Until Dawn

Run you fool! No not that way!





Hayden Panettiere heads up the cast We've all been there. Sitting on the sofa and yelling at the T.V as the whimsical damsel in distress runs away from the clutches of the frothing knife wielding maniac. Why in the name of Odin's beard does she/he run down to the confines of a dark cellar than the infinitely more obvious choice of high tailing it out the front door? Why does the car never start on first turn of the key? Why does the phone never have any signal? Why have they decided to vacation in the middle of no where with no access to a decent road system or amenities? We've all been there. Sitting on the sofa and yelling at the T.V as the whimsical damsel in distress runs away from the clutches of the frothing knife wielding maniac. Why in the name of Odin's beard does she/he run down to the confines of a dark cellar than the infinitely more obvious choice of high tailing it out the front door? Why does the car never start on first turn of the key? Why does the phone never have any signal? Why have they decided to vacation in the middle of no where with no access to a decent road system or amenities?





Prepare to have none of these questions answered and be guilty of doing them ALL!











As a lover of the horror genre I can highbrow it with the best of them with masterpieces such as Jacobs Ladder and The Shining etc, but I must confess that one of my more guilty pleasures is teen slasher horror. Serve me anything in the ilk of Scream, I Know What you Did Last Summer and I will be all over it like Jason Voorhees at a babysitter convention.





Until Dawn unabashedly leans on every horror trope you can imagine, in a game that shouldn't work but not only works but pulls together the sum of all it's parts and delivers some truly punchy set pieces and weighty consequences. The assembled cast checks all the boxes of "the jock", "the nerd","the slutty one", "the bitchy one" and the always reliable "all-rounder". Props to the voice talent who all turn in stellar performances. A special mention has to go to Peter Stormare (22 Jump street, The Big Lebowski), for nailing the role of "The Analyst"- a segment that tries its best to break the fourth wall a little too hard and comes off as a segment that is both jarring and a little bit confused as to what it wants.





Now whether your grow to love or loath these people is purely a matter of taste but I did find myself becoming more endeared to them as the game progressed. Over its 6-8 hour playtime the you will be held ransom by a constant threat and ambient danger that will generally climax in an abundance of jump scares. When the game wants to put an exclamation point at the end of a chapter it will usually do so with great gusto. This can amount from anything to a tense QTE chase through the woods or a life or death (straight out of the Saw torture porn playbook) decision that more than likely will result in the demise of one of our protagonists.





Yes- choices can escalate to the above



The actual story itself is cleverly fleshed out, dealing in urban legend and tribal myth. However the story itself does a jarring U-turn as the games starts to reveal its trump cards, that to me seemed needless and I would of been quite happy if they kept going with the original thought and seen it through. One thing that is wholly apparent is the developers love of the genre in question and how faithful they set up the tone and over all pallet.





The mood is amplified by judicious use of a string and percussive instrument ambient score . Also be prepared to do a lot of walking in this game- I mean A LOT of walking. The first hour is quite setup heavy as all the characters are introduced, and being the kind of game this is - it might come off as a bit long winded as the story takes time to kick into its main gear. I did not have a problem with it personally but I can see the less patient out there having issues with it. I also commend the fact that there was no inventory here. Nope not one. Basically all you have for most of the game is a light source of some sort, so you do't have to worry about diving into a bottomless bag of tricks.



On your travels you will also come across "Totems", that will foretell various happenings. Whether it be a gruesome demise, or guidance to avoid said gruesome demise. there is also various clues littered throughout the environment that will help you piece together the mystery of what is happening. This addition alone is compelling enough to warrant multiple play throughs to collect them all and piece together the mystery. Also the many choices you make along the way contribute to a "Butterfly Effect", a choice that you may deem arbitrary might come back and bite you in the ass later down the line.

This expression usually means something bad is going to happen



I am sure a lot of you might be asking does it stand up to bygone master pieces such as the early Resident Evil entries? The profound and disgustingly beautiful head melt that was Silent Hill? In short -no. That in no way detracts from it though as this is an entry that is trying to carve its own path. That is the great thing about horror as there is so many tropes and persuasions to ultimately lean on. In doing so Until Dawn is it's own breed and one that will get an inevitable sequel.



Pacing hiccups and questionable U-turn in story, Until Dawn will have you playing into the small hours of the morning, lights out and sound up......with a companion hopefully. Under the hood the actual game is quite minimalist with no on-screen clutter or HUD to get in the way. Static cam placement are a fond nod to the the likes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. There is a slight tracking camera element thrown in for good measure that gives it a very creepy/voyeuristic feel to it.. Also be prepared to do a lot of walking in this game- I mean A LOT of walking. The first hour is quite setup heavy as all the characters are introduced, and being the kind of game this is - it might come off as a bit long winded as the story takes time to kick into its main gear. I did not have a problem with it personally but I can see the less patient out there having issues with it. I also commend the fact that there was no inventory here. Nope not one. Basically all you have for most of the game is a light source of some sort, so you do't have to worry about diving into a bottomless bag of tricks.On your travels you will also come across "Totems", that will foretell various happenings. Whether it be a gruesome demise, or guidance to avoid said gruesome demise. there is also various clues littered throughout the environment that will help you piece together the mystery of what is happening. This addition alone is compelling enough to warrant multiple play throughs to collect them all and piece together the mystery. Also the many choices you make along the way contribute to a "Butterfly Effect", a choice that you may deem arbitrary might come back and bite you in the ass later down the line.I am sure a lot of you might be asking does it stand up to bygone master pieces such as the early Resident Evil entries? The profound and disgustingly beautiful head melt that was Silent Hill? In short -no. That in no way detracts from it though as this is an entry that is trying to carve its own path. That is the great thing about horror as there is so many tropes and persuasions to ultimately lean on. In doing so Until Dawn is it's own breed and one that will get an inevitable sequel.Pacing hiccups and questionable U-turn in story, Until Dawn will have you playing into the small hours of the morning, lights out and sound up......with a companion hopefully.



PROS:



Genuinely tense atmosphere

Actual consequences for bad/wrong decision

Great voice acting CONS Questionable story U-turn

Analyst Sections not fully thought out



