Line #9 Trivia/UntilDawn


1	* ActorAllusion:
2	** This isn't [[Series/{{Heroes}} the first time]] ([[Film/Scream4 or the second]]) that Creator/HaydenPanettiere's been menaced by a serial killer.
3	** Larry Fessenden directed and wrote [[AuthorAppeal multiple]] films (and an episode of ''Series/FearItself'') about [[spoiler:wendigos]]. And the horror films whose posters show up in the lodge's private theater? All of them were films he produced.
4	*** Mr. Fessenden has a long filmography where characters he's played have [[spoiler: died in one way or another, including several non-horror films, as you can see in this montage [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJV_sB2djkM]]]], as does his character in the game.
5	*** And much like the films he's written and directed, Fessenden's exploration of horror and psychology extends into this game [[spoiler: with Josh's possible schizophrenia.]]
6	** Frère Jacques seems to follow Creator/RamiMalek from [[Series/MrRobot television]] to video games. [[spoiler: As do hallucinations of his dead family members.]]
7	* BillingDisplacement: Creator/PeterStormare is billed second, above all but one of the game's playable protagonists (with top billing given to Creator/HaydenPanettiere, the cast's biggest star at the time since the game was released on the heels of Creator/RamiMalek's [[Series/MrRobot breakthrough]]). In addition to his character Dr. Hill being an NPC, he stops being important to the story about halfway through the narrative, and then disappearing entirely before the climax.
8	** Creator/BrettDalton is also billed fourth, despite his character Mike by far having the second most playtime in the game.
9	* {{Bowdlerise}}: The Japanese release of the game censors all scenes involving dissections and human internal organs simply by cutting the whole screen to black and leaving only audio, a rather heavy-handed method which led to a lot of complaints from the Japanese audience and even some jeering nicknames for the localized version of the game such as ''Anten Dawn'', "anten" being the Japanese word for a theatrical blackout.
10	* CreatorCameo: Larry Fessenden, one of the writers, plays Flamethrower Guy.
11	* DawsonCasting: True of every main member of the playable cast except Creator/JordanFisher (Matt), who was 21 when the game was released (and therefore [[DevelopmentHell 18-20ish]] while working on it, the same age as the characters). Meaghan Martin (Jess) would've been around 21/22 whereas the other lead actresses were all in their mid-twenties; while Brett Dalton, Rami Malek, and Noah Fleiss were all in their 30s. Even with their CGI avatars being de-aged, Mike and Chris in particular still look like guys in their late 20s, not teenagers.
12	* {{Homage}}: This game is ''built'' out of homages. See ActorAllusion for aforementioned examples.
13	** ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'': A maniac is out [[spoiler:to punish those indirectly responsible for minors' demise. Also, Wendigo-Hannah keeps Beth's head around her lair, similarly to Jason and his mother]].
14	** ''Film/MyBloodyValentine'': Extensive use of mines, which have their own backstory. [[spoiler: The backstory of a group of miners being involved in a mining accident which leads to insanity and cannibalism is also present in this film.]]
15	** ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'': The two "fatal choice[s]" Chris has to make, along with the Psycho's announcements.
16	** ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'': Mike follows the Stranger into [[AbandonedHospital an abandoned]] [[BedlamHouse sanitarium]], where he finds [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/silent/images/5/57/James_Profile.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/200?cb=20150507212443 an olive-drab M15 military jacket.]] Yet another WholeCostumeReference is [[https://overanalyses.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/even-mama-said-so-i-deserved-what-happened.jpg Emily's sweater underneath her leather jacket.]]
17	** ''VideoGame/SilentHillShatteredMemories'': The sequences with Dr. Hill are ripped straight from the book of this Wii game, which psychologically profiles the player and uses motion controls at the core of its mechanics. And, it pits the player against [[spoiler:naked pale humanoid creatures]] lurking in a brutal snowscape.
18	** ''Film/PromNight1980'': A brother takes revenge when a group of kids play a prank which ultimately leads to the death of his sibling (in this case, siblings). [[spoiler: Although Josh only wanted to frighten them, not kill them.]]
19	** ''Film/EvilDead2'': Mike and Jess' diversion to the cabin in the woods, followed by Jess being attacked and pulled out through a window, is very similar to the opening scenes with Ash and his girlfriend, Linda.
20	*** Similarly, Mike can amputate part of his body. Although, luckily for him it's just his fingers and not his entire hand.
21	** ''Film/HouseOnHauntedHill1959'': Josh's father works in Hollywood and has access to tons of props and special effects [[spoiler: which Josh uses to terrify and torment his friends]], just like Vincent Price's character in the classic film.
22	* PublicDomainSoundtrack: During her bath in Chapter 5, Sam is listening to Music/JohannSebastianBach's "Cello Suite No.1" through her earbuds.
