Until Dawn

A new survival horror game debuting at Gamescom 2012. Uses the Move controller, and remind me a lot of Evil Dead.

Okay. This is Evil Dead.

I just saw this on amazon. Looks really interesting. I like how you play through horror movie tropes. I'm also really interested in the fact that more than one person at a time can play this despite it being technically single player. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

I'm sure this game will have multiple endings. Expect a Golden Ending for getting everyone alive, but maybe fill in other endings for not only how many people are alive at the end, but who's alive. Hell, imagine getting to avert the hell out of the Black Dude Dies First trope.

So after playing through the game, I must say that I absolutely loved it and I was not expecting it to be that good. I would probably say though that the second half isn't as strong as the first part, but was still very creepy and scary in places.

Just completed my first play through. It would've been Sam, Ashley, Mike and Emily surviving, but I fucked up at the last minute and didn't see Mike meant for Sam to stay still, so only Emily and Sam made it out.

comparing the first trailer to the game, this game changed a hell of a lot.

at least its a good game.

Been playing the game for a while now. It has a pretty good atmosphere, with a bit of campiness in it that doesn't ruin it. Altought I would there are too many Jumpscares, especially the Cat Scare.

The motion capture for the faces is actually pretty cool, but when it doesn't work too well ot leads to some funny faces, like Hill having this wierd comedian winky fface when he says "You'll always find a way to work through it".

If more developers keep pumping out stuff like this, then Telltale will need to step up thier game or leave (thier engine is pretty outdated as well, which does not help).

edited 28th Aug '15 1:48:14 PM by YoKab

Second play through, everybody lived. Now to go through and do an Everybody Dies playthrough.

I really loved this game. Found it over a Let's Play and gotta say, probably one of the better PS 4 games that have been released thus far. In fact, it was the game that convinced me to buy a PS 4. Unfortunately only two people survived in my first playthrough: Sam and Emily. Matt died first, which is the absolute clichee, but what can you do. Then Chris died, because I was too slow and Ash died, because I was an idiot and fell for the stupid trick. I was really excited to see Jess live (she is my favourite), but then I mucked it up again and she died pretty instantly ...

Well, now that I know better, I better start my second playthrough.

On my first attempt, everyone but Matt, Jess, and Sam made it out. For Sam I managed to fail the second to last Don't Move quick-time event and got killed.

The game is good at keeping everything tense, particularly since anyone can die. Making death permanent and part of the story is a trope I like (I want to see it used in more games) and the inability to just reload was great.

I like the characters; sure they're all horror cliches, but they grew on me pretty quickly. Even the ones I initially didn't like.

On a sour note, I found it a little disappointing that it potentially reused horror cliches like Death By Sex (targeting Jessica) and Black Dude Dies First (or at least relatively early). Aside from being overused, these tropes have issues with being sexist and racist respectively - and acknowledging them as cliche doesn't necessarily fix the issue.

edited 30th Aug '15 9:24:23 PM by SilentColossus

I thought it was pretty dang swell. Watching a few LP's of it now that I've finished it. 8.75 out of ten — only real problem was that in chapter five I ran into a game breaking glitch and the replay mechanics are pretty frustrating to work with.

Thought it was pretty well written, surprisingly. I felt fucking awful for Josh by the end, and Emily was the only one I didn't really care about. Only a couple plot points bothered me like why Flamerthrower guy — may his soul rest in peace — didn't try looking for the twins or - if one just assumes he thought them dead already - why he didn't bother to report it to anyone. Even being a hermit, their families were right back at the cabin. Kind of a dick move to not tell anyone about what happened.

Finished my second playthrough now, tried for everyone to survive but I lost Mike and Sam :< I really don't know what exactly I'm supposed to do there. The first time I ran for the switch, but that resulted in Mike dying, second time I did nothing which also resulted in Mike dying and then Sam dying afterwards. Am I really supposed to run to Mike's rescue?

Also Jess is really easy to survive with if your not stupid like me and remember the clues you were given. The only one who is kinda hard to survive with is Matt, just because you have to abandon Emily, whom I always tried to save eventhough she is a ... well.

Overall I really, really enjoy this game. It is true that your decisions in the first few chapters don't really matter as much, but once it gets to the real killings, there are some fun and interesting variations. The only thing I wish they've done more with is Doctor Alan Hill. It is a nice twist that a part of Josh's psyche, but I wish his sessions would have done more than just change a few superficial details. I was really interested in the "game is tailored towards your fears" aspect of his scenes and it is a little bit unfortunate that they don't really amount to that much. I understand that you cannot possibly have a game with this much variation while still trying to tell a cohesive story, but I still wish there would have been more. But perhaps that's just me.

