UNTIL DAWN

I'll be playing it... until dawn

Interactive games aren’t a new concept, but they’ve certainly seen many different iterations. From live moderators and red-green buttons to laserdisc, choice-based storytelling, interactive games evolved into something far more intuitive than predecessors 11 years ago. Until Dawn released in 2015 and caught like wildfire; but does it still hold up against today’s standards?

Graphics: 4/5

Until Dawn was one of the first games to introduce the modern standard of realistic animation, a standard that remains mostly unchallenged to this day. Gaming animation has plateaued since 2015, with the exception of hair animation and lighting. A point is lost due to the overwhelmingly gray color grading. Beautiful models and backgrounds are hidden by the dull film spread over the game. Animations are disjointed at times, but they are incredibly smooth for the majority of the game.

Storytelling: 4/5

There’s a lot going on to make the game’s story feel disorganized and overfilled. Until Dawn is, at its core, a slasher movie that you control as a game. As such, the writing is aiming for a campy, nostalgic cringe rather than an ever-serious dread-inducing horror. Supermassive surpassed this goal. Every choice you make and item you find affects your story, granting unique perspectives depending on playstyle.

The Butterfly effect is so heavy handed throughout the story that they have a character bring it up by name out of nowhere. Exploration is rewarded with pieces of lore that you would otherwise miss. Most questions are answered with these lore bits, and you can even unlock new endings by collecting certain pieces of information.

Characters: 3/5

While great at developing character relationships and exemplifying their individual personalities, the dialogue is sometimes choppy and unnatural. For the most part, the characters are shallow caricatures you’d find in your average slasher. Characters like Sam, Mike and Josh are the most well-rounded of the cast while characters like Jess and Matt suffer greatly from limited screentime and flat characterization. It can be hard to connect with the flat characters, which leads players to be less invested in their survival.

Game Mechanics: 5/5

The biggest selling point for Until Dawn is the choice-based storytelling. Putting the characters’ autonomy in the players’ hands allows for fuller immersion and more personalized gameplay. The motion controls, while simple, are enough to keep the player on their toes and add a level of physical difficulty rather than more logical difficulties. Quick time events force you to keep your attention on the screen and your hands on the controller. Just one button push means the difference between losing a character and surviving.

There are five different totems: Red/Danger, Death/Black, Loss/Brown, Guidance/Yellow and White/Fortune. They can be found scattered throughout the game and bring the player information that they would not have otherwise.

Controls: 4/5

The camera angles can be a bit frustrating at times, though only for free exploration. Unfortunately, characters move almost painfully slow during exploration segments. Motion

controls can be oversensitive, but that’s more ofa hardware issue than anything. Controls, otherwise, are conventional and standard, easy for practically anybody to pick up. The quick time events are reasonably timed and limited in diversity for ease of play.

Accessibility: 2/5

Until Dawn is only available on PlayStation 4 and 5 with certain features being unavailable on the 5. Without availability on other consoles, no pc ports, and a flawed f5 port, it scores quite low on the accessibility ranking despite being a modern title.

Grade: 22/30 C

While Until Dawn set trends that choice-based games still follow today, it isn’t exactly the peak of storytelling and gameplay. The 2024 remake barely changed anything due to how polished the 2015 original was. Until Dawn certainly holds up against modern games with similar goals and, in most cases, still surpasses them.