Until Dawn review: A $60 crash? Game-breaking bug ruins new survival horror
Until Dawn is the return of a gaming classic, but the fun of this interactive horror experience is spoiled by a serious bug. With a premium price of around $60 you would expect to be able to at least play through the game, but this is far from the case. However, more about that later, first a general look at survival horror.
The remake was developed for PS5 and PC (available via Steam) by Ballistic Moon, or rather Supermassive Games, the developers of the original 2015 version. They are big horror fans themselves and wanted to create a tribute to cult horror movies such as The Cabin in the Woods, Scream, Saw, Friday the 13th, The Evil Dead, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining and many more.
The game is basically an interactive horror movie with an ingenious choice and consequence system. Eight teenagers with heightened libidos spend their free time in creepy places, such as a lonely cabin in a remote ski resort in the Rocky Mountains, where they fear for their lives. The plot focuses mainly on the cabin's surroundings, the forest and the surrounding mountains.
Graphics and sound
With the switch to the Unreal Engine 5 the game had to be completely reprogrammed. There are also impressive HDR lighting effects, more realistic environments and an overall more vibrant picture quality. Candlelight, reflecting sunbeams or the full moon create an even more atmospheric mood.
The remake also features ray tracing, a rendering technique that simulates the radiation of light to create more realistic reflections, shadows and lighting effects. And of course, widescreen support offers a larger field of view, which enhances the immersive experience. The overall look of the game has been improved thanks to better technology, and some rooms, such as the kitchen in the hut, have been completely redesigned.
Of course, the graphical improvements come at the expense of a lower frame rate, but there is also frequent talk of crashes. Personally, I used the Lenovo Legion Go with the integrated graphics AMD Radeon 780M and at least for me, the game ran without crashes (aside from the game breaking bug mentioned above).
I played in native QHD+ resolution with medium to high settings, Temporal Anti Aliasing, Bloom, Motion Blur and AMD FSR 3 Upscaling in performance mode. I also had ray tracing fully activated. With this, I don't reach 30 FPS, but stay at around 20. However, I'm willing to accept that for a beautiful cinematic game in order to enjoy the graphics more.
We have already published our detailed technical review Until Dawn benchmark test: Tough GPU requirements which includes the question whether the graphics are still up to date. There are also improvements to the sound compared to the original. For example, the realistic crackling of the snow as you trudge through it is striking.
Life and death consequences of every decision
The robust choice-and-consequence system is very well thought out, with many quick-time events whose choice can lead to life or death. Every single decision, like a butterfly effect, leads to a completely different course and end of the game. The characters also change fundamentally depending on how you play.
One element that influences the story is the recurring therapy sessions that you have to attend with the psychiatrist Dr. Hill (played by Peter Stormare). The sessions test, for example, what you are most afraid of and, depending on whether you choose a zombie, a clown or a scarecrow, you can expect personalized horror as you progress.
As Until Dawn plays with horror movie clichés, jump scares are also used, but these do not only exist to scare the player, but also to increase the tension and illustrate the consequences of decisions. In contrast to some other horror games that work with an overdose of scary moments, Until Dawn uses them in a more targeted and effective way.
The game offers a wide range of jump scares, ranging from sudden appearances to unexpected events. This prevents players from developing a routine and the shock moments from losing their impact.
Deductions are made for the somewhat sluggish controls and the lack of acceleration, except in car chases, where acceleration is automatic. The camera perspective in the new version is third-person over-the-shoulder (as opposed to the original's fixed camera perspective).
The new angle makes it easier to see details in the surroundings, although it is debatable whether this means that the cinematic view of the action is lost. Another change is that there are now close-ups during the chases.
The tokens are a kind of mystical tool for obtaining prophecies that can help with decision-making and are already familiar from the original game. In the new edition, however, they have to be moved around awkwardly before they give us a glimpse of the future.
It can sometimes be tedious and time-consuming to hold the token in exactly the right position for a vision to finally reveal itself. However, this feature is certainly an interesting challenge for some players.
Story and characters
Even though it is often noted that the new edition is more of a remaster than a remake, the tester cannot agree with this. An opinion you sometimes stumble upon is that the game was essentially the same as the 2015 version, with only improved graphics.
However, the current version is not just a superficial polish; new stories and a new ending have also been included. The added and altered aspects of the story alone make it a remake and not just a spruced-up remaster. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the design of entire rooms (furniture, objects, etc.) has been completely changed and not just made more realistic.
Actors such as Hayden Panettiere in the role of Sam, Peter Stormare as Dr. Hill (also known from Fargo and The Big Lebowski) and Rami Malek as Josh Washington (known from Bohemian Rhapsody) provide special intensity.
References to horror films
The game is full of allusions to horror film clichés, from brutal slasher-style elements to references that also serve to lighten the tension and provide humorous moments. Similar to Scream, many of the characters in Until Dawn are also very interested in movies and discuss horror films.
The actors poke fun at horror movie clichés and try to figure out the rules of the genre. But the murderer seems to be aware of the tropes of horror films and plays with the expectations of the victims, so Until Dawn takes the mickey out of this very topic and you find yourself on a kind of meta-level.
Similar to The Cabin in the Woods, whose main setting is a lonely mountain cabin, the plot takes unexpected turns that undermine the player's expectations and there are hints that something bigger is going on in the background. But the creeping madness of some characters is also noticeable and is reminiscent of Jack Torrance in The Shining, for example. The closer you look and the longer you play, the more allusions to cult movies you notice.
Technical problem: Game-breaking bug
Although the game runs flawlessly for many, numerous gamers (including the test author) are struggling with a nasty bug. This bug causes you to fall out of the map while playing and you can no longer return to the game. It is not yet known why this bug occurs for some players and not for others.
It may have crept in with an update, but this is only speculation so far. As there are no additional automatic saves in the game, you always end up in the same place (cross-platform). With a purchase price of around $60, this is pretty annoying, even if we can hope that the bug will be fixed with the next update.
Conclusion
If you liked games like Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain or The Dark Pictures Anthology, you might also enjoy Until Dawn. If it weren't for the bug, this would be a big recommendation to buy. It's a fun game and a treat for horror fans, especially at Halloween.
However, considering the game-breaking bug, it might be more secure to wait a bit before buying, at least until the next update. Unfortunately, there's no update for the old PS4 version, so console gamers will either have to bite the bullet and buy the game at a premium price, or wait until it's cheaper.
Source(s)
Own | Reddit