Overall an enjoyable experience with a lot of replay-value, at least for me.

Sam and Mike are fairly easy — you do indeed have to save him, and then just complete all the prompts. Never run for the switch until everyone else is out

Matt is trickier. He CAN survive without abandoning Em — I just did it in my playthrough right now — but he must have the flare gun...and he also must not have fired it off, which means you need to have had him say 'no' when em suggested going to the tower. Not sure why agreeing or disagreeing to go to the tower makes him decide to shoot the flare immediately or not, but there you go

I finished Tetra Ninja's Let's Play of this game a few minutes ago and I though it was a pretty fun and tense Survival Horror. It also seems the Telltale model for adventure gameplay was given some tweaks to make the horror work, which I appreciated noticing.

Can't believe it was announced in 2012.

So, about the Walking Spoiler Wendigos. The character page lists them as Super Persistent Predators but they really aren't. Actually, they seem rather cowardly. They'll keep coming if they're sure someone is no threat to them, but even the possibility of danger has them scampering off. Even a flare gun is enough fire to frighten them. And once they're away, they'll stay away for quite a while. Perhaps they've been conditioned by having to deal with Flamethrower Guy for so long, I don't know. Plus, they seem to have a short attention span. It only takes a few moments of them not being able to see someone for them to give up and wander off most of the time.

Actually, while they're dangerous and powerful monsters, they don't seem much like predators at all. Being born from cannibalism, you would think that their primary prey would be humans. But they're terribly unsuited for hunting us. Their motion tracking vision can be exploited by humans without too much trouble. Plus, it's not sensitive enough to detect the motion of your chest when you breathe. They can't see heat, which would be particularly helpful in a cold environment where hot spots would contrast better. Their hearing isn't particularly sharp. Apparently, their sense of smell isn't either. They can't even smell blood, judging by how Jessica was still able to slip by them while badly injured. One wonders how they even find their prey again after killing them, since they seem to put them into storage before eating. Even their intelligence is unimpressive. They only rarely use the voice changing trick, and not to its full effect. And they don't do the thing that human intelligence is best for: work as a team.

True, but they are ideal for chasing after atypical Horror Movie Characters. They are built around horror tropes. Have guns? They won't stay down. Terrified and running for your life? They can see you better now. Hearing your friend calling out for help? They can imitate that and lead you to your death. They play up every trope in the book really.

I watched a LP of this game since I'm not very on horror, I really liked it. The way the choices really affect your future is really cool.

As far as the characters go, the only ones I had a problem with were Emily and Jess, but by the end of the game I really only didn't like Jess.

Ashley potentially allowing Chris to be killed because he decided to shoot her in spite of the fact that she herself asks him to shoot her really, really dropped my opinion on her though.

I just like to pretend that that particular mood swing of hers only happens in bizzaro alternate continuities that aren't my playthroughs and doesn't affect the likable Ashely I see in the playthroughs where she doesn't do that.

Was it just me? Or did it really annnoy anyone else off at how much stuff happened to Josh? Sure, he was a pain for what he did and deserves to be beat up by Mike and Chris. But the ending that he survives in is just horrible to him.

edited 7th Sep '15 2:42:33 PM by KentDawg1

Horror doesn't have Karma or Rules to who lives or dies. Bad things happen to people in Horror for no real reason. Its the genre.

And, its kind of poetic that Josh ends up how he does.

I will say I REALLY get uncomfortable with the people that go 'He didn't deserve that! He was a perfect cinnamon bun who wouldn't hurt anyone!' Yeah... Putting your 'best friends' through horrifying death traps and forcing them to watch a fake dummy of you be cut in half ISN'T hurting them. Mentally scaring them isn't harmful at all!

Bah.

That and Josh was a Big Bad Wannabe. That type of character doesn't have that big of a chance for survival.

Of course there's always that one guy who has to complain about "sexism and racism" in a game.

Moooooving on, I really enjoyed this. It's been a while since we've got a horror movie-style game that actually works and works well.

Also, the John Wayne impersonation.

PILL-GRUM.

So I noticed that when Josh knocks Sam out if she doesn't hide from him it looks like he either uses some kind of gas mask or a syringe to do it.

I wonder what influences that, is it choosing needles as a fear in one of the Dr.Hill segments?

edited 7th Sep '15 6:16:21 PM by FullMoon

No, I've seen him use the knockout gas/syringe without needles as the fear. I think the only thing besides Dr. Hill's decorations that the fears affect are the types of mannequins you run into on occasion.

edited 7th Sep '15 5:17:35 PM by Weirdguy149