Go left, go right, mash triangle and make sure to hit circle at the right time. These are the gameplay mechanics you will begin to master in the new PS4 title Until Dawn. The game was created and developed by Supermassive Games, a fairly young studio. Since 2008 they have created mostly downloadable content for games such as Killzone & LittleBigPlanet. So everyone in the gaming industry was very eager to see what this talented studio would do with their first big budget game.
Until Dawn originally started out as a first-person PlayStation-Move game that was intended to launch on the PS3 in 2013. After hearing feedback from fans and, I’m sure some Sony executives, Supermassive Games knew they had something special on their hands, but it wasn’t quite ready. Fast forward to today and what they created was something completely different. (In a good way)
The game we have today is set in a 3rd person perspective and is mostly an interactive drama. Until Dawn never wavers once on what kind of story it wants to tell. It is a homage to classic 80’s horror movies in the best possible way! The game chronicles 8 friends traveling to a remote mountain getaway. The friends have all decided to make the trip together so that they can get some sort of closure, due to a tragedy that happen the year before at that same cabin. If your mind is racing of all the dumb things you think will happen, guess what you are probably wrong. Thats the beauty of Until Dawn! The game starts off by being pretty predictable with some silly scares and over the top dialogue, but by the mid point of the game you will really see a shift in the tone and mood of the game. You will explore abandon hospitals, dark mines and disturbing basements. Until Dawn has a lot of tricks up its sleeve and will continue to surprise you with its 10 to 12 hour campaign.
The character models in the game are played and mo-capped by pretty well known actors; Hayden Panettiere, Peter Stormare and Rami Malek who we all know now from the hit television show Mr. Robot. Supermassive Games took the likeness’s from all of the actors, so the characters you seen in the game are actually performances from the actors themselves. I really appreciated the fact that Supermassive Games took a chance on mo-capping all of the actors and giving them the ability to act out true emotion. It makes for a more enjoyable gameplay experience and will make you really fall in love with some characters or perhaps make you dislike others.
Eight friends stranded on a mountain. Live or die. You decide who will survive Until Dawn!
What makes Until Dawn so good in my opinion, is that throughout the game you will have the chance to play all 8 characters. This unique gameplay feature makes it so you have the choice to decide the characters fate! The game will have some choices that are not super important and other times the choices could have dramatic effects on the outcome of the story and that particular character. These choices are called “Butterfly Effects” and no, not that terrible movie with Ashton Kutcher. Butterfly Effects will pop up each time you have made a choice that will effect the outcome of the story. The thing I loved was that “you” the player never knew what choice was significant or insignificant. While playing Until Dawn you become so immersed in the game, you tend to start thinking about every choice in extreme detail. My suggestion for anyone who is interested in this game, make sure to play it with a friend or a significant other. You might be surprised with what they think, is the right decision. You also may learn a lot more about your so called friend 🙂
In the end, Until Dawn is a game that I absolutely adore! Not once in my life have I ever beaten a game in one day start to finish. I honestly could not put it down. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next and even when I finished the game I spent another two to three hours trying to get different outcomes and hunting for collectibles. Supermassive Games should be proud of themselves for a really trying something new and fun with Until Dawn. It gets me really excited to see what game they will make next!
Final thought: I would highly recommend Until Dawn for everyone who owns a PS4. This is a great game to play with friends. So check it out and let me know what you think.
Trevor Cannon 