Until Dawn is everything want to experience in a survival horror video game! The upcoming adventure title developed by Supermassive Games will be published by Sony, exclusively for the PlayStation 4. It’s been talked about for a few years now, as Sony was originally going to launch it on the PS3 with Move support, but they changed their mind and now it has an official release date for August 25, 2015.

The Plot

The story is nothing new and exciting, as this game seems to be more about the execution. What I am trying to say is that a group of friends trapped in a log cabin with a serial killer on the loose is nothing new, but Until Dawn still makes it look scary as hell.

Basically, eight friends stay the night in a log cabin on the anniversary of their disappearing friends, and they quickly find out they’re not alone. Character names include Ashley, Sam, Emily, Chris, Jessica, Matt, Josh and Mike.

Expect a dynamic experience, as your decisions can lead to life or death for you and your friends. Sony is advertising this as a completely dynamic experience so we can look forward to multiple outcomes. Until Dawn is one of the few games designed to be played over and over again so you can get a different (hopefully better) oucome each time around.

Apparently there are moral choices for you to make which will essentially bring out the good or evil inside you. From what we know about Until Dawn, it looks like you may sacrifice a friend or two on your quest to stay alive throughout the night. It’s not clear what kind of situations you will be put in and what kind of decisions you have to make, but anyone can die as a result of your decisions. Not one character is destined to die, it is completely up to you.

Sounds like a good idea for a game, because we always wish we could stop the characters in horror movies from making dumb decisions, and now we get the chance to make the decisions. Since you will likely make a few bad decisions your first time playing through the game, it is expected that players will replay the game to see which decisions influence the best possible outcome.

Made a bad decision? Too bad. Until Dawn will have a very strict auto-save system that prevents you from coming back to an earlier part, so you won’t be able to reload any old save files. Basically, you will continue to move on and remember not to make that same mistake the next time you play. Each time you play through the game it is expected to last about nine or ten hours, so it’s not a very long game to begin with. If you play it through three times you’re looking at less than 27 hours, easilly.

In the game, you may be faced with a choice to sacrifice one player to save another, and this is something you can prevent entirely, as keeping all the characters alive is possible, and it should be your ultimate goal. However, there’s what seems like an endless amount of multiple endings in Until Dawn, so you might find it impossible to keep them all alive at first, and some players will certainly need a walkthrough guide to make that happen.

Graphics and Audio

Until Dawn has dark, pixel-perfect graphics that can easily make it one of the best looking PlayStation 4 games yet. This is due to the new Killzone Shadowfall Engine, and enhancements the developer made in lighting, animation systems and the camera.

Judging from preview videos found on YouTube, one can tell that Until Dawn features top-of-the-line audio effects. We also know that the survival-horror game features performances from a Hollywood cast, which includes Hayden Panettiere from Heroes and Nashville.

Conclusion

Until Dawn may not have the most original plot, but it does seem to have an original gameplay experience. It’s also not often that a game developer creates a game that players are supposed to play multiple times. Until Dawn looks scary and has what looks like a truly dynamic decision-making experience. If all eight characters can stay alive, and you only finish the game with three alive, then don’t tell me you won’t be eager to play it again. Why not? You don’t have to repeat your mistakes over and over again. If you’re a gamer that loves a challenge then look out for Until Dawn, it’s coming out soon!