23	* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: A SurvivalHorror game that was first announced in 2012, with heavy use of [=PlayStation=] Move controls, a plot inspired by teen horror and {{slasher\|Movie}} flicks, and a planned 2013 release date on the Platform/PlayStation3. Two trailers were released... and that's about all the substantial information that was heard about the game for the next two years, the only news being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHC84igPwW0 an announcement]] from the developers in late 2013 that, yes, they were still working on the game. It wasn't until 2014 when it [[http://www.gamespot.com/articles/until-dawns-hollywood-infused-ps4-reboot-is-absolu/1100-6421731/ resurfaced]] at Gamescom as a Platform/PlayStation4 title, having been heavily overhauled from its original design. Move controls have been dropped, while the campier elements were largely replaced with a DarkerAndEdgier approach and a Hollywood voice cast. It finally came out on August 25, 2015.
24	* UncreditedRole: Justin Villiers, Will Byles and Pete Samuels developed the story, but were not credited.
25	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[https://www.destructoid.com/until-dawn-looked-way-different-on-playstation-3-405916.phtml This article and video]] goes into detail on the game's production history, including a number of early builds that have been unearthed.
26	** The game was originally announced for the Platform/PlayStation3, and would've used the Move [[{{Waggle}} motion control system]] that Sony was promoting at the time. The earliest versions focused on first-person exploration and puzzle solving, which eventually changed into cinematic third-person controls with a ChoiceAndConsequenceSystem. At least one early build also had pass-and-play multiplayer. It was nearing completion when it was decided to retool it for next-gen consoles.
27	** The original version of the game was a fair bit {{camp}}ier; among other things, the main characters were explicitly specified as being teenagers, the opening cinematic implied that they were heading into the mountains [[ExtremeSportsPlot to go snowboarding]], and early trailers featured a lot of cheesy fanservice. When they moved the game to the Platform/PlayStation4, the developers decided that, if this game was going to be a showpiece for the new hardware, they might as well make a serious horror game.
28	** Many of the characters in the final game existed in some form early on, though Mike's name was originally Scott, Emily's was Christina (or Chrissy), Jessica's was Summer, and Josh's was Clayton (and [[RaceLift he was also black]]), and there were also characters named Devin, MJ, Belle, and Emi (who, beyond the name and ethnicity, seemed to have nothing in common with the Emily from the final game). Hannah was originally Clayton's girlfriend as opposed to his sister, with the two of them having broken up that fateful weekend for reasons unknown, while her sister's name was Lex instead of Beth.
29	** In early Playstation 3 builds where the cast have received their final names and designs, Josh, Hannah and Beth were seemingly white rather than AmbiguouslyBrown. This changed when the cast was almost completely replaced for the final version, with only Brett Dalton and Noah Fleiss returning when the production moved to the Platform/PlayStation4.
30	** In some of the earlier versions there seemed to be {{Game Over}}s, as evidenced when the player is allowed to restart after failing to PressXToNotDie. The "Anyone can live, AnyoneCanDie" aspect of the game was also not added until the move to Playstation 4; originally, Jessica would always die, while characters like Sam and Mike would always live.
31	** In early [=PS3=] builds, Emily accompanied Mike when returning to the sanatorium, and later joins Sam in the mines near the end of the game. This suggests that Emily was meant to have a bigger role and stronger PlotArmour, similar to Sam and Mike in the final game.
32	** Chris was originally going to be a part of the prank in the beginning of the game, as shown in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0NCVW5LPKs this video where he hides under the bed with Jessica]], but was replaced by Emily instead. In this version of the game, it would [[spoiler:make Josh's grudge against Chris more justified (as well as Chris' self-inclusion in guilt with Ashley); in contrast to the final product, in which Chris is the only person besides Sam and Beth to not be part of the prank.]]
33	* WordOfGod:
34	** The creators of the game admitted during a Q&A session that Emily and Mike were ''not'' having an affair, and that their hug really was just a friendly greeting.
35	** A podcast interview with Will Byles {{Jossed}} the theory that Chris's role in the prank was to get Josh drunk enough that he wouldn't come to Hannah's defence, confirming the competing viewpoint that Chris was simply completely unaware of the plan. The idea being that if ''every'' guest at the Washingtons' house was in on the prank it would come across as too mean-spirited, making players wonder why the three siblings invited people who clearly weren't their friends to spend time at their family's party cabin. Having Chris (and presumably Sam) be uninvolved was intended to make it feel more like an idea for a mean joke that got out of hand among a few members of a usually tight friend group during a night of drinking, rather than a long-running conspiracy to bully the party's hosts.

Context Trivia / UntilDawn