Halloween movies and haunted trails are just fine, but if you’re looking for something a little different to do with your friends this weekend, it’s the perfect time to try the PS4 exclusive, Until Dawn.
In control of 8 friends stranded in a remote cabin, you have one task: get as many as you can to live until dawn (roll credits). This story driven game is almost entirely based in your decisions, as they have a “butterfly effect” on the remainder of the game. It’s the perfect game to play with your non-gamer friends, as most of the gameplay involves simple quick time events (QTEs).
There are several ingenious mechanisms at play: The Butterfly Effect, which gives your actions permanent consequences. You can find totems which let you see possible futures and make good choices. Finally, Cluelines help your characters piece together what happened. They keep you engrossed and committed to saving these dumb kids, even when you begin hate them.
The story plays off of typical teen horror movie tropes, and tells story arc beautiful through those cluelines. Even without finding everything, you can figure out the story if you’re paying attention. It didn’t give me nightmares for weeks, but it’s creepy and unsettling, with its fair share of jump scares.
Choice is by far the most important aspect of this game, and it spent an uncomfortable amount of time explain what how choice works. But, by far the most fascinating element is the illusion of choice. Several times all the roads lead to the same outcome, just with the characters feeling differently about what happened. There’s also only between 1-4 ways for each character to die, which means you won’t kill off poor Hayden Panettiere just because you missed that QTE. It’s really interesting that in a game so driven by choice and player control, we’re not nearly as in control as we might think we are.
Until Dawn is not a perfect game. The logic gets a little muddy, some of the jump scares are cheap, and if I cared about gameplay I’d probably be mad that the shooting happens in slow motion. What it is, however, is everything that’s right with gaming, with horror, and with storytelling. It is perfect for Halloween.
If gaming isn’t your thing, or you’re not trying to drop $60 on one, head over to YouTube where this game has gone viral. The Scary Game Squad on Jesse Cox’s channel includes a bunch of YouTube Gamers who get drunk and play scary games in one go. Their play through is incredible and their commentary is really on point. There’s also a bonus “completionist” episode where Jared shows us everything they missed in the original series.
Even as someone who doesn’t play video games myself, I’m confident this is worth buying and playing yourself. The game play is simple enough to be able complete it without much skill, and the replay value is there. I’m already wondering how things would’ve turned out if they’d done certain things differently.
So if you want a break from the Halloween movie marathon, Until Dawn has you covered.
Pro tip: Play the characters by their stats (found on their pause menu). If you try to play the ‘brave’ character as safe, the game will just freak out. Also, just don’t mess with nature. Seriously, that’s horror 101!