Console Corner: Until Dawn review

Dawn of a new era for gaming?
Until Dawn will leave your terrified and satisfied in equal measureUntil Dawn will leave your terrified and satisfied in equal measure
Until Dawn will leave your terrified and satisfied in equal measure

Until Dawn is as original as it is terrifying and could mark the beginning of a new era for video gaming in the shape of interactive movies.

The Sony PlayStation 4 exclusive is a survival horror developed by Supermassive Games and sees eight friends become trapped on a remote mountain getaway gone wrong.

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As you might gather, things turn ugly pretty quickly and the friends aren’t alone.

But the brilliance of Until Dawn lies in its “Butterfly Effect” system.

Every single choice the player makes as each of the eight friends makes for a unique story. The gamer’s actions alone determine who survives until dawn and will have repercussions, or not, later in the game in some way or another.

Effectively this is your game and no one else’s. Your friends will not be playing the same game because their choices will be different and as a result so will the outcomes.

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For example, locating a weapon in an earlier chapter may allow the player to pick it up later on when a scene leads back to the same room.

And throughout the game players will make difficult decisions during ethical or moral dilemmas, such as sacrificing one character to save another, it really is gripping stuff.

The visuals, the well thought out horror elements, music, voice acting and gameplay design are superb throughout and alongside the Butterfly Effect choice mechanics make this a must try...if you are brave enough. Those of a nervous disposition will probably need to play it in the daytime – it is genuinely that scary.

My only real criticism would be some of the camera angles and character movements, which don’t quite work.

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With UD, the idea is that you will play it several times (each play-through will take around nine hours) as apparently there are “hundreds” of different endings.

I don’t know if my nerves could stand up as I just about made it through one play.

But one thing is for sure, Supermassive and Sony have set the benchmark for interactive movie games very high with Until Dawn. The only question left to answer if you do decide you are brave enough is, can you make it through to daylight...

Rating: 8.5/10

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