younger players.

In Summary: Until Dawn, to its credit firmly establishes something unique in the horror genre. The game is well produced and the multiple branching plots add a lot to the replay value. Once completed there is a lot of bonus content as well to unlock, which was worthwhile to view (interviews with the game’s cast, director, writer etc) If you have a PS4 and want an immersive scare this one is a must-buy.

Wow Tim,

That's a nice job on the review.

[Fuzzybear]

((((((((( Tim ))))))))